Title: FRAMING OUR DAYS

Focus: The Spirit of God directs us in Psalm 90 to frame our days, and thus he gives us hope and direction in the year to come.

Function: To move the people to see ourselves and our days in light of God’s eternity, sovereignty, and glory.

Text: Psalm 90:1-17

 

            When Isaac Watts wrote his versification of Psalm 90, he framed our existence within God’s eternity and providential care. In his first stanza, Watts wrote: O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. Here, the emphasis is on God being our shelter.

In his last stanza Watts wrote: O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, still be our guard while troubles last, and our eternal home. Here, the emphasis is on God being our guard. In versifying Psalm 90, Watts framed our lives under the wings of God’s care and protection.

I think that Isaac Watts grasped the mood and drift of Psalm 90 correctly. For the Spirit of God directs us in Psalm 90 to frame our days. And in doing so, the Spirit of God gives us hope and direction in the year to come.

2009 has been a very difficult year for the nations of the world. An economic world recession has shaken the financial security of millions of people. The ongoing violence of terrorism and struggles of war among tribes and nations have contributed to great instability in the Middle East as well as in the Western world. And the prospects for peace and world stability in 2010 seem to be elusive.

In our own country, we have become deeply aware of political turmoil in Washington, where our elected officials seem to be unable to lead our nation with unity and moral integrity. We are a divided country: health care issues, unemployment, immigration policies, and unrestraint spending, to name only a few, have created discontent and uncivil discourse among Americans.

We are also loosing strong moral footing in society. Common sense is traded in for foolish behavior: the boundaries of right and wrong are blurred. And societal discontent is rising. How shall the Christian church enter 2010? With fear and trepidation, or with hope and steadfast trust in God? How shall we exit 2009? With heavy hearts, or with a quiet confidence? Tonight, I want to take Psalm 90 on our lips and pray it with you. For the Spirit of God directs us in Psalm 90 to frame our days with the wings of God’s protective and ongoing care.

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            First, I want to make some general observations about Psalm 90; then we’ll focus on some particular features of the psalm.

            Throughout the centuries the Christian church has prayed Psalm 90 with diligence and passion. The Church in the Eastern part of Europe, for example, has always associated Psalm 90 with the beginning of the day. At 6 AM in the morning, at the time of Prime (or 1st hour of prayer), Christians would cry out: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations…establish the work of our hands.”

            The Church in the Western part of Europe would traditionally pray Psalm 90 on Thursdays, at the hour of dawn. In the Western Monastic tradition, monks and nuns, however, prayed Psalm 90 every day at 6 AM at the close of their first hour of prayer. Just before going out to their morning labor, they would pray, “May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.”  Thus we see that the Church, historically speaking, has used Psalm 90 to frame the days and the lives of all her members. Our times, indeed, are in God’s hand. And our existence, including our labor, depends upon God’s favor toward us.

            Another observation about Psalm 90 pertains to its author. Inspired by God’s Spirit, it is Moses who prays this moving psalm. It’s not King David, or Asaph, the court musician of Israel’s king, but Moses—the leader of Israel at the time of the exodus. There are no other psalms of Moses in the Bible. And that rarity of Moses’ psalm, of course, heightens the church’s interest in this prayer.

            Remember, for example, that Moses lived in Egypt—at Pharaoh’s court, in splendor—for 40 years; then fearing for his life, Moses fled into the wilderness, married Zipporah, had children, and watched over the sheep of Jethro, his father-in-law for 40 years. He knew poverty and the harsh conditions of making a living in the wilderness. Then God called him at the age of 80 to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land. For 40 years, Moses and the Israelites wandered in the desert toward the Land of Canaan.

He learned about hunger and thirst and snakes; he learned about issues of leadership—unhappy campers, stubborn idolaters, disobedient covenant breakers whom God disciplined with miracles but also with great signs of wrath. Thousands died on their way to the Promised Land. A whole generation perished before entering the Land of Canaan. Moses saw it all.

You can almost hear Moses think about these wilderness days when he prays: “You turn men back to dust, saying, ‘Return to dust, O sons of men.’…You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning—though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.” Knowing that Moses is the inspired author of Psalm 90 helps us to frame our own days and lives under the wings of God’s care. For we, too, sense and know the shortness of life and the strife and strain in our daily work.

            Here are some particular features of Moses’ psalm:

(1)                        Life is short: Moses contemplates the shortness of life and says: “All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”

Moses knows the Word of God; he knows about our 1st parents’ disobedience; he knows God’s curse of death in response to Adam’s sin. And Moses has seen the truthfulness of God’s Word at work all around him when God said to Adam: (Gen. 3:15-17) “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the seat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Thus Moses frames our lives clearly under the wings of God and our relationship to God. Moses is realistic about the shortness of life—in relationship to God’s curse of death on our sins.

            Here’s another feature of Psalm 90: (2) God is forever: Our lives may be short, and time may fly. But God is forever: “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”  Here we find good news: God is the only constant, the Ever Present Helper in our changing, fleeting world and short lives on earth. If we make God our home—our “dwelling place”—we find our footing, our rest, our security in life. Our lives may be short. But God is forever.

            Feature (3) We depend upon God’s mercy and favor: Listen to Moses: “Relent, O Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.” Moses reminds us in this prayer that God is the source of joy and love. He reminds us that God is at the center of our existence. By acknowledging the Lord our God and by drawing upon his favor and blessings each day, we find joy and purpose in life.

A life lived apart from God is a life wasted and hollow and void of purpose. A life lived out of the hand of God, however, leads to joy and a sense of purpose: “May your deeds be shown to your servant, your splendor to their children,” so prayed Moses. And by framing our days under God’s protective care and blessings, we also discover true wisdom. Thus Moses also prays: “Teach us (O Lord) to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Congregation, Psalm 90 is an appropriate psalm for us tonight to pray. It reminds us of three features: Life is short; God is forever; We depend upon God’s mercy and favor. That knowledge will help us to face 2010 with quiet trust and confidence.

Moses prayed this psalm as a pilgrim. He himself never entered the Promised Land. We, too, today are pilgrims. Our political leaders will not usher in the perfect world; they cannot create the perfect life; they cannot keep their hopes and promises; they cannot secure our happiness, or our peace and stability. Only God—in Christ—can do that. And he will, for Christ

 

Therefore, we frame our days with the wings of God’s protective love and care. And we enter 2010 with trust and confidence: Immanuel—God with us! May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us!

 

Now and always! Amen.