Bloom Where You're Planted

“Be Where Your Feet Are.”

Glenn, who is a blogger, writes that this was one of the favorite sayings of his former football coach. He states:

“Of course, in his world of football, it means to dwell in the present. If a player has a bad play, he stresses to them to not let that play continue to distract them mentally and thereby cause the next play to be a bad one. The game is made up of many plays. In a sense, each play is an individual game. The player is to play each play individually. Win this play. Then win the next play. Play the game one play at a time. Play in the moment. Be where your feet are.”

What he says makes sense. To let anxiety rule the future or regret dominate the past, there is a sense in which we must make the most of today. Live for the Lord today and trust Him. In other words, “Be where your feet are.” Or to put it another way, “Bloom where you are planted.”

But there is also wisdom in seeing that we are transient and mortal. There is an instruction in this Psalm which is critical and timely.

To give you more of a context, Psalm 90 speaks of the eternality of God and the frailty of man.  It reminds you that your years are given to us as a gift from God.  Each one is precious.  We must make the most of them.  How do we do that? 

Thought to be written after the tragedy at Kadesh- Barnea, when God denied the Israelites entrance into the Promised Land because of their lack of faith, it is the oldest psalm in the book of Psalms. 

Even though the Israelites had to wander in the wilderness, they needed to be reminded of some important lessons.  Man is limited in many ways.  The first of which is…

WE ARE LIMITED BY SPACE, WHILE GOD IS OMNIPRESENT.

In other words, you are here. In this time and in this space. God on the other hand is everywhere: past present and future.

This psalm forms the start of book four of the Psalms.  Psalm 90 is entitled: “A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.”  Interesting to note that this is the only psalm that is ascribed to Moses.  As one commentator states, it

“...contrasts God’s eternity and human mortality.  Moses seems to pray for God’s blessing on his own generation, doomed to wander in the wilderness.” (New Geneva Study Bible, 854).

Notice verses one and two:

Psalm 90:1–2 ESV

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

As I stated earlier, Moses wrote this psalm during or around the time of the exodus and wilderness wandering.  This was a time when the people of God did not have an established home or a place where they could call their own.

In His character, in His love and in His identity as their Creator and Father, The prophet spoke of how God was their dwelling place, “throughout all generations.”  Although the Israelites did not have to have an established place, it was the Lord who took care of them. They were to depend on God for everything. 

Israel’s most powerful spiritual lessons would take place during this time. God would show Himself as their loving Father.

There were several reasons why God took His people through the wilderness.  Consider the following:

He would lead them with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.  Exodus 13:21-22 There were no street lights in the wilderness of Zin and Paran, east of Egypt.

He would part the Red Sea for them on their way to the Promised Land. Exodus 14:13-14

He would quench their thirst at Marah and then the 12 springs of Elim. Exodus 15:25-26  

Exodus 15:25–26 ESV

There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, 26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

He feed them by providing manna (aka heavenly bread) and quail.  Exodus 16

He would give them the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai as well as other laws I call “respect and responsibility” laws. He did this to teach them how to worship and live with each other. Exodus 20

He would give them instruction on the Tabernacle, a structure symbolic of the work His Son would accomplish in the future.  He would dwell with them in the Holy of Holies above the Ark of the Covenant.  

He did this all while they were moving, nearly two million of them (600,000 men).

This reminds us that sometimes we can get too attached to what is around us.  We don’t stop and consider that the only source of real stability in our lives is God.  It is only through a relationship with Him that the fear about the future can be taken away. 

In the words of Norval Geldenhuys:

"Without the coming of Christ we should have no assurance that God really exists as a personal God, perfect in love and mercy, and we should still have been overcome with fear as regards the invisible, the hereafter, the divine and eternal. But thanks be to God that His Son gave Himself to the world in condescending love and became Man, bringing a perfect revelation of God as the Holy and Merciful Lord."     

God is your dwelling place and Jesus must be your focus.  Jesus said in John 15:5:

John 15:5 ESV

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

WE ARE LIMITED BY SPACE, WHILE GOD IS OMNIPRESENT.  Secondly…

WE ARE LIMITED BY TIME, WHILE GOD IS ETERNAL AND TRANSCENDANT. 

This passage also reveals how mankind is incredibly finite.  Notice Psalm 90:3-6

Psalm 90:3–6 ESV

3 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. 5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

 Your existence is limited by time and ability.  The book of James describes us as a vapor that is here only for a short while. 

James 4:14 tells us:

James 4:14 ESV

14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

The truth is that none of us are promised tomorrow. And there is an old saying: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” A full life is one with 70 or 80 years. Some of us live much shorter; others live a lot longer.

Psalm 90:10–12 ESV

10 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. 11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

In contrast, God is unlimited by time and space.  Question #2 of the New City Catechism is “What is God?” Its answer:

“God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.” (New City Catechism, 19).

Notice the way that Peter puts it in 2 Peter 3:8:

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” 

Keil and Delitzsch put it this way:

“He is however exalted above all time, inasmuch as the longest period appears to Him very short, and in the shortest period the greatest work can be executed by Him. …A whole millennium appears to God, when He glances over it, just as the yesterday does to us… .” (Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Volume 5: Psalms).

Paul saw His life as a commodity for Christ.  He wanted to live on for the sake of his spiritual children, for those in Philippi.  But he knew with these imprisonments, he could, or maybe even would lose His life.  Notice Paul’s statement in Philippians 1:21: “For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” 

Joy is mentioned in this letter no less than 13 times.  His focus was ministry; ours should be as well.  Tim Tebow recently put things in good perspective when he said:

“Your character is who you are as a man and that's a lot more important... "It's a football game. That's one thing, if you're good or bad at football, but your character and integrity, that's who you are as a man. That's a lot more important. … I take that way more serious than I'll ever take a football game." (http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/53030/does-tim-tebows-story-add-up). 

Since our lives are short, how should we make the most of it?  Consider our church’s mission: To love God, serve others and grow disciples.  So I invite you to…

Make the glory of God your goal.

Make the love of others your mission.

Make your spiritual growth and that of others your passion. John Piper says that wherever he goes, it is to awaken affections for God.

CONCLUSION

This morning, we are limited by space, but God is omnipresent.  Secondly, we are limited by time, but God is eternal. 

Back to the football analogy, the great coach of the University of Alabama, Bear Bryant, carried the following in his wallet. I thought it was powerful. It says:

“This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is very important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving something in its place I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss- good, not evil- success, not failure in order that I shall not forget the price I paid for it.”