February 27 2022: Psalm 90, "Psalms for All Seasons: The Song of Moses"

Big Idea - From the palace to the wilderness, Moses learned all about the unfailing love of God and he learned to ask God for BIG things.

Prayer - “Lord, satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love… Establish the work of our hands and give us the courage to sing praise no matter what season we are living through.”

Scripture - Psalm 90

Introduction

Over the last five weeks we’ve looked at Psalms that walk us through some of the most important seasons of our lives.

We looked at Psalm 1, which taught us how to have our faith watered in every season.

We looked at Psalm 23, which is the psalm of God’s promised provision, now matter what place or season we find ourselves.

We looked at Psalm 78, which is a psalm for the season of child-raising and grandchild-raising.

And Psalm 122, which is the Psalm for seeking God.

Today, we complete our series with a Psalm by the most seasoned writer in the Bible: Moses.

Moses is one of the most impressive men in history. Born a Hebrew, raised as an Egyptian Prince in the house of Pharaoh. Moses lived to 120, and likely wrote Psalm 90 towards the later part of his life.

Psalm 90 isn’t about Israel’s history, or forbearers. It’s not about the commandments or the law. Moses’ final writing is a song. We call it a Psalm. Some believe this song is the first of its kind: the archetypal psalm that forms the pattern for all the Psalms that follow.

Moses writes Psalm 90.

Psalm 90 which like the book of Numbers is written about Moses and the people’s wilderness wanderings. After all that he’s observed. All he’s experienced. All he’s seen of God and of people, whether rulers or slaves, indentured or free. Urban or rural or desert. People call this Psalm simply, “The Song of Moses.”

Let’s read it together this morning. I invite you to stand for the reading and the hearing of God’s Word this morning:

Psalm 90: 1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”

4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—they are like the new grass of the morning:

6 In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.

7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.

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

9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.

10 Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11 If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.

16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.

17 May the favor[a] of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.

And may glory be to God for the reading and the hearing of His Word this morning, “Thanks Be To God.” You May be seated.

Now let’s walk through Psalm 90 together.

Verse 1 begins with “Lord.” Which is “Adonai” in Hebrew. Adonai is a ruler.

“Adonai,” Moses says. “Lord, our King, you have been our refuge in every generation.”

In these first 2 verses, Moses is saying,

A. God is Great

1. He is our Refuge. (v. 1) Our fortress, the One who protects us from our enemies.

2. He is our Creator. (v. 2a) “Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth…” (v. 2) Moses says.

3. He is Forever. (v. 2b)

“From eternity to eternity, you are God.” (V. 2b)

Moses grew up around greatness.

He grew up in the great house of Egypt.

His adopted grandfather, the Pharaoh, was great.

For his first 40 years, the palace staff bowed and told Moses that he himself was great.

After 40 days on Mt. Sinai, Moses learned who was truly great and who wasn’t.

90 days after leaving Egypt, the Israelites arrived at the foot of Mt. Sinai. God summoned Moses to the mountaintop. Here’s what happened:

On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram’s horn, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.19 As the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder. Exodus 19:16-19

Can you picture this? This is God! He’s big and He’s powerful. He shakes mountains and He speaks like thunder!

Just like the prayer that we often teach our children to pray at the dinner table, what Moses found out on that mountain top was that God is great.

And what Moses found out in the valley and emphasizes in v. 3-10 is that we are not great.

B. We are Not.

1. We are frail. (vs. 3-6)

2. We are fallen. (vs. 7-8)

3. We are finite. (vs. 9-10)

For 40 years, Moses lived with upper class Egyptians. For 40 years, he lived with working class Midianites. And for 40 years, he lived with lower class former-slave Israelites.

God is great… and we are not: that’s the theme of the Song of Moses.

Follow along from verses 3-6 as they emphasize the frailty of humankind:

3 You return mankind to the dust, saying, “Return, descendants of Adam.”

Verse 4: 4 For in your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night.

5 You end their lives; they sleep. They are like grass that grows in the morning— 6 in the morning it sprouts and grows; by evening it withers and dries up.

Moses emphasized in 3-6 that God is great, and we are finite. Time doesn’t age Him, but we age overnight.

In v. 7-8, Moses emphasizes that we are fallen.

7 For we are consumed by your anger; we are terrified by your wrath. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

God is great, and we are fallen. Nothing we do gets past Him.

That piece of candy you took when you were 8 years old?

That time you dissed your mother as an adolescent when you were 14?

When you pushed your little brother down, and pretended it was an accident?

Yeah…God saw all of that…

v. 9-10 continues with more good news!

10 Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years.

…they pass quickly and we fly away.

“We’re all the same,” Moses says, “frail and fallen and finite.”

Moses is saying, “God is big and strong – and we are small and weak.”... which is not meant to be an insult. It’s only meant to diagnose reality. It is God’s power and strength and only God’s power and strength that ultimately allows us to be something… something that is here today and not gone tomorrow.

Moses’ conclusion is We need perspective. (vs. 11-12)

That’s what he’s saying in v. 12 when he says: 12 Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts.

“Help me see my life the way it really is and what it was meant for so that I can live the life you intend me to.” That’s wisdom in our hearts.

If his conclusion is, “We need perspective,” his application is, “once we get perspective, we ought to acknowledge God can really help us. And since He can really help us, we should ask Him to really help us – and not ask timidly, and not ask for small things.” Moses’ application to God’s greatness and our smallness is, “Ask Him for really big things!”

In his final 5 verses,

Moses prays 5 prayers, and they are all “go-big-or-go-home” prayers. They’re BIG prayers.

