When Life Disappoints (Psalm 90)

Psalm 90 is about time – God's time and our time. It speaks about the shortness and preciousness of life. The truth is that Times Flies and Life is Short! How can you invest your life rather than just spend it? Each of us needs to evaluate how we use the precious gift of time. We need to regard each day as a valuable gift from God. We need to make the most of what little time we have during our lives--which is very very short in light of eternity (Ps 90:2)! How would you like to live your life?

My favorite metaphor of life is that of an eagle flying in the sky (Isa 40:31; Ps 103:5). An eagle looks beautiful and majestic. When it is flying, cruising or soaring in the sky it looks like a symbol of freedom. It appears able to fly in any direction--north, south, east, west, while ascending or descending--at any speed--fast or slow or mid-range speed--according to it's own choice and decision. This is the picture of a life of freedom as a Christ-follower, always led by the spirit (2 Cor 3:17) and never enslaved by anything or anyone (Gal 5:1), yet always consciously obedient and surrendered to God and freely in love with Him (Dt 6:5; Mt 22:37).

Psalm 90 is distinctive for two reasons: (1) it is the oldest Psalm in the Bible and (2) it is the only Psalm authored by Moses. Psalm 90 is a prayer written by Moses while he was leading the children of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Because of their disobedience and lack of faith, they were disciplined by God. God would not let Israel enter the Promised Land until everyone over twenty years old had died. (Read the story in Numbers 13 & 14.)

Did you ever think how many Israelites died in those 40 years? Bible scholars estimate that over a million adults had to die – about half of the population. If you do the math (a million deaths in 40 years), it means that the children of Israel were experiencing seventy to eighty funerals a day! Added to their wandering and waiting was death and dying. It was the stuff of their everyday life. Death was knocking at their door – literally! Even though our present-day experience differs from that of Moses and the children of Israel, Psalm 90 still has plenty to say to us today. Psalm 90 is a Song of Wisdom; it teaches us how to live life and relate to God.

Psalm 90 is realistic, facing troublesome realities squarely and without flinching. At the same time, it is moving and beautiful in facing our insecurities and offering a remedy and a hope.

What do you do when your prayers are not answer and your hopes and dreams do not come true? Psalm 90 explores the question of how to react when bright expectations fail. It is  is realistic, facing troublesome realities squarely and without flinching. At the same time, it is moving and beautiful in facing our insecurities and offering a remedy and a hope.

Is life too short? Life is going by fast, especially as we get older and know that our remaining time is shorter than when we were young. Life frightens you unless you remember eternity. We are as rootless as tumbleweeds and will be blown about all our lives unless God is your dwelling place (Ps 90:1), your home. What you have in God you can never loose and will have forever. There is no greater comfort in all of life than this.

Is time moving too slowly for you? Ps 90:4 is one of the most widely quoted verses in the psalms because it confronts us when we are frustrated with God's timing. Time moves slowly for us, as we crawl from moment to moment, God, who inhabits eternity (Ps 90:2), sees all of history in a single moment. God's timetable is unlikely to match our own. Moses, the author, seems to look at life from the vantage point of old age, from where we can finally see, as God does, that our time here is short. This psalm should make you wise before your time (Ps 90:12) by not wasting your life on trifles. Soon it will be too late.

Are you ready to die tomorrow? Are you doing the profound soul work necessary to be ready to die? It is painful to be reminded that our lives are exercises in disintegration. We are wearing down and wearing out until we are dust again (Ps 90:3; Gen 2:7). 90:7-11 reminds us that death is not the natural order of things; it is the effect of our turning from God and the curse on all creation (Genesis 3). Without this robust doctrine of sin, we will not be wise (Ps 90:12). We will be constantly shocked by what others (and myself) are capable of, by how life swiftly takes away everything we love. We will trust in our own abilities too much and seek satisfaction in things that we will inevitably lose. You either face sin and death, or be out of touch with reality.

Living with Mortality (A prayer to God Eternal in response to the brevity of life)

1. Permanency. Generations past: our home (1-2). Affirming the eternality of God. A fixed address in time and eternity.
2. Perishing and preservation. Present experience: transience and wrath (3-12). Acknowledging man's mortality and need for wisdom. The endangered species.
3. Prayer. Generations to come: contentment and security (13-17). Asking for God's favor and blessing. Preserving the endangered species.