Sunday, December 2, 2012 pm
STUDIES IN THE PSALMS
The Psalm of Moses
Psalm 90
This particular psalm is unique as it is described as a prayer
of Moses. As such, it
is the only psalm attributed to him and if he is the author (and there
is no reason to deny that), it is probably the earliest psalm.
Probably it was written toward the end of Moses’ life as Israel
is finally preparing to enter the Promised Land.
a.
Lord
– from the Hebrew word adonai, a word frequently translated as Lord, but
also master. It is applied
to both men (such as when Sarah called Abraham Lord – Gen 18:12, or a
ruler of a land) and God. It
is a word that focuses upon authority and majesty.
It is said that the Hebrews, out of reverence for the name YHWH and fear
of mispronouncing it, would use other terms to describe Him.
Adonai was often the word of choice, as in our text.
Clearly, Moses speaks of Jehovah God as He penned these words.
b.
You have been our dwelling place in all generations
– ever since Israel was formed, Jehovah was there.
HE was there when Abraham was chosen (cf. Gen. 12:1-3), when
Israel became a nation as they were exiting Egypt to go to Mt. Sinai,
and throughout their dwellings for 40 years in the wilderness.
WE have frequently discussed how God was the refuge for Israel.
His refuge was always there, in both good and bad times.
c.
Before the mountains
were brought forth…from everlasting to everlasting –
Moses acknowledges the power of God going back to even before
the creation of time as established by our universe.
NOTE that it was Moses who revealed the creation account (Genesis
1).
d.
You turn man to destruction – the NASU says, “back to dust” – and the point of Moses (cf.
Gen. 3:19). Man lives but
for a short time and then he will die.
That is demonstrated in the verses that follow.
e.
A thousand years in Your sight (4-6) – for God, time is inconsequential (See 2 Pet. 3:8).
This is because He IS everlasting – the One who created all
things, including time.
Moses describes God’s control as “like yesterday” or “a watch in the
night.”
NOTE: The point Moses is making is that God is in control because: 1) He
knows and sees all things, 2) All things continue according to His will,
& 3) “time” is on His side.
Being eternal, HE is NOT restrained by time to accomplish His purpose
(cf. Eph. 3:11).
“You carry them away like a flood”,
2) like sleep, and 3)like grass that grows, flourishes and then perishes
– so is God’s will, whether it be time or His dealings with generations
and people.
1 Pet. 1:24, Isa. 40:6, James 1:10-1, Matt. 6:30
– all use the illustration of grass that withers away after a
short while.
a.
IF this psalm was
written at the conclusion of the life of Moses, Israel is about to
finally enter the Promised Land.
Recall that they were in the wilderness for 40 years because of
their rebellion. The
majority of those who left Egypt have perished and those present who
witnessed the exodus were young at the time.
Moses in Deuteronomy reminded them of why they were punished and
challenged them to be faithful as they inherited the land.
In this psalm, Moses appeals to the wrath of God.
b.
We have been consumed by Your anger… We cannot escape the wrath of God.
When we rebel against Him, He knows and will act accordingly.
c.
You have set our
iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance
– When we
stand before God in judgment, books will be opened and our lives will be
examined. While we
understand that our hope of salvation is God’s grace (Eph. 2:8-9), yet
we also understand the need to remain faithful to Him (Rev. 2:10, 14:13,
Luke 9:62, 2 Pet. 2:20-22, etc).
In our text, we find a reminder that we cannot hide from God (Psa.
139:7-12).
Our iniquities are before Him, even our “secret sins” – (cf. Psa. 19:12,
1 Cor. 4:5, Rom. 2:16, Heb. 4:13, etc.).
FRIENDS, when we stand before God, if we stand condemned, we will
NOT be able to blame Him! It
will be our fault!
d.
All our days have passed away in Your wrath –
I see this expression as a clue to when Moses wrote this psalm.
The forty years of punishment have now been brought to their
completion. It’s time to enter the promised land.
e.
BUT not without a
reminder of the brevity of life,
The days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength
they are eighty years… we are reminded here that we don’t know how
long we have (Jas. 4:14).