Perhaps he knew that big prayers would bring about big change in his and the people’s lives. Jim Collins once said in his book Good to Great, that we need to have “BHags”- Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Moses prayed BHag prayers in his song… we can learn a lot from them today.

Big prayer #1 = v. 13 says, “Turn and have compassion on me.”

It’s the most important prayer we’ll ever pray. And the first prayer we must pray if we want God to hear us. It’s the prayer He wants to hear from every person so that He can grant them compassion.

Compassion is sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.

It’s happened throughout history when a something bad happens and we feel concern for someone else. It’s what happens when when we say, “Hasn’t this person suffered enough?!” It’s what happens when someone loses a loved one. It’s what is happening to us right now as we look at a prosperous and democratic country being reduced to ruble simply because they want the freedoms that we all enjoy and a communist dictator is threatened by the possibility that they may lose their hold on power in their own country.

Compassion is a good thing because it means that our hearts are open and pliable. Compassion should lead us to our knees and prayer.

Big prayer #2 found in v. 14 is… for God’s love and joy to come to them.

Love and joy. In the New Testament, there are four words for love. The one you may have heard is agape. Which means unconditional love.

In the Old Testament there are several words for love too. This Hebrew word for love is the closest to agape.

It’s the word “hesed.”

There’s love, and there’s hesed love. When you see “hesed,” in the scriptures, it’s always translated with two words. Here it’s “faithful love.” Other versions use “steadfast love.” Or “unfailing love.” Or “lovingkindness.”

A little boy once explained that love is when his mom gives him toast with butter on it. But loving kindness is when she puts jelly on it too.

God’s hesed is a love that will never leave us or let us go.

Moses prays, “Satisfy us in the morning with your hesed love, so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.”

That’s a really big prayer.

Instead of praying for a new toga that will make him happy for a few days, or a new chariot that will make him happy for a few weeks, Moses prays for joy that will make him happy forever.

Imagine if you could have joy that would never leave you? I guarantee you’ll never have it without asking for it. You’ll never find it on your own. Only God could grant it to you.

Hesed love, and joy.

Big prayer #3 found in v. 15 is…To make up for the pain of my past.

This is big prayer because every one of his companions had either been a slave all their lives, or, if they were younger and had been born in the wilderness, and wandered in the wilderness all their lives.

The prayer is, “Make us rejoice for as many days as you have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity.”

Our past can hold us back from a brighter tomorrow. It can serve as a chain that keeps us tethered to all sorts of unpleasantness unless we learn how to remember the past, yes, but also to let it go.

Big prayer #4 in v. 16 is for God To let us see how He’s at work. (v. 16)

I can put up with pain as long as I can see God is doing something with it.

In the current Ukraine crisis, United Methodist pastors have opened up their churches as places of refuge and shelter from the war. I fear for them because history has shown us that discrimination has been rampid in places where communism has been the law of the land. When I was in Russia in December 2004, they had holiday trees instead of Christmas trees. The trees were to celebrate the new year instead of Christmas. I am sure that it dated back to the days when faith was outlawed in the USSR.

I fear for our Ukrainian brothers and sisters in Christ who have known freedom for the last 30 years because they have been able to worship without fear of reprisal in a democratic system of government. If an occupation is indeed where this is headed, they need our prayers more than ever because of the persecution they will experience, not only from occupiers, but also just from worshipping our God. My biggest issue with the current war is that a Jewish leader who has been known for anticorruption has been branded a Nazi simply to allow a war to be fought. In World War II, Bonhoeffer, a Christian minister in Germany, eventually lost his life because he continued to be bold in the face of persecution. His colleagues that unashamedly shared Christ were sent to fight on the front lines for the German forces because Germany knew that they most likely would not return. Let’s pray that our United Methodist brothers and sisters in Christ and all people of faith in the current crisis, that they are able to boldly stand up for Christ and be the church in the face of adversity. Let’s pray that they would overcome their fears and continue to be the church. Let’s support them so that the iron curtain that fell after WW2 does not yet again descend upon those living in the shadow of communism. And let’s pray for God to remind us about what we take for granted and how relatively easy it is for us to boldly share Christ in Savannah, Georgia as we do not want to stay within these walls, but we want to share Christ beyond White Bluff with the world!

Moses’ prayer is, “Let your work be seen by your servants!” That’s a big prayer you could pray every morning: “Let me see you at work today, Lord.”

And then there’s Prayer #5 which is a huge prayer, because it’s really a prayer for a lifetime.

In verse 17, Moses prays that God would establish the work of our hands.

He asks the Lord To make something significant from his life. (v. 17)

The number 1 hope of most people after they are gone is that their lives will have mattered… that they would have done something of significance while here on this earth. If you look at every headstone in a cemetery, it has the date of our birth and the date of our death. In the middle is a dash. What Moses was saying to God was that He wanted God to make something wonderfully awesome of his life during His dash.

When I think about Moses’ prayer, “Establish the work of our hands!”, the work of our hands cannot be eternally established unless the work of our hands is helping people who don’t know God get into a right relationship with Him. That is the only work that will last for eternity.

SALVATION POEM

It’s hard to believe, but next Sunday we begins our Lenten march to Easter. Our Lenten sermon series will be entitled “From the Ashes” and you will not want to miss it!

Easter is Sunday, April 17 this year. Save the date! Begin to invite your friends. We will have two worship services that Sunday at 9:30 and 11 am that are just alike here in the sanctuary. We will do this for two reasons. We anticipate more folks coming on Easter and so we want you to be able to have room to spread out. Kind of like potlucks, I’ve never understood how it works out with people not all coming to one service, but it always seems to work itself out. Easter is always exciting, and I am excited to be here for Easter!