The Bigness of God – Psalm 90

A text – Psalm 90:1-17

90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
90:3 You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
90:5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
90:6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
90:7 For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
90:8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
90:9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.
90:10 The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
90:11 Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
90:12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. 90:13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
90:15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
90:16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. 90:17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.

A reflection:

Psalm 90 is a poem linking the big, eternal, creator God with the universe, time, and human beings. It tries poetically, in rich images, to describe God’s vastness and timelessness:

“A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past. You sweep them away; they are like a dream.”

“Like grass…in the morning it flourishes…in the evening it fades and withers.”

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

Time is in God’s hand. God is eternal. God has been our dwelling place. God is larger and longer lasting than anything or anyone. We are by contrast short-lived and fragile, no matter how highly we might think of ourselves. All we can hope for is wisdom, a gift from God, so that our hearts are right with God, and the blessing of God upon what we do.

This psalm is a prayer: Please, God, let us know in the morning that you love us. Give us as many blessings as afflictions. Help us convey your story to our descendants. And prosper the work of our hands – our work will last, even if we are perishable.

It is peculiar, when you think of it, that concentrating of the vastness, the power, the wrath, even of eternal God, can be comforting. It should scare us to death, but if we know we belong to that big God, then even our frailty is overcome by God’s eternalness and overwhelmingness. It helps that the psalmist makes the claim that the Lord has been our dwelling place in all generations. We have our tiny place in the life of God.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us even though we are tiny in your eyes. Thank you for giving us work that, when blessed, can outlast us. Thank you for being the big and powerful creator that we take refuge in. Help us to remember that, when hope in the things of this world fail, we can trust in you, our dwelling place in all generations.   Amen.