Sep-30-0523-God our dwelling place
523_God our dwelling place Psalm 90 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. 5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. 7 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. 11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. 13 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! A young soldier returned home after years of overseas service. Walking in, he dropped his heavy bag by the entrance, hugged his mother and said emotionally, “Now I can finally rest. I am home.” Home is more than a building or an address. It’s the place where you are safe, where you belong. This is the thought that begins this psalm of Moses: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” Moses, who spent forty years in Pharaoh’s palace, forty in the Midianite wilderness tending sheep, and the last forty leading Israel through the wilderness, knew the reality of dwelling in God. He knew what it was to be homeless, to be restless, to be a wanderer. Yet in God, he found belonging, safety, and rest. This psalm may have been composed toward the end of Moses’ life. By the world’s standards, the first eighty years of his life look unremarkable, almost wasted. But those hidden years were where God trained him to lead a vast and rebellious people as a shepherd patiently leads his intransigent flock to safety and water and food. Moses also declares God’s eternity.