Psalm:90 Devotional
Introduction
“I can repent tomorrow.” These are the words spoken of the searching. The simple minded. Especially the young. They say I can live my life now, live for myself and then make a decision. I want my sin. I want to live my own life. I want to put something other than Christ first.The reality of the situation is that we could die today. We could die tomorrow or in 70 years. We say we can repent tomorrow and then go into judgment for the rest of eternity. By that time it’s too late. It’s like the 5 virgins who weren’t ready. They were foolish saying we will be prepared tomorrow. Then the door is shut. There isn’t a second chance. They lived their life following the Father of a different kingdom and that’s where they are going- To the abode of their true Father.
Party life
Do you live to go to parties, get drunk, have sex, do drugs, and live for yourself? Or do you live for Him who died and was raised from the dead? I’m not saying it’s a sin to go to a party depending on what type it is. I’m not saying the people below are sinning necessarily. The overarching question is- What are you living for?
It is God who has allocated the amount of time here on Earth for a specific purpose- To be a witness for His Gospel and accomplish his purposes. God could take us out of this Earth at any time. But he has work for us to do here on Earth. There is a harvest and there are seeds to be planted on the hearts of men.
It was Johnathon Edwards who said Lord, please stamp Eternity on my eyeballs. He wanted to live his last hour for the lord. In fact, that was part of one of his 70 resolutions. “Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.”
Backdrop
In order for us to more fully understand Psalm 90, we need to understand Psalm 89 briefly. The people of God are singing the first 37 verses of Pslam 89 through blinding tears. We are told the last king of Israel saw his own children put to death and his eyes were put out. He was taken to Babylon to live captive in the King’s court. The final memory of his sight was the death of the line of David. The children of Israel are taken into captivity with him. Have the promises of God to David and Israel Failed? This is the prevailing question. Can we trust God? 2 Samuel 7 promises there would be descendants from David’s line forever. Israel would always be in the land. There is now no King in Isarael and Israel is in Exile.
Everyone is asking- Have your promises to David and to Israel failed?
Sometimes we don’t understand what God is doing. It looks like God may be going back on His promises. But we know that’s not possible and we continue trusting despite the trials of Life.
Backdrop Psalm:90
Psalm 90 is the first Psalm. It is a prayer of Moses, the only prayer of Moses. They are in the wilderness. This is the wilderness generation directed to go to the promised land. But they never make it. They are just going in circles.This was a generation that squandered opportunities if ever a generation did.The wilderness became a graveyard. Moses conducted more funerals than most people in human history. It is a theocentric Psalm leading us to God. We see Israel’s repeated unfaithfulness and God’s subsequent punishment. Aren’t we like that sometimes in this life? Psalm:90 presses us to think through who God is and who we are in light of God’s Character.
1-2 God. We see the tension between Man’s fragility and God’s eternality
3-6 we see the brevity of life
7-11 Death, sin wrath, and their relationship to eachother
12-17 we see grace.
Reading Portion
1-2
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
Lord is our dwelling place- Moses can’t say canaan is our dwelling place, the promised land. Moses never saw canaan. But he knows the true dwelling place. It is the Lord, our sanctuary. Our temple. The Lord is our true refuge in light of trials and tribulations. We can always go to him.
Mountains- Bring our attention toward God. The creator was before the creation. And we are accountable to Him.
Everlasting to everlasting- Notice what he doesn’t say. From beginning to end. There never was a day when God wasn’t. It’s Isaiah 57:15 which says – “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy”
3-6 The Brevity of Life
You return man to dust and say, Return, O children of man! For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
Emphasizes the tension of human life- The fragility of human life in contrast to the eternality of a God who does not change.
Watch in the night- Ashnurah; Length of time during the night when most people are asleep and unaware. Death will come quickly.
You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream
God has a claim on our life. He decides when we will be swept away. Historically, there used to be massive walls of water that would sweep everything in the path of a flood of way. It symbolizes death and destruction at the hand of an almighty God.
Dream- Like Yesterday. Drams come and Go.
Like grass that is renewed in the morning; in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers
This echoes Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:2- Vanities of Vanities or meaningless- Hevel! Hevel- Like a puff of smoke that disappears soon.
Vs7-11 Death, sin and their relationship to one another
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?
The chastening hand of God is heavy upon the Israelites. The people of God are under God’s Chastening Rod. This is God’s anger unleashed as a result of human sin. God judges unrepentant sinfulness.
It’s not just that life is brief. Death is here because of our sin. We see the connection of how Misery and death is tied to sin. And we are to hate sin more than its consequences and acknowledge that God is indeed just.
Vs 12-17 the grace of God; This section expects submission to God in light of who he is and the time we have left here on Earth.
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom
God has allocated a number of days for us to do His work. And then comes the judgment. Are we faithful and living wisely or as the fool who says I have 40 more years left in this left? I’m going to wait to do God’s work or I’m going to wait to repent? The time to do God’s Work is now. Once time is gone it’s lost forever. The people in hell would give anything to have one more chance to repent. But their time is gone.
Return O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Satisfy us in the morning- Those satisfied by God from the moment they wake can withstand adversity.
Loyal love- Implies that grace or loyal love, not wrath, reflects God’s character.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!
General obedience and faithfulness to God in light of who he is and the time we have left.
True wisdom is manifested by living in light of eternity? How long O Lord until you return? Thankfulness in light of who he is and want to be obedient and faithful in light of his coming back.
End with this- 2 Corinthians 5:14- For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: That one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.
Conclusion
Sometimes we are like the wilderness generation. We don’t know what God is doing. It seems like He’s not fulfilling his promises in light of the circumstances. We ask why am I going through this trial? But we know that his promises will always come to pass. That He is the eternal God who is holy sovereign over our lives and time on this earth. He is the one who punishes death but also has a loyal love (Hesed). Christ is the personification of wisdom. True wisdom is found in the cross but it is foolish to men. Let us live in light of Christ, the personification of Wisdom, in light of who Christ is, in light of the amount of time God has allocated to us and say with Paul to live is Christ and to die is Gain.
Psalm:90 Devotional
Lord, Teach us to number our days
Lord, please stamp Eternity on my eyeballs
“Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.”
Paul- For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21)
- Moses never saw the dwelling place of Canaan but the Lord is our true _______________ place
- God has always existed from ________________ to ___________________
- The flood, dream,and grass all symbolize the ____________ of life
- Psalm________ was the first Psalm written.
Reflection questions
- The wilderness generation was without a king and Israel was in exile- It looked like God’s promises wouldn’t come to pass. How do we react knowing God’s promises always come to pass but don’t know what God is doing in our lives at the moment?
- Not living wisely with the time God has allocated us is robbing God of glory. How can we better steward our time and be on mission for why we are here- To be a witness to him and glorify His name?
- What are you ultimately living for? While pursuing good things isn’t bad, living for them is idolatrous. Are you living for your job? A girlfriend/boyfriend? Or God and His purposes?
2 Corinthians 5:14- and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died as was raised.
A life well Spent 