And even if we are “blessed with a full life”, yet in the scheme of
things it is brief. We only
have ONE life to make things right (we will not be reincarnated based
upon our karma as some religions teach).
Filled with labor and sorrow - Our lives will be filled with good
and bad, but in the end we will be cut off.
f.
So teach us to number
our days -
Solomon dealt with throughout Ecclesiastes noting that no matter what we
do, we WILL die! Because of
the brevity of life, let us use our time wisely. Consider James 4:13-16
and our response to the brevity of life – “If the Lord wills.”
Don’t forget Eph. 5:16-17 where we are told to redeem the time.
That we may gain a heart of wisdom
– we need wisdom as we live this life.
How many cut their lives short because of foolishness?
How many live lives of sorrow because of foolishness?
Prov. 2:10-12 says that with wisdom we will be delivered from the
ways of evil. Prov. 3:5-6,
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart…”
g.
Thoughts: In Rom. 11:22
we are warned, “Behold the
goodness and severity of God…”
We need to be fully aware of both!
The Hebrew writer, dealing with brethren who were considering
turning away from Jesus and turning to the Old Law, warned them of the
example of Israel in the wilderness.
They failed to enter the Promised Land when they were supposed to
because of their rebellious conduct.
They answered to God for their sins.
– see Heb. 3:10-11, 17-19.
Heb. 4:1-2 – is a warning to us!
a.
Return O Lord!
Now that “the price has been
paid” that God demanded (i.e. 40 years in the wilderness) Moses
intercedes on behalf of the people, “Return O Lord.”
In all of these verses there is a desire to be restored to that
time when God’s blessing was fully upon them.
b.
Have compassion on Your
servants (13)
– the KJV and ASV say, “Let it
repent thee concerning thy servants.”
Clearly, God doesn’t repent as man does, but the point is they
had experienced the severity of God because of their sin, NOW as they
repent the request is that God change direction concerning them.
Moses, on behalf of Israel, craves God’s presence with them.
c.
Satisfy us early with
Your mercy –
a desire for quick resolution.
When things are not right with God, it ought to be a PRIORITY to
change that.
d.
That we may rejoice and
be glad all our days –
the more time we can serving and pleasing Him, the better.
If only we could get our youth to understand this!
How many foolishly squander away large portions of their lives
only to regret it later and be forced to live with the consequences of
their ungodly behavior.
Perhaps they will be spared (but there’s no guarantee), but there are
the regrets!
e.
VS. 15 – make us glad
according to the days we were afflicted –
a desire for MORE years to do good than to do wickedness.
f.
VS. 16 – Let your work
appear to your servants and Your glory to their children –
a desire for the good things associated with serving
God to be present (contentment, rejoicing always, hope, a meaningful
life doing good for others, prayer and worship without guilt, etc.).
When he speaks of “their children” I think of a lasting heritage.
Moses doesn’t simply pray for a single generation of loyalty, he
wants godliness to prevail for many generations to come.
Consider Prov. 22:6 speaks
of training up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he
will not depart from it.
Eph. 6:4 speaks of the responsibility of fathers to bring up their
children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
There is nothing of greater pleasure to a parent than to see
their children truly obey the gospel and live with God as their
priority.
g.
Vs. 17, “Let the beauty
of the Lord be upon us, and establish the work of our hands.
The psalmist began by acknowledging the lasting legacy of God.
He concludes with a request that what the people for whom he
intercedes will receive will be just as lasting – established.
Some say this is an establishment that goes beyond this life and
into the next. Certainly
that ought to be our ultimate goal – Rev. 14:13.
h.
Lesson: When we make
ourselves right with God (not that we have earned it), but we repent and
begin doing that which we ought to do, then and only then, can we turn
to God with this hope.
And thus we see the psalm of Moses.
The hope of Moses at that time was their inheritance of the
Promised Land. Our hope is
eternal, if we remain faithful, but also a fulfilled life for our time
here upon this earth. What
about you? Is your dwelling
place with God?