Psalm 90 carries the name of Moses ‘the man of God.‘ He calls to mind a God of light and darkness. He is the Creator ‘who brought forth the earth and the world’ (v. 2) but He is also the Extinguisher of life according to His purpose: ‘You sweep men away in the sleep of death.’ (verse 5) Also, imperfect and broken the man of God has experienced the judgement of God: ‘You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.’ (v. 8) And he acknowledges God’s sovereignty over the years of every person’s life:
‘The length of our days is seventy years -
or eighty if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble
and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.’ (v. 10)
If it ended there we would wonder where is the hope, where is the motivation to go forward in faith. But the man of God is praying, he is looking to the God he knows and while he continues to keep company with Him there will be hope and faith.
The God he knows is a God of compassion (v. 13) and he is convinced it is that compassion which envelopes all his days and makes his life purposeful. From God flows the wisdom that guides him in the ways of goodness and truth and steadies his inner being in the face of life’s challenges. (v. 12) He is led to the conviction that God is his ultimate need expressed in his plea:
‘Satisfy us in the morning with
your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and
be glad all our days.’ (v. 14)
Lord give us grace to make this prayer our own! Whatever else brings us satisfaction in life Lord make us clear in our minds that ultimate satisfaction for our inner being is to be found in You alone as You have revealed Yourself in Jesus. Charles Wesley knew this and expressed it in a hymn:
‘Thou, O Christ, art all I want;
More than all in thee I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
Heal the sick and lead the blind.’
It is in Christ that the ‘unfailing love’ of God is revealed, to be seen and experienced. It is in Christ that we learn of God that ‘He loved us from the first of time,/He loves us to the last.‘ He stand even in the midst of our worst of times and brings the assurance through His death and resurrection that we are loved and will be loved to the end.
The man of God ends his prayer with the wish that God will enable His people to joyfully tell His story through all the generations:
‘May the favour of the Lord
our God rest upon us ;
establish the work of our hands for us -
yes, establish the work of our hands.’ (v. 17)
