Psalm 90 - Wasted Time

Psalm 90:1-6, 10, 12-15, 17 NIV

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world,

 from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.” 

A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by,

 or like a watch in the night. 

Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—

 they are like the new grass of the morning: 

In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered. 

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures;

 yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,

 for they quickly pass, and we fly away. 

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Relent, Lord ! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. 

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,

 that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 

Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,

 for as many years as we have seen trouble. 

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.

Psalm 90 begins Book 4 in the collection of psalms in the Bible. This one is attributed to Moses.

I like to think Moses wrote this during the wilderness wandering period. They wandered the desert for 40 years. An entire generation died and was buried in the desert. The Lord was angry with the freed slaves who would rather go back to Egypt than to take possession of the Promised Land.

Moses acknowledges God's sovereignty, His mighty power which he witnessed in the ten plagues upon Egypt. Moses remembers how the Lord brought water from a rock and rained bread down from heaven. But even still the people do not seem to fully comprehend what God can do. Fear speaks louder than faith.

God is the dwelling place for Israel in the wilderness journey. God is their home. As Moses watched the people aging and dying in the desert, he must have wondered if they would ever make it to the Promised Land. Was the exodus all for nothing? Did God simply bring them out of Egypt to die in the desert? Was all of Moses' work to build a holy nation a waste of time? Would the people ever amount to anything?

Such questions bother many a leader when things aren't going well. When the futility of life gets to us, our hope is discouraged with doubt.

Moses' prayer reflects a leader who prays for the people he serves. He does not fully understand what God is doing, but he's not giving up on God nor his mission. In hope, Moses intercedes for the people. He calls on God to relent and turn away from His anger, to show mercy and bless the people with His unfailing love. Moses asks that they be shown as much kindness as they have been shown suffering.

Moses asks that God establish the work of their hands. I take this to mean that he hopes their work to build a holy nation was not in vain, that the foundation they have laid will go on guiding future generations of God's people.

You're reading this posting today because God did preserve the holy work done in the desert thousands of years ago. From these humble beginnings God raised a nation for His name that brought the knowledge of the one true God to the world. And through the work of their hands, firmly established by God, Christ came into the world to save us all from slavery to sin and death. God answered Moses' prayer in a mighty way. From our perspective it took thousands of years. But for God it was an overnight sensation.

The next time you worry you are wasting your time doing what you know God has called you to do, trust that God is faithful to His mission to bless the world with the knowledge of God. God is doing far more than you can possibly ask or imagine. So be faithful to the task God has given you. Don't lose heart. Take joy in knowing the Lord is at work right along with you. You will see good days ahead to match the challenges you now face. In fact you will be overwhelmed by joy at the completion of all things when Christ returns.

Romans 8:18 NIV

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Keep the faith.