Psalm 90 - Monument Building

Welcome - joke about reverse cameras for those watching online! ;-)

I received my undergraduate degree from Illinois College, the FIRST college ever founded in the state of Illinois. It was founded in 1829 by a group of former seminarians from Yale who’d ventured out west. It’s a rich place, full of history.

There’s our most famous alum, William Jennings Bryan - 4 time presidential candidate and famous defender of Creationism and opponent of Darwinism in the famous Scopes Trial. And then there’s the fact that Abraham Lincoln spent a good deal of time at our Alma Mater, even having delivered a speech at the school once. One of the founding faculty of the school was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother and on and on.

This is a picture of one of the first buildings on our college’s campus, Sturtevant Hall. In fact, this building is so old and connected to the history of the school, that it is featured in the School Song - Hail, Forever, Alma Mater.

And part of what makes it so iconic is that it became tradition for members of the graduating senior class to etch their initials into the side of the building before graduation. Thousands of people making their mark on the school before they left the campus for the final time.

This building and all of the initials carved into the side of it serves as a monument, of sorts to all of the great things that happened to these students during their years at the school. That’s what monuments do - right? They cause us to REMEMBER.

And this is something that the Lord knew and used in the lives of his people throughout history. In just one particular instance, we read about the Lord asking the children of Israel to mark the place where they were witnesses to a miracle that the Lord had brought to fruition.

Look at Joshua, chapter 4, verse

Joshua 4:4–7 (ESV)

4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”

You see, God knows that we are forgetful people. and it’s so much more than getting distracted in the grocery story and forgetting the ONE THING that you went there for in the first place - wait, am I the only one that happens to?

No, the Lord knows that unless we are constantly taking the time to stop and REMEMBER that we will lose sight of all of the amazing things that He has done and then lose hope for the amazing things He has YET to DO.

So, as we continue our lessons in prayer through the Psalms this week - our takeaway is that a critical piece of prayer is REMEMBERING.

Let’s stand and read Psalm 90, our text for the week:

Psalm 90 (ESV)

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. 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. 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. 7 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 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. 13 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

PRAY AND SEAT

Music journalist Wayne Jancik wrote the ACTUAL book on one-hit-wonders. If you’re not familiar with the concept, the idea of a one-hit-wonder is a musical artist who achieves massive success in music industry with a particular song and is never able to duplicate similar success from that point forward. Maybe you’re familiar with some examples that Jancik lists in his book:

1969 - The Archies: Sugar, Sugar

1979 - Sugarhill Gang: Rapper’s Delight

1970 - Norman Greenbaum: Spirit in the Sky

1980 - Devo: Whip It

1982 - Dexy’s Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen

1990 - Vanilla Ice - Ice, Ice, Baby

1993 - Tag Team - Whoop, There it Is

2004 - Howie Day: Collide

2010 - Orianthi: According to You

Now, I fully realize that I’ve lost some of you at this point, as you start to load up your Spotify playlists with some of these blasts from the past or others of you as you try and rack your brain to think of other examples of the one-hit-wonder phenomenon. And believe me, there are LOTS of examples (as an aside, I’m not ENDORSING any of these songs - just raising them as an example ;-))

But I raise the point to highlight that Psalm 90 could be categorized as a bit of a one-hit-wonder of sorts. See, it’s the only Psalm that we know for sure was written by Moses. And it’s certainly one that would meet the criteria of massive impact. And it’s important for us to remember some things about Moses’ life as we think about THIS being THE Psalm that He was led by God to write.

For those who aren’t familiar with Moses’ life, or it had slipped your mind, here’s a brief recap of the high points of His life that we find in scripture:

he’s born during the 400 year period when the Hebrews were slaves

shortly after his birth, a decree is issued that any newborn Hebrew child is to be thrown into the Nile

he’s hidden in a basket floating out into the Nile, which is eventually discovered by the pharaoh’s daughter and she has him rescued

miraculously, Moses’ BIRTH mom is hired by Pharaoh’s daughter to care for him as he grows

Moses never loses sight of his Hebrew heritage, though, and so after he’d grown a bit, he intervenes on behalf of a fellow Hebrew who was being beaten unjustly and ends up killing the perpetrator

He flees to the desert to hide out, afraid he’ll be punished

eventually he has a miraculous encounter with God and is called by God to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land

The Lord uses Moses and his brother to make it known that Yahweh is the one in charge through miraculous plagues and signs

and then the Lord uses Moses to lead the people across the Red Sea - which God parted for them to walk through

the people wander in the desert for a while under Moses’ leadership and are constantly grumbling against God

Moses - time and time again - goes before the Lord to plead on behalf of the people

And then we read the central message that Moses wants to leave with the people through the book of Deuteronomy

AND THAT MESSAGE IS THIS: DON’T FORGET TO REMEMBER.

