Friday, July 03, 2020

Psalm 90

As I get older one of the Psalms that is growing as one of my favorites is Psalm 90, the first Psalm written and penned by Moses, the man of God. It is a overview of the life of humans, the impact of our sins on God, the futility of associating time and God, and the importance of counting our days as temporal. The line that always kills me is, "Our hidden sins are revealed in the light of your face." 

Here it is in its entirety. 

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity you are God.

You grind people to dust, and you say, “Return, children of Adam.”
For a thousand years in your sight are like a day, like yesterday that has gone by,
or like a watch in the night.

You sweep them away like a flood. They are like sleep in the morning,
like grass which changes quickly.
In the morning it sprouts and grows.

By evening it is cut down, and it withers.
Surely, we are consumed by your anger, and by your wrath we are terrified.
You have laid out our guilty deeds in front of you.

Our hidden sins are revealed in the light of your face.
For all our days pass away under your fury. We finish our years like a sigh.
The days of our lives add up to seventy years, or eighty years if we are strong.

Yet the best of them are trouble and sorrow, for they disappear quickly, and we fly away.
Who can understand the power of your anger? But your fury is consistent with the fear that is owed to you.

Teach us to number our days in such a way that we bring a heart of wisdom.
Turn, O Lord! How long! Change your mind toward your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your mercy, so 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.
Let your deeds be seen by your servants and your majesty by their children.

May the kindness of the Lord our God rest upon us. Establish the work of our hands for us.
Yes, establish the work of our hands." (Psalm 90)