Psalms For the Summer #12: A Psalms Of Days - Psalms 90

Psalms For the Summer #12: A Psalms Of Days - Psalms 90

 

"Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death
He kindly stopped for me.
The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality

We slowly drove - He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too
For his civility

We passed the school where children strove
At recess - in the ring
We passed the fields of gazing grain-
We passed the setting sun

Since then-tis centuries and yet
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Emily Dickinson is a favorite poet and I often this poem at funerals. It speaks of death overtaking us like a carriage sent to pick us up while we were just out on a walk. We have no choice but to climb on board and ride to eternity. When that carriage stops for you and for me as it inevitably will, then life on this earth ends and life in eternity begins. None of us knows when that carriage ride will take place, all we have is this moment, this breath, this gift of grace that is the present.

Psalms 90 is about making the time we have count, of taking the days God had given you and the days you have left and making them mean something, so that when Death’s carriage stops for you, you will be ready.

Review and Background

You remember that the book of Psalms is a collection of 5 books of Psalms. Probably arranged by the great post exilic scribe Ezra. Psalm 90 is at the beginning of the 4th of the 5 books of Psalms. It is thought that the 90th Psalms may actually be the center of the book of the Psalms. That Ezra placed it there as the heart of the book of Psalms. Much as Psalms 1 introduces the entire collection of the Psalms, the 90th Palms brings us to the core of the Songbook of Israel. I believe it is one of the most important Psalms you and I will every study.

Psalms 90 is unique because it is the only Psalm that we know written by Moses. This means is its very likely the oldest of all the Psalms. It also unique because it is not really a Psalm in the sense of a hymn or praise to God. It is entitled “A Prayer by Moses the Man of God.” Truly, it is more a prayer to God, more than a song or a praise about God.

It is the prayer of Moses, the friend of God, beseeching his friend, Jehovah to teach the most important lesson of life that can ever be learned, how to make your days upon this earth mean something, count for something. Can there be a more important lesson than how not to live your life in vain?

The prayer psalms begins as most prayers in the Bible begin with Moses praising the Lord.

Ancient of Days - Psalms 90:1-4

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Moses Considers God. 

Hundreds of years after Moses, Daniel the prophet had a vision of the times of the Gentile Empires. In that vision Daniel in the 7th chapter, three times calls God, “the ancient of days.” “vs. 9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.”

Moses in his prayer says to God, the Ancient of Days, "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.”

The prophet Malachi 3:6 speaks in God’s own voice and says, “For I am the Lord, I change not”

Paul in Hebrews 13:8  says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever”

All of these tell us that God is eternal. Now there is a difference having immortality and being eternal. Actually, man is immortal, he has a soul that will never cease to exist, but God, as Moses, Malachi and Paul tell us, is eternal. He has neither beginning nor ending. Moses said that God existed before the mountains, the oldest thing that Moses could imagine. But God was older and in truth, He brought those valleys and peaks into existence.

Moses also says that God has infinite power. Power so great that he could destroy man and then say return and man would return from that destruction. This is probably in reference to the nation of Israel but it applies to any tribe, peoples, kingdoms or nation.

Moses continues and says that to God, “a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday.”

What Moses is describing are the attributes or characteristics of God. Especially His eternity and His omnipotence and this is the first part of what we must learn from Psalm 90…

The Lesson Of God's Greatness

We will never learn the lesson or understand the prayer of Moses in Ps 90, unless we see God the way that Moses saw God. No, not with these physical eyes but with the eyes of our soul and heart. Let me amplify the attributes of God a bit so that we can better understand the One we must know in order to learn how to make our life count.