Don’t forget to remember all that God has done for you and the ways that Yahweh has demonstrated that He is the one TRUE GOD. Listen to how it’s summarized in Deuteronomy chapter 8:11-20:

Deuteronomy 8:11–20 (ESV)

11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

So when Moses writes Psalm 90 - it’s fitting that the Lord uses him to do it, given everything he’d walked though - the core lesson we can take away, specifically as it relates to prayer is that prayer is OFTEN about REMINDING ourselves of what God has done.

And I think Moses gives us three big things we can REMIND ourselves of as we go to God in prayer:

God gives us a home.

God give us life - by saving us from His wrath

God gives us a future.

Look at verse 1 again of Psalm 90:

Psalm 90:1 (ESV)

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Some translations render the word for dwelling place as REFUGE. Fitting, right? For us here at Refuge church, even the name of our church can serve as a reminder that regardless of any sort of present circumstances, we can COME HOME and FIND HOPE in Jesus.

Remember that the man who penned those very words had some experience with not having a home - thrown into a river in a basket because his own home wasn’t safe, fleeing into the desert because his home could lead to prison, growing up as a foreigner in a strange land, leading his people to wander in the wilderness for a generation…Moses knew FIRST HAND what it felt like to be drifting and with no place to call home.

And some of you here today, joining online, or listening later in the week, you’re feeling as if you don’t have a spiritual home. Jesus invites you to REMEMBER that HE has been your dwelling place -your Refuge and He will CONTINUE to be that for you.

As you cry out to him in prayer - remember that!

God gives us a home - He also gives us LIFE - by saving us from His wrath.

If we look at verses 11 -14 of Psalm 90, we can see pretty clearly the sober reality that the wrath of God is not something to be trifled with.

And this is not a subject that we LOVE talking about - God’s wrath. But here’s why talking about God’s wrath is actually GOOD NEWS. Think of it this way: imagine if you were hired for a job and welcomed into the company with absolutely no instructions about office policies or job responsibilities or expectations. You go about your day doing things that you THINK are important or good, but then suddenly your boss walks in and fires you for not living up to what is expected of you. And your co-worker, who was doing things seemingly the same way as you was allowed to keep their job. You’d think to yourself, what just happened?!? I had no chance to live up to the expectations and it’s not fair that this other person got to keep their job! Where’s the consistent standard and how come things weren’t communicated to me clearly?

God’s wrath - His desire for a perfect standard to be lived up to…that’s not like a fickle boss who seems to hide the rules from you just to pull a GOTCHA on you and pull the rug out from under you. Moses puts this super clearly in verse 8:

Psalm 90:8 (ESV)

8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

But here’s where it comes around to the GOOD NEWS part of this: just as sure as God’s wrath is towards sin and demanding a punishment be paid - JUST AS SURE is what verse 14 highlights for us - the STEADFAST LOVE of the Lord towards us. Demonstrated through the death and resurrection of Jesus. So, while we can be SURE OF and SHOULD REMEMBER God’s WRATH towards sin, we SHOULD ALSO REMEMBER THAT GOD GIVE US LIFE THROUGH HIS STEADFAST LOVE!

So, God gives us a home, He gives us life and Moses also tells us that He gives us a future.

Verses 16-17 highlight the work of the Lord in the lives of our children and our children’s children. And it’s without question HIS WORK and HIS HAND that accomplishes it, but we can REMEMBER that our future is secure in HIM!

Throughout the scriptures, we hear the Lord instructing His people to take INTENTIONAL steps to make sure that they REMEMBER all that He has done for them. Because, He knows that when we FORGET is when we often get into trouble. The Lord is calling us to learn to REMEMBER Him and ALL THAT HE HAS DONE as we LEARN TO PRAY. Remembering that He gives us a home, a life and a future.

Following the service today, we are going to be holding an outdoor baptism service, which can be one of these “monuments” of sorts that we can build to remind ourselves of all that the Lord has done for us.

Baptism serves a number of purposes, but the first and foremost is a public declaration to the world of what JESUS has done for us. We’re buried with Him in His death and we are RAISED to LIFE with HIM through His resurrection.

So as we think about the role of REMEMBERING in our prayers we can think back to moments like our BAPTISM as a tangible example of God calling us home, to life and to a future. May we, as we pray, build more and more monuments to declare to the world AND ourselves that the LORD has DONE GREAT THINGS.