Psalm 90 Amplified Bible
Book Four
God’s Eternity and Man’s Transitoriness.
A Prayer of Moses the man of God.
90 Lord, You have been our dwelling place [our refuge, our sanctuary, our stability] in all generations.
2
Before the mountains were born
Or before You had given birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are [the eternal] God.
3
You turn man back to dust,
And say, “Return [to the earth], O children of [mortal] men!”
4
For a [a]thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it is past,
Or as a watch in the night.
5
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep [forgotten as soon as they are gone];
In the morning they are like grass which grows anew—
6
In the morning it flourishes and springs up;
In the evening it wilts and withers away.
7
For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been terrified.
8
You have placed our wickedness before you,
Our secret sins [which we tried to conceal, You have placed] in the [revealing] light of Your presence.
9
For all our days pass away in Your wrath;
We have finished our years like a whispered sigh.
10
The days of our life are [b]seventy years—
Or even, if because of strength, eighty years;
Yet their pride [in additional years] is only labor and sorrow,
For it is soon gone and we fly away.
11
Who understands the power of Your anger? [Who connects this brevity of life among us with Your judgment of sin?]
And Your wrath, [who connects it] with the [reverent] fear that is due You?
12
So teach us to number our days,
That we may cultivate and bring to You a heart of wisdom.
13
Turn, O Lord [from Your fierce anger]; how long will it be?
Be compassionate toward Your servants—revoke Your sentence.
14
O satisfy us with Your lovingkindness in the morning [now, before we grow older],
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15
Make us glad in proportion to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have suffered evil.
16
Let Your work [the signs of Your power] be revealed to Your servants
And Your [glorious] majesty to their children.
17
And let the [gracious] favor of the Lord our God be on us;
Confirm for us the work of our hands—
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
“So, Lord God, Teach Us to Number Our Days,”
Often in life we think we are heading in the general direction of our goal, our life is moving steadily along on cruise control, we finally get to that somewhere , we look around and survey the landscape of all the success, but we still end up lost.
Though we might start out well, we might achieve what we feel is the best, but we can quickly realize that the best was not in fact, the best, then lose interest in seriously considering everything but exactly the next actions we must take.
A sudden barrage of questions arise within – are we living up to our potential?
Are we being “all we can be?”
Are we being “all we can be” for those who need us to be their “all we can be?”
Living unto, into our full potential, Living up and into to a set of standards?
Have you ever felt like you are not living up to your God potential?
Ever felt like you ought to be closer to God than you are?
Or that you ought to know God better than you do?
We all get to a point in life when we have seen so much of life, where we have experienced so much of life, or where we have sinned against God and how we believe God wants us to live.
We succeed and then we fail.
We glorify God when we succeed and when we think we have done too many wrong things, have failed one too many times for God to continue to bless us.
We conclude we have sinned too much.
We have been too disobedient and we have wandered too far.
We have grown too old and too set in our ways, too inflexible in our thoughts.
Therefore God is done with us – change and transformation are not possible.
God won’t use me anymore.
God can’t use me anymore.
God will not use me anymore
God is through with me, God is certainly going to be washing His hands of me.
God is no longer available to me because I am no longer usable, available to God.
Have you been there?
Are you there right now?
Have I been there?
Am I there right now?
Without Exception
Without Purpose of Evasion
– Resoundingly, Undeniably, Undoubtedly, Absolutely – YES! YES! YES!
Here is some good news.
God is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week God.
God is always available – ever vigilant, no slumber nor sleep, eyes always open!
God is always accessible!
The Kingdom of God is always going to be available.
The Kingdom of God is always going to be there.
The Kingdom of God is always going to be accessible.
The Question: will we ourselves always be available and accessible to God as God and the Kingdom of God is always and forever available, accessible to us?
Is our Prayer anything close to sounding like… (Psalm 90:12)
12
So teach us to number our days,
That we may cultivate and bring to You a heart of wisdom?
In order not to lose track of where we are going and why we are going there, the psalmist encourages us to “ask God to teach us to number our days.”
The writer is not talking about any exercise of basic, simple nor complex math—that being our counting the number of days that we might potentially live.
No one knows “the number of our days” but God himself.
Rather, the psalmist wants us to realize that nothing in this life except living for God should be our ultimate goal, or the ultimate treasure we have in mind.
Money, fame, possessions—none of that will last.
As a popular sayings go,
“When you die, you can’t take it with you.”
“Ain’t never seen any U-Haul trailers hauled behind no Hearses.”
“That We May Cultivate and Bring to You a Heart of Wisdom.”
God is not done with you.
One more time – God is not done with you.
God is not done with me.
God is not done with any of us.
God has not quit on you.
God has not quit on me.
God has not given up on any of us.
God is still available to you.
God is still available to me.
God is still at work.
God still speaks and God still wants to be known.
Four key insights into God’s availability from Moses’s encounter with God.