First, The Eternity of God

Definition: By the eternity of God we mean His infinity in relation to time, we mean that He is without beginning or end; that He is free from all succession of time; and that He is the cause of time- Henry Thiessan

Isaiah echoing God’s voice in 57:15, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

The Omniscience of God

By the omniscience of God we mean that He knows Himself and all other things, whether they be actual or merely possible, whether they be past, present, or future, and that He knows them perfectly and from all eternity. - Henry  Thiesan

Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done…

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

He knows everything about everything and everybody all the time. Also, he knows the future no less than the past and the present, and possible events that never happen no less than the actual events that do. J. I. Packer, Concise Theology

The Omnipresence of God

God is in all places at all times.  He is present everywhere, always.

Psalms 139: 7-10 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

Jeremiah 23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD

The Omnipotence of God

By the omnipotence of God, we mean that God can do anything He wills.- Henry Thiesan

Job 42:2  I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

Matthew 19:26b ...with God all things are possible.

Omnipotence means in practice the power to do everything that in His rational and moral perfection (i.e., His wisdom and goodness) God wills to do. … all that He wills and promises, He can and will do. - J. I. Packer, Concise Theology

Moses Sees God At Sinai

Moses is qualified to write this prayer and teach us this life lesson because he was one of a handful of people who entered into the presence of God. He saw more of God than any other man in the Old Testament. Moses was allowed to glimpse the glory of God on Mt. Sinai, first in the burning bush and then even more dramatically and fully on the top of the mount when receiving the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 33:17-22 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD Jehovah before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

When Moses descended back to the camp, his encounter with God was so incredible, that the skin of his face glowed. Exodus 34:30 “And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.”

Like Moses, we must also know God, not on top of Mt. Sinai but in a much fuller revelation, through Jesus Christ. Like Moses, we must be know the Lord as friend as incredible as that seems.  This is the first part of the lesson of making life and the eternity that follows count.

First Moses looks at the infinite, eternal, all powerful, all knowing, all present God, then in a vast contrast he look at himself, the finite, mortal, weak ignorant, limited man.

Afflicted Days - Psalms 90:5-11

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

Moses Considers Man

Moses draws a contrast between God, the Ancient of Days and the days of man

First, He considers man's brevity of life Vss. 5-6 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

God is eternal but, says Moses, man’s days are like a desert flash flood, dry to raging to dry in moments.

Man’s days are like a sleep. We lay down and then wake up, not even aware of the passing of time.

Man’s life is like grass. There is a grass in Israel that blooms and dies in a 24-hour period. Moses says that is what our life is like without God, overshadowing and protecting it.

And finally, he compares our life to a story, a tale that is told. Like a novel, an entire lifetime seems to pass in only a few hours or days.

So Moses sees these two extremes, God in his eternity and power and man in his mortality and weakness. And yet even though God is omnipotent and man is impotent, Moses sees man fighting against God. And he knows this is a fight that man can’t win!  

Look at vss 7-9 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath:

Man can’t win when he fights against his Creator, because we are limited while God is limitless. Moses brings this to a fine point in vs 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten (70 years); and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years (80), yet is their strength labour and sorrow;

So here is the…

The Lesson of Our Limits

Not much has really changed since Moses’ time, we are still largely within that framework of an 80 year life. Some live longer and many, many others live much shorter lives. But long or short our days on this earth are limited. Yet few of us prepare our lives as if we only had a set limit of time. Our lives race by and we don’t even notice how quickly they are passing.

Peter and James, the second and third pastors of Jesus’ church, also try and teach this life lesson.

1Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Even worse than not realizing how limited our time is, we spend that little bit of time fighting against God. We refuse to acknowledge Him as sole Sovereign of time and eternity.

You may say, “I’m not fighting against God.” But if you leave him out of your life, or ignore Him and the gift of grace through Jesus Christ then you actually stand against God. You are a rebel, refusing to accept Him as Lord and ignoring Him as God. Here is the lesson as taught from the lips of Jesus himself, in Luke 12

The Rich Fool

Luke 12: 16-21 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

The man in this parable probably didn’t think he was fighting against God, but he had left God out of his life and at the end of his life it was God that he had to answer to. “This night thy soul shall be required!” Once he was called to stand before God then all he had worked for without God was worthless.

