We Know Whose We Are – Psalm 90

A text – Psalm 90

¹ Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
² Before the mountains were brought forth
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³ You turn us back to dust
    and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
⁴ For a thousand years in your sight
    are like yesterday when it is past
    or like a watch in the night.

⁵ You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning;
⁶ in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.

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

⁹ For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    our years come to an end like a sigh.
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.

¹¹ Who considers the power of your anger?
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
¹² So teach us to count our days
    that we may gain a wise heart.

¹³ Turn, O Lord! How long?
    Have compassion on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us
    and as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶ Let your work be manifest to your servants
    and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us
    and prosper for us the work of our hands—
    O prosper the work of our hands!

A reflection:

One of my former colleagues at Luther Seminary, Dr. Rolf Jacobson, says that verses 12-17, the usual passage for this week’s text, are not enough. Psalm 90 is so beautiful a poem that we should read it all, and consider starting every day of our life with it. But, you might say, it is pretty bleak. God is eternal but we vanish overnight like a sigh, after a life full of trouble. Well, Rolf might say, it is a true picture of real life. God is the one eternal thing. Our lives fly by. God is ruler of the universe. We are not. It is our fundamental truth in 11 verses.

But then look how verses 12-17 build upon that truth. Until we acknowledge the truth of the first 11 verses, it’s just a sweet wish list to sing the final 6 verses in prayer and praise to God. But once we affirm God’s huge place and our small one in the picture, we can ask God to help us to be mindful of our days, ask God for wisdom, ask for the Lord’s compassion, and ask that we might always be aware of God’s love for us, no matter what happens. And, even, in a human’s wildest dream, ask that God bless what we do and create so that, even in our brief lifetime, we might add something wonderful to the life God has given us. As a morning prayer, it would show us daily who creates and sustains us, and it centers us in our relationship with God to bless our time. We know whose we are, and we choose not to waste what has been given to us.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for creating and sustaining our lives, and for hearing us when we are in trouble. Help us to be aware of our limited time in your world and to be wise as we work to serve you and our neighbors in love.  Amen.