Thoughts for the Day

God’s Eternity and Human Frailty. A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

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,
rom everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn us back to dust,
and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’
For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
or like a watch in the night.

You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are consumed by your anger;
by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

For all our days pass away under your wrath;
our years come to an end like a sigh.
The days of our life are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Who considers the power of your anger?
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you.
So teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.

Turn, O Lord! How long?
Have compassion on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
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 manifest to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
and prosper for us the work of our hands—
O prosper the work of our hands!

(New Revised Standard Version)

* Psalm 90 was actually set for tomorrow in the Lectionary.

Thoughts

Today we find ourselves at the beginning of Book 4 of the Psalms (numbers 90-106). These are not linked to the Temple choirs, though most of them are for public worship, and they have given us a number of Canticles that we use in worship today, eg 95 (Venite) and 100 (Jubilate). In Book 4 God is usually addressed as Yahweh (the Lord). Most of these psalms are anonymous, but Psalm 90 is attributed to "Moses, the man of God".

There are few places in the scriptures that show God's grandeur and eternity set against our frailty and limited life span, except perhaps for Isaiah 40. Notice the word our in the opening phrase of today's psalm. Yahweh is our God. He is our sovereign Lord, and our eternal shelter. Our lives are fleeting and ephemeral - like grass, or flowers that fade and disappear. No wonder we often use these words in funeral services.

In Psalm 90 we are reminded that when our short life is over we are turned back to dust. We are left in no doubt that this is because of our sin, for the call continues: "Turn back you mortals!" In the last stanza Moses sends the question back to God. "Turn, O Lord! How long?" and asks God to turn from his anger, have compassion on His people, and look favourably upon them. His final request is that God sends a blessing on the work of His people - whose lives must have been totally dependant on the weather and on their being peace in the land. As Charles Spurgeon was to say centuries later, "They know that without the Lord they can do nothing."

↠ Ask God to look favourably upon your day, and give a blessing on whatever work you carry out.

Almighty God,
Gracious Lord,
Designer and Creator of all things,
we fall short of Your expectations
and our sins offend You
destroying our relationship with You.
We humbly ask Your forgiveness,
and for the strength to keep our promise
to amend our life.
May Your blessing be upon us this day
in all that we do.
Amen.