This week, we are looking at graduation and the reality
that while we live our life in the present and act as though the future is just
that, in the future, the future does come. And the future comes sooner than we
expected. And in a latter in the Bible called the book of Psalms, we see in the
perspective of a famous and familiar person that we see revealed for us a
timeless truth when it comes to how we approach living life here on earth. And
regardless of your age and stage of life, this timeless truth has the potential
to challenge and change how you approach life. Today, we meet the author and
this timeless truth together, beginning in Psalm 90:1:
A Prayer of
Moses, the man of God.
Psalm 90 begins by revealing for us its purpose and
author: A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Psalm 90 is a prayer that was penned
from the hand of Moses. Now Moses the man provides us an important perspective
on life that we should lean into for two very important reasons. The first
reason why we should lean into what Moses has to say is due to the fact that
the Bible tells us that Moses lived to be 120 years old.
But not only did Moses live to be 120 years old; in
Deuteronomy 34:7, we discover that although Moses was 120 years old when he
died, his eyes did not dim, nor his vigor abated. In other words, Moses was not
in a wheel chair in a retirement home having to be clothed and spoon fed when
he died. Instead, Moses had the same health and vitality that he did when he
was a young man. In addition, the Bible tells us that there was no other
prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. Moses was connected to God
in a way unlike any other man in human history.
The second reason why we should lean into what Moses has
to say is due to reality of all that Moses experienced during 120 years here on
earth. If Moses life was a book, that book would be divided into four chapters.
For the first chapter of Moses life, Moses lived as the adopted son of Pharaoh,
who was the most powerful person on the planet at that time in history. Moses
lived the life of privilege in palaces.
However, during the second chapter of Moses life, Moses
lived as a wanderer on the backside of humanity. At age forty, Moses fled from
Egypt and Pharaoh after killing an Egyptian who was abusing a fellow Hebrew. And
for forty years, Moses lived in utter obscurity as a shepherd who lived in a
tent in the desert.
Then, at age eighty, Moses entered into the third chapter
of his life, where he was used by God in a mighty and powerful way to deliver
the Jewish people from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. Moses was a
leader who led over one million people out of Egypt and toward the land that
God had promised them. For two years Moses led the Jewish people to Mount
Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments, and toward the Promised Land.
However, after that period of two years, Moses entered
into the fourth and final chapter of his life, which involved him spending the
final 38 years of his life being challenged, questioned, and resisted by the
very people whom he had led out of Egypt.
So when Moses talks about having a proper perspective in
life, Moses knows what he is talking about, because he has seen and experienced
it all. Moses has experienced power and poverty; rejoicing and ridicule; God’s
grace and God’s wrath. So when Moses talks we should listen. And Moses, as he
looked into the rearview mirror of his life, sat down to pen a prayer to God
that was preserved for all of history. So let’s look at this prayer together,
beginning in the second half of verse 1:
Lord, You
have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to
everlasting, You are God.
Moses begins his prayer by proclaiming the greatness of
God. Moses explains that throughout human history, God has been our dwelling
place. In other words, Moses is revealing for us the reality that we exist
because God first existed. Before there were mountains, land, or continents;
before there was time or space; there was God.
You see Moses knew God by name. Moses knew that God was I
AM, which literally means “I Be; I have always existed”. Even from everlasting
to everlasting; from eternity past to eternity future; Moses knew who God was
as the eternal creator of the universe and the giver of life who spoke the
universe into existence. But not only does Moses proclaim God as the Creator
and Giver of life. As Moses continues, we see Moses prayerfully proclaim
something else about the greatness of God in verse 3:
You turn man back into dust And say,
"Return, O children of men."
Now doesn’t that sound like something right out of a
“Lord of the Rings” movie? "Return, O children of men." You shall not
pass. Here Moses is proclaiming that God is not only the giver of life; God is
also the taker of life. It is God who is large and charge over life. It is God
who sovereignly gives life and it is God who sovereignly takes life or permits
life to be taken.
Moses begins his prayer by acknowledging God as the One
who is large and in charge over His creation. And Moses, throughout his life had
observed God give and take life. But not only is God large and in charge over
life. Moses reveals another aspect of God’s greatness in verse 4:
For a thousand years in Your sight Are like
yesterday when it passes by, Or as a
watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In
the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it
flourishes and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades and withers away.
Moses continues his prayer by proclaiming that God is
large and in charge of time. From God’s perspective, a thousand years in our
eyes is a like a day in God’s eyes. A thousand years in our eyes is like a four
hour shift in the middle of the night to God’s eyes. Now a natural question
that arises here is “Why would Moses pick a thousand years as a point of
comparison?” Here is why Moses picked a thousand years. The longest span that
any person in human history lived is 969 years, which is the length of time
that Methuselah lived on earth.
So now you know where the reference to Methuselah comes
from when someone says that someone is as old as Methuselah. Moses point here
is that the longest human life on earth is only like hours or a day to God.
Moses point is that the longest human life is insignificant when compared to
the eternal God. You see, God is not bound by time but looks down on time.
Moses further unpacks the greatness of God in verses 5
and 6 by painting two different words pictures to describe how God is large and
in charge of time. Just like a monsoonal flood can suddenly sweep away people
and property, as human beings we are here one moment and then suddenly gone the
next.
Just as the dessert grass and flowers can bloom one
morning and then be withered away by the scorching dessert wind, as human
beings, life is short. And unfortunately, for some of you high school students
you know this reality far too well, as classmates that you thought would be
graduating with you this year are no longer here. And for many of us here,
regardless of age or stage of life, we have experienced this reality as well. And
Moses had experienced this harsh reality in his own life.
So as Moses penned this prayer, he wanted to make
unmistakably clear that he proclaimed God as being who He was, which is the One
who is the giver and taker of life that rules and reigns over time and
life. Now a natural question that could
arise here is this: “Well Dave, why is life short? Why don’t we live as long as
Methuselah? Why are people here one moment and then swept away suddenly by
either tragedy or sickness?”
Friday, we will see Moses reveal for us the answer to
these questions…
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