Key 1 – Avoid being so consumed with life that you miss what God is doing.
Let’s turn to the Scripture and pick up with Moses, who is still far from God.
One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” Exodus 3:1-3
Moses wasn’t so consumed with his job that he didn’t notice the burning bush.
Now many of us might wonder what Moses has to be consumed with.
He was herding sheep, which is exhausting, mainly because they would have had some Rams in it.
Female sheep are called Ewes.
Male sheep are called Rams.
According to most farmers, the Rams are evil.
While ewes (the female sheep) are generally docile, non-aggressive animals, this is not usually the case with rams (the male sheep), especially during the breeding season.
Rams can be very aggressive and have been known to cause serious injuries, even the death of people.
Therefore, a ram should never be trusted, even if it is friendly or was raised as a pet.
It is essential always to know where the ram is and to never turn your back on him.
Moses sees this burning bush.
Common sense would tell a sheepherder to move the sheep away from the fire.
But Moses didn’t let the business of watching sheep keep him from noticing the God thing.
He did not turn away from the God thing.
Instead, he turned toward it, which leads to the following key.
Key 2 – Allow curiosity to lead you toward God – even when uncomfortable.
Our most significant victories and achievements rarely happen when we are comfortable.
Instead, they occur when we are willing to step outside our comfort zone.
They happen when we take what little faith we may have and trust God.
Moses noticed something was up.
He saw something out of place and unusual, a bush that wasn’t being consumed by the fire.
So he chose to move closer and find out what was going on.
The Scripture continues:
When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. The Lord responded, “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:4-7,10
Moses had to be freaking out that God was speaking to Him.
But he is also leaning in.
So it seems to me that there are a set of God things happening around us today.
A spiritual awakening of sorts is happening on some college campuses, in micro-church and church planting movements.
Don’t run away.
Lean in. Check it out.
Key 3 – After you begin to investigate what God is doing, expect God to speak.
There is so much in this passage.
Let’s reread a piece of it.
So, we can take a closer look.
When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. The Lord responded, “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Exodus 3:4-5
God did not speak to Moses until after Moses began to investigate.
Did you catch that?
God didn’t speak until AFTER Moses took a tangible step toward God.
God often waits for us to move closer to Him before He reveals more of Himself to us.
Here is the challenge.
We can get lost in our routine.
One of my favorite sayings goes like this:
“The problem with life is that it is so daily.”
Life in the wilderness as a shepherd would have been way routine.
First, take care of the sheep.
Next, find grass for the sheep.
Then, find water for the sheep.
Repeat.
A bush on fire would have been unusual.
But what made it way unusual?
What made it unique?
- The bush is not being consumed – it is burning but not burning up.
- There is a divine presence in the bush – it is holy ground.
- God speaks from the bush.
Moses could have run away fast and furious.
But he chose to move in instead.
He chose to move toward God.
What’s the result of his moving closer to the things of God?
That leads to the fourth and final key.
Key 4 – Assume that continually moving closer to God will help you and me discover God more fully.
Moses discovers his purpose for the next phase of his life.
Moses gets the next step of his life laid out because of this connection with God.
“Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:10
God being near to us isn’t just an old testament concept.
We see it all throughout the New Testament as well.
As Paul was reasoning with a crowd of atheists and people of other religions, he explained that God put people in specific times and places during history.
Check out Paul’s words:
“His purpose is for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him — though he is not far from any one of us.” Acts 17:27
James – the leader of the early church – said it this way:
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8
Here is what it means to me:
God is as available to you and me as you and I are to Him.
Take advantage of that.
God is available to you as you are to Him.
Check out the promise in the Old Testament that is repeated often:
“If you seek him, you will find him.” 1 Chronicles 28:9
Jesus says this as well:
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
Don’t miss this:
We serve a God who wants to be found.
We serve a God who wants to be known.
We serve a God who wants to be discovered.
If you and I are far from God, it is because you and I have chosen to be far from God.
If you and I are not as close to God as you and I wish, that is all on you and me.
When we discipline ourselves to number each day with God as our main focus and guide and guardian, we gain deep wisdom for this life and the life to come.
Draw close to God, and God will draw near to you and close to me.
Take a step toward God, and God steps toward you.
Of course, I can’t and wont promise that if you and I do this, all our problems, hurts, and pains will be solved.
But I can promise you that if you move toward God, God will move toward you.
God will be with you and me as we journey through the ups and downs of life.
God is available.
God is accessible.
Are you?
Am I?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm …..
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Almighty God, you are the source of all life. We know each day of our lives is a gift from your hand. Help us live each day in the light of your Word. Heavenly Father, thank You for each day of life and for the opportunities You have given me to live a life unto You. May each day of my life, from this day forward, be exercised in a way pleasing to You so that in all I say and do You may be glorified. In Jesus’ name I pray,
Adeste Fideles! Laeti Triumphantes! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 