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. “Before the mountains were born, or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Unlike us fragile mortals, God is unchanging. Malachi 3:6 says, “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” Generations rise and fall, kingdoms come and go, yet God remains the same. In a world that shifts beneath our feet, He is the one unshakable treasure that we cling to.

How God’s eternity contrasts with human frailty! For the lives of men are like grass – green and lush in its youth, but withered and dry by the evening. Illness, accidents, natural causes may claim us, but behind them lies the immense anger of God directed at our sin. He writes, “We are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” Sin was not an external add-on; it reached into the hidden corners of the heart. Even the sins of Moses’ youth stayed in his memory.

And yet, the holy God invited Moses into His presence for forty days and forty nights to receive His law. That is the wonder of God’s grace. Though our sins are exposed and open before him, His mercy makes a way for fellowship. After giving the law, the Ten Commandments, God instructs his people to build a tabernacle for him, giving them the pattern of the tent of meeting. The law can only condemn; the altar of the tabernacle was the door, a way of atonement for the sinner. It foreshadowed the blameless Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. It foreshadowed Jesus our compassionate High Priest. He entered the holy of holies, the actual presence of God, not with the blood of animals, but with His own blood. He is our advocate at the right hand of God.

And how short is human life: “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.” Even at its best, life is short and dreary. Whether we want to or not, death mows us down like grass and we return to our dust.

Yet, for the servants of God, there is a destiny beyond toil and trouble. In the face of life’s brevity, Moses prays earnestly: “So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Not to live in morbid fear, but to be constantly aware that our days are limited, and therefore precious. Such a realization can drive the unbeliever to riot and excess – “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” But for those who serve the Lord, wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. This shapes their choices and aligns their hearts with his will.

And remembering this, he prays, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” All good comes from God’s love, not from empty toil. When the love of God fills us, not just in our old age but from the very morning of our days, we can live every step of life in gladness.

“Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us.” Moses, a mortal man, living in a transitory world, ends with the plea that God’s touch may transform their work into eternity. Before God works through us, He must work in us. Even the greatest toil, if merely human in its origin, cannot last – as witness the works of past civilizations. But when God carries out his plans, and reveals the glory of his salvation, we see his favor upon us. For he shows us his work first, so that our labor may flow out of it into his eternal will. For the world passes away with all its lusts, but he who does the will of God endures forever.

What Moses saw dimly, we see in the light of our Lord and Christ. He has destroyed the fear of death. He has atoned for our sins. He has brought life and immortality to light through his gospel. He has given us his Spirit as the guarantee of everlasting life in his presence.

When we, like Moses, make God our dwelling place, we anchor ourselves in his will. We remember that he is good and his love endures forever. We trust in his righteousness and justice when nothing around us makes sense. We choose the satisfaction of his steadfast love and reject the fleeting pleasures of sin and self-indulgence. We look to him to establish the work of our mortal hands, rooting our work in his will. For apart from him, we can do nothing.

If we feel that most of our lives has been wasted in wandering and obscurity, let us remember Moses. God wasted nothing of his life. He uses everything to mould us into his will and his calling, as long as we are taught by him. When he is our home, we discover we are never really alone ever again. Every day spent doing his will is numbered in gold in his book.

Christ is our permanent dwelling place. As we walk in Him and live in Him, we will return to him one day – not into nothingness, but into our eternal home with him. Let this be our prayer: “Let your favor be upon us and establish the work of our hands.” God bless.