I don’t want to be like that man. I don’t want to step into eternity one day and realize that I spent my life on things that didn’t matter because I fought against God or tried to ignore God. Moses, brings us to the last lesson of our days is in verse 11-17

Accomplished Days - Psalms 90:12-17

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. O satisfy us early with thy mercy;

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants,

and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Moses Considers Man’s Choices

Man has only two choices, rebellion or submission.

Rebellion is seen in vs 11, Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

As powerful as God is so also is the power of His wrath. The all powerful God who spoke the universe into existence is also a God of holiness, righteousness and justice. By that same power God will pronounce judgment upon those who rebelled and rejected Him. The glories of this universe and the heaven to come are starkly contrasted to the horrors of hell and death. The blessing of knowing God contrasted to the empty despair of rejecting Him.

But there is another choice. Submission vs 12-17 “Psalms 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Here is the heart of Moses’ prayer, “Oh Lord, teach us to number our days.” Moses is pleading with God, “Please, my God, show me how to make my days, my life, my work, my effort, count.”  

Return Oh, Lord… He pleads, “Come back to us, how long before we can know your mercy.” This is repentance for himself and for his people.

He prays, “Satisfy us early that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”

He says, “Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us. … For every day we have wept, dear God now give us joy.”

The Lesson of Our Choice

Here is the final part of Moses prayer and through it the lesson we must learn. Will you rebel or will you submit to the Lord?

Unless you have come to a place, like Moses, where in submission and surrender you asked, “Oh Lord, teach me how to number our days? To make them count for something before this life is over” then you are in rebellion. You are guilty leaving the Lord out of your life and denying the One who is the ruler of all things.

We must see Him as our ruler, our master, our Lord. If we recognize the greatness of God. If we clearly see our own weakness then we will gladly surrender, gladly call out and God will make however many days we have left have meaning. They will count for eternity because they will be lived in His grace, power and purpose.

Paul said it this way in Colossians and Ephesians 5:15-16 “See then that ye walk circumspectly (carefully), not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

When we pray that prayer, when we make that submission, then we will be able to say with Moses, that I can "rejoice and be glad all our days." 

The 24 Hour Life

Imagine if 80 years were equivalent to 24 hours. At 5 am you would be sweet 16, ready for your first real date.  By 7 am you are already 23, perhaps you are married, with your first real job or right in the middle of college.  By only 10 am its your 30's, the kids are growing up, you're looking for your first house, maybe got a new promotion at work or even started your own business.  By 1 PM you're 40's arrive, you are in the prime of life.  By 4 PM you're in your 50's the kids have grown up and left home for college or marriage, that crowded house with clothes on the floor and perpetual dirty dishes now seems empty and quiet. By 8 PM it's time to retire and enjoy the fruits of your labor, now the children are bringing by your grandchildren. You wish they would come by more often and stay a little while longer. By 10 PM you're in your 70's and life is moving slower, even your grandkids have grown up and are starting to have kids of their own. Suddenly its midnight your four score and ten years are gone.  What did you do with your life?  Do you learn from God to number your days?

Conclusion:

If we realized that when the clock struck midnight tonight our own life's clock would stop and I could not go another second, what would I be doing now?  Spending my time on things that count for eternity!  Time with my family so that they might be there with me. Time in God's word that I might face eternity more prepared. Time spent in prayer that I might walk a little closer to Him with whom I will dwell forever. Time spent telling others about Jesus my Lord that they could come to know Him as I do. Time spent in Church among the saints of God with who I will join in a heavenly choir to sing the praises of God.

But that investment in a life that counts, that redeeming of time, can only begin when you ask God to teach you to number your days?  I will ask once more, can you remember a time in your life when you came before God and simply cried out, “Lord, make my life count for you. Don’t let me come to the end of my life and realize that I have done nothing that will last for eternity. Oh Lord God, establish the work of my hands. Teach me to number my days”