Psalms of Honesty and Truth

Lately, my prayer is a consistent request to God to help me end well. I know, without doubt that I am redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. God is my forever home. Right now is temporary. Very temporary. So I pray that God leads me well so that who I am and what I do in Him, for Him and with Him is affirmed by Him.

Psalm 90 is noted for being the oldest psalm written by a man of God, Moses. It deals with themes that began with the fall of our first parents and will continue to be important and puzzling until the return of our Savior: eternal God and frail humans, a holy God and sinful man, life and death, and the meaning of life in a confused and difficult world.

It’s possible that Moses wrote this psalm after Israel’s failure of faith at Kadesh Barnea, when the nation was condemned to journey in the wilderness for forty years until the older generation died. That tragedy was followed by the death of Moses’ sister, Miriam, and his brother, Aaron. And between those two deaths, Moses disobeyed the Lord and struck the rock. How did Moses manage to become a “man of God” after forty years in pagan Egypt that ended in failure, forty years in Midian as a humble shepherd, and forty more leading a funeral march through the wilderness? Life was not easy for Moses, but he triumphed, and in this psalm he shared his insights so that we, too, might have strength for the journey and end well.

Psalm 90, New Living Translation
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

1 Lord, through all the generations
you have been our home!
2 Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from beginning to end, you are God.

3 You turn people back to dust, saying,
“Return to dust, you mortals!”
4 For you, a thousand years are as a passing day,
as brief as a few night hours.
5 You sweep people away like dreams that disappear.
They are like grass that springs up in the morning.
6 In the morning it blooms and flourishes,
but by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We wither beneath your anger;
we are overwhelmed by your fury.
8 You spread out our sins before you—
our secret sins—and you see them all.
9 We live our lives beneath your wrath,
ending our years with a groan.
10 Seventy years are given to us!
Some even live to eighty.
But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble;
soon they disappear, and we fly away.
11 Who can comprehend the power of your anger?
Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve.
12 Teach us to realize the brevity of life,
so that we may grow in wisdom.

13 O Lord, come back to us!
How long will you delay?
Take pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love,
so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.
15 Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery!
Replace the evil years with good.
16 Let us, your servants, see you work again;
let our children see your glory.
17 And may the Lord our God show us his approval
and make our efforts successful.
Yes, make our efforts successful!

Take a deeper, second look…
We Are Travelers and God Is Our Home (vv. 1-2). God is…and we are not. From the beginning God…not us. It’s all about Him.

We Are Learners and Life Is Our School (vv. 3-12). We work against man made time constraints, God works His best for us in HIS time. Wisdom is developed in the school of life here.

We Are Believers and the Future Is Our Friend (vv. 13-17). Let our children see Your glory. May Your glory be seen in us and in the generations to come. May we live in gratitude for your blessings of salvation, provision, protection, and peace. May we finish well, leaving a legacy of God’s love in us in them. Yes, affirm the work You have given us to do. May we finish well.
In Jesus Name, Amen

Pause to ponder…
How can we invest our lives rather than just spend it?