The Foolishness of Wisdom For Old People

As noted in my previous post, there are warnings in the Bible about overlooking the fact that our bodies grow old and weak and finally die. One such example is Psalm 90:

You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. - Psa 90:8-12 ESV

Toil and trouble, soon gone. This somber view of life can lead old people to melancholy and even despair. Perhaps that's why seniors spend so much time recalling and retelling the stories of the past. However, I'd like to focus upon some other words of the psalm, a prayer we all need to offer: 

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. 

What does it mean to "number our days" in order to get a heart of wisdom? And what is a "heart of wisdom"?


To number anything is to count, but it is doubtful that Moses is encouraging us to count how many days we have been alive. On my upcoming birthday that would be 79 x 365 + leap years. Surely that little exercise will not get me a heart of wisdom. What wisdom is there in knowing how many days I have been wandering around this planet? So what does the prophet suggest?

We do find days (yowmim in Hebr.) used in that manner. Abraham's life was measured as the days of the years.

These are the days of the years of Abraham's life, 175 years. Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. - Gen 25:7-8 ESV

Somebody kept track of the days of the years. altogether 175 years. And notice that they are called a good old age. What made Abraham's years good? The fact that he lived about a hundred years longer than most of us will in our day? Surely not that in itself. It must be that Abraham had gotten during his good old age this heart of wisdom that Moses wrote about in Psalm 90. So what is this heart of wisdom?

Heart in the Bible always refers to the inner life of a person, his thoughts, plans, ideas and dreams. So we read that prior to the Flood the intentions and thoughts of men were "only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5). In turn, the LORD was sorry that he had even made man and it grieved him to his heart (Gen. 6:5-6). So the disobedient world of men was destroyed by the waters of the flood and we are once more reminded that the LORD knows what is in our hearts. He knows and remembers our thoughts, desires and plans from day to day, even to old age.

Later in the story of God's people Moses is speaking to Israel as they are about to enter the long awaited land of promise. He writes,

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. - Deu 10:12-15 ESV

Here then is the secret to attaining a good old age. In your heart and soul learn to fear and love the LORD, serve Him and keep His commandments. This is wisdom. But there is more to wisdom than a mere command, however important that may be. One cannot attain wisdom by obeying commands, for as we noted above, our hearts, like the people of the days of the Flood are naturally inclined toward evil. How then comes this wisdom?

The answer is found in the story of Israel as recorded in Scripture. The story moves on through hundreds and hundreds of years until the coming of the LORD Himself in human flesh and blood. Then we discover how deeply personal wisdom truly is. Paul writes,

. . . but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. - 1Cr 1:23-25 ESV

True wisdom lies in the person of Jesus Christ, God's Son. No mere man is he. He is, in truth, God with us. In him God reveals his deep and amazing love for sinners. The foolishness of God is found in the cross of Jesus Christ. There we view the LORD Himself winning for us forgiveness for all the foolishness, all the failures, all the stupidity, all the rebellion of our days. The man or woman who has faith and trust in Jesus Christ learns to love him and longs to serve and obey him. Thus he or she has received a heart of wisdom.

We must go from here. In my next posts I want to discuss what we wise seniors who have received the gift of faith in Christ are to do with our wisdom. In other words, what meaning may we find in our old age?