Life Backdrop

Life ’Backdrop

Psalm 90:1–12

This prayer of Moses, a great man of God, is a comfort and a challenge to you today.

Your grief and loss is real. You’re placing this death event into your view of life and eternity. What better way to find focus than to look at our everlasting God and his message of life and hope.

Moses leads us into the many facets of time and eternity with the everlasting God as the all-encompassing life, from here through eternity.

I. Life’s Context

First, we note life’s context (vv. 1–2). Moses reminds us of the big picture of life and eternity: “From everlasting to everlasting you are God” (v. 2). To acknowledge God, who is, who was, and who will ever be is, difficult for our finite minds. God has no beginning and will have no ending.

When we take our life and place it against the backdrop of eternity, it causes us to reevaluate what we are doing, what we believe, to whom we are committed, and for what purpose we are here on this earth. Because you are seeing your life against the backdrop of eternity, you are able to make better choices. Galatians 6:7 declares, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (KJV). The choices you are making determine the crop that you will harvest.

Here is another reason it is good to look at life from the backdrop of eternity. The focus of you alongside and against the backdrop of the everlasting Father will bring you into a spirit of humility. It is difficult to be filled with the pride of life and the haughty spirit of self’s greatness when you place yourself in backdrop of the eternal God. We have a tendency to be filled with pride of accomplishment and greatness of personhood.

Jesus would remind us: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29).

II. Life’s Brevity

Second, we note life’s brevity (vv. 4–6). A teacher once stimulated her students to think about life and its brevity by placing the figure 25,550 on the board for them to see when they arrived for class. Soon one of the students asked the teacher why that number was there. She explained that the number represented the number of days in the life of a person who lives to be 70. And, since most of us in this room have lived 16 years, 5,840 days are gone, and only God knows how many days you will have in this brief journey on earth.

In Psalm 90, Moses uses the picture of grass growing up in the day, being impacted by the noonday sun, then slowly withering by evening. So life appears as grass growing and withering (vv. 5–6).

James depicts life as “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Today is all you have. Yesterday is past. Tomorrow may not come. So, today, recognize that time is precious. In your todays, speak words of love to family, encouragement to fellow employees, kindness to the less fortunate. Do good to others in your todays. Restore broken relationships. Heal misunderstanding and confusion. Bring peace to troubled waters. Share with someone the good news of Christ and his wonderful love. Do these things in your todays.

III. Life’s Difficulties

Third, we note life’s difficulties (vv. 9–10). Into every life comes troubles, illness, stress, sorrow, and confusion. Moses underscores that no one is exempt from life’s difficult moments. He describes them as being marked by “trouble and sorrow.” But, throughout Scripture we are told that God is the one who comes alongside to bear your burdens, comfort your sorrow, and lead you through the difficult journey.

Jesus promised the holy Comforter. He said, “I will not leave you comfortless, but I will come alongside to lift you up through life’s difficulties and challenges” (John 14:18,

IV. Life’s Decisions

Fourth, we note life’s decisions (vv. 10b, 12). Moses helps us focus on the spiritual dimensions of life. We have been reminded that God leaves us free to choose our directions of life. A prayer by an unknown saint should be ours in these times:

Teach me, O Lord, not to hold on to life too tightly.

Teach me to hold it lightly; not carelessly, but lightly, easily.

Teach me to take it as a gift, to enjoy and to cherish while I have it.

And to let go gracefully and thankfully when the time comes.

The gift is great, but the Giver is greater still.

Thou, O God, are the Giver and in Thee is a Life that never dies. Amen.

Moses stated it so simply, “Teach us how short our lives really are so that we may be wise” (Ps. 90:12 NCV). [1]

[1] Jim Henry, A Minister’s Treasury of Funeral & Memorial Messages