Psalm 90: Teach Us to Number Our Days
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Psalm written by Moses, a prayer to God, addressed to God
1. God is our Eternal Refuge
1. God is our Eternal Refuge
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. (90:1)
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Gratitude, remembering that God has been their faithful dwelling place from the beginning and to all generations
Gratitude, remembering that God has been their faithful dwelling place from the beginning and to all generations
The people of God, from Abraham to Moses, never had a land of their own.
They were wanderers, sojourners. No home to call their own
Your home is a place of refuge. A place of safety, security, where all your possessions are, all that is important and necessary
Your food and provisions
material possessions
ID books and important papers
Its a place where family gathers together
A place where you belong
Israel did not have a place in this world that they could call home, a dwelling place, a refuge.
But, though they were homeless, they were not fatherless.
Moses thanks God for adopting them and being Himself their dwelling place, their refuge, their safety and security.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. (90:2)
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
acknowledges the eternal being of God
notice he doesn’t say “before you formed the mountains, the earth and the world, you were God”.
From everlasting to everlasting, you are God
God does not have a beginning or an end. He is eternal and unbound by the boundaries of time.
When Moses asked God to tell him how to introduce God to Israel, He said “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
God is eternal.
And what that means is that God is always the same. His is unchanging.
He is not restricted by time, not bound to time, and does not change with time.
But from everlasting to everlasting, before all time and forevermore, God is who He is. He is God.
As a people wandering from place to place, Israel lived through many changing environments and circumstances
They moved from place to place, eventually moved to Egypt, lived in good times and bad times, times of plenty and times of drought and famine, under a kind king of Egypt and a severe king,
Everything about their existence and experience in the world was constantly changing and unsettled… nothing was certain or guaranteed.
But this is what Moses recognizes and praises God for...
That in all generations, and throughout all the changing, uncertain and unsettled conditions they lived in - including their own changing and fluctuating faithfulness to God - God is God; unchanging, immovable, steadfast, faithful, truthful, powerful, righteous, good.
Even in his final blessing to Israel, Moses tells the tribe of Asher in “The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”
27 The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, ‘Destroy.’
The first verse of the Psalm before says “I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.”
And the first verse of the Psalm after tells us “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
1 I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
Our circumstances change, politicians change, financial situations change, bosses change, even our friends and family can change.
Our circumstances change, politicians change, financial situations change, bosses change, even our friends and family can change.
There is a massive worldwide campaign that is telling us that even the world’s climate can change
There are no guarantees in this world, what the future holds is uncertain, and our own allegiances, priorities and faithfulness are always changing
If there is any anchor, any certainty to which we can cling… it is only this:
In all generations, from everlasting to everlasting, God is God, God is faithful, God is our dwelling place.
Moses acknowledges the grace of God in that He adopted them and made Himself their dwelling place and refuge
God is eternal and unchanging - not only in essence but in providence.
Amid constantly changing and unsettled conditions in the world, God remains unmoved and unchanging. Always faithful, steadfast, truthful, powerful, righteous, good
2. God is Sovereign over our years
2. God is Sovereign over our years
When you lift your eyes up to God and consider who He is, then you can’t help but see that massive gulf between God and us... the contrast between God and us.
You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” (90:3)
Observe the contrasts:
God is God, but we are dust and to dust we will return
God is eternal, but we will die.
God is God, but we ret
3 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!”
God is unbound by time and from everlasting to everlasting He is God, but we have a beginning and an end. We die.
Not only do we know with certainty that our years are numbered and we will die and return to dust, but it is God who determines when that will be - “You return man to dust...”
Among all the changing times and challenges that face us as a world, as a continent, as a country, as a community, as a family, we nearly stress ourselves to death thinking about what we can do about all these problems BUT...
Not even our own years are in our hands or in our power to control.
Moses highlights this fact and reminds Israel and us, that God is sovereign over the world that He created, and He is also sovereign over us.
Our very lives are in His hands.
Or as Jonathan Edwards put it in the title of that most famous of his sermons… we are Sinners in the hands of an angry God
Now this ought to scare us and wake us up from our sleep, from our apathy towards God, from our worldliness, from our preoccupation with worldly things...
But it doesn’t, and the reason is, we think the years are long and we have more than enough time to enjoy ourselves chasing after the world and then we will get to God later.
Our problem is,
we think we have control, but it is only an illusion of control
We think we have time, but that is an illusion
We think the years are long, but it is an illusion
The reality is, we are NOT in control, but God is. And TIME… is extremely short.
Look at the perspective of time that Moses has:
“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.”
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.
How long are the years in God’s perspective, in the BIGGER perspective of things?
For God, 1000 years goes by as if that was just yesterday
Notice: not as one day, but as yesterday - it’s come and gone
Or like a watch in the night - a night watch was a shift of 3 hours. 1000 years is like 3 hours from an eternal, heavenly perspective.
He sweeps the years away as with a flood… 1000 years is swallowed up, washed away, gone suddenly
1000 years on earth compared to eternity, is like grass that is fresh in the morning but by evening is dead.
The point is simple:
Our time on earth, when compared with eternity, is extremely short and fleeting.
We need to look at time from the right perspective - from an eternal perspective
But because we see the world from a worldly perspective, we live as if we are in control and as if we have plenty of time.
When in reality, God is in control and time is fleeting - we don’t even know when He will say to us “return to dust”
We think we are in control when we are not, and we think we have time when we don’t.
As a result of our worldly perspective on sovereignty and time, we reject God as our safe harbour and refuge, and look instead for refuge and joy in this world.
In short, we live for this world, instead of living in light of eternity.
The rope illustration
We live as if
We came from dust, and to dust we will return - it is a brief lifespan
We came from dust, and to dust we will return - it is a brief lifespan
The contrast - eternal God vs mortal man
We must elevate our thinking… don’t try to understand God from a worldly perspective, but look at ourselves from an eternal, heavenly perspective
God is eternal, we are not
God created and formed the earth, we are not even in control of our own lives! It is God who determined to make the world, make us, and God who determines our days
A worldly perspective sees this world as our stable home, our lives as in our control, and the years as long. A heavenly perspective understands that only God is a safe refuge, God is in control of our lives, and our lives are short. This world and the years feel like an eternity to us, but to God 1000 years are like yesterday, come and gone. Or like a night watch of 3 hours (night divided into 4 watches).
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God sweeps our years aside so quickly that it is if they were taken away suddenly in a flood. Like a dream that comes and goes and is forgotten. Our lifspan is like grass that is new and fresh in the morning but fades and dies that same night
3. God is Holy
3. God is Holy
d
Psalm 90:
we are brought to an end by God’s anger...
the fall
and original sin
4. God is Merciful
4. God is Merciful
7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 8 They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.