Psalm 90 - A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God

In this transcription, Julie Callio discusses Psalm 90, which is a prayer of Moses. She explores the possible time period in which Moses wrote the psalm and suggests that it may have been written before he turned seventy. The psalm emphasizes that God is our dwelling place and that our lives are fleeting. It encourages us to seek wisdom and make the most of our limited time on earth. Callio concludes by urging listeners to align themselves with the ways of the Lord and obey His voice. I'm Julie Callio, your host, and thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to tune in with me today. If, by chance, you want to contact me, you can do that at vab.bc.pc at gmail.com. Today we are looking at Psalm 90, which is entitled, A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God. It is the only psalm addressed to Moses, but in Exodus 15, Moses sang a song after the Lord allowed the Israelites to walk on dry ground, and then the sea came upon the Egyptians and they drowned. At the end of Moses' life, we have another recorded song in Deuteronomy 32, so it seems fitting to cover this song in the midst of the Pentateuch or the five scrolls of Moses. Since this psalm is written by Moses, it is the oldest of all the psalms. The phrase, Man of God, many times refers to a prophet, and we know that Moses was attributed as such. Now, the psalms did not have a copyright date, so we do not know when Moses wrote it, so we need to put on our detective hats and see what clues lie within the text. Verse 15 says, Make us glad according to the days you have afflicted us, and the years we have seen evil. When Moses came on the scene, they were afflicted by the Egyptians. It was so bad they cried out to the Lord, and he sent them Moses to save them. There were other difficult times that they endured, but it is hard to pinpoint which one. The next clue is found in verse 10, which states, As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years. Yet their pride is but toil and trouble, for soon it is gone, and we fly away. This made me review Moses' life and age. At the end of Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse 7 it reads, Although Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated. This raised the question, did Moses write this song before he was seventy, or since this was an average death date, did Moses include it even though he had surpassed seventy at eighty years old? A little more research brought me to Acts chapter 7 with Stephen's defense for his sermon, and in verses 23 and 24 Stephen said, But when he, Moses, was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptians. It seems that Moses was in Egypt until around forty years old. Then Acts chapter 7 verses 29 and 30 Stephen says, At this remark Moses fled and became an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. If we do the math, Moses was fortyish before leaving Egypt, then add forty years, that puts Moses around eighty years old at the time of God's calling at the burning of the bush. And since he died at a hundred and twenty years old, then in a sense he had three sections of life, each about forty years long. Forty in Egypt, forty in Midian, and then forty with the Israelites as they were walking toward the promised land. Now let me share with you that everyone that I have read thinks that Moses wrote this psalm while on the journey with the Israelites in his last forty years. But I wonder if he might have written it in the land of Midian before he was seventy years old. I kept holding off on when to teach this psalm because I wondered which quote affliction he was speaking of. But their greatest affliction was with Egypt, and when I realized his life span, for me it seems to make more sense that he wrote it before he turned seventy, but as I've said before it does not say, and it really doesn't matter. Now that's out of the way, let's look at Psalm 90 of prayer of Moses, the man of God. Verses 1 and 2, Lord you have been our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were born, or you gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Here we see this corporate prayer addressed to the Lord with the word, our dwelling place, which is why so many believe it's written when he walked with the Israelites in the wilderness. The Lord is their home, and the promise is for all generations, past, present, and future. W. Robert Godfrey said in his book Learning to Love the Psalms, Moses takes us back before God created the earth to remind us that our God is before and beyond time and this world. Warren Wiersbe said in a lecture at Trinity, point number one, God is our home, he has never left us. Verses 3 through 6, you turn man back into dust and say, return O children of men, for a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it passed by, or as a watch in the night, you have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep, in the morning they are like grass with sprouts anew, in the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew, toward evening it fades and withers away. In these verses we see the brevity of man's life. He referenced the Genesis story in chapter 2 verse 7 when God created man out of dust and then Genesis 3 verse 19, for you are dust and to dust you shall return. Now remember that Moses wrote Genesis too. Life is fleeting, verses 7 through 12, for we have been consumed by your anger and by your wrath we have been dismayed. You have placed our iniquity before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days have declined in your fury, we have finished our years with a moan. The length of our days is seventy years, or eighty if we have the strength, yet the best of them is but toil and trouble, for they quickly fly away. Who understands the power of your anger, for your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Warren Wiersbe said point 2 is life is our school. Alton H. McEachern said in his commentary on the Psalms, the theme here is God's eternity and mankind's morality. God is infinite and humans are finite. God is mighty, humanity is frail. God is holy, people are sinners. Godfrey said such realism about our weakness is the necessary foundation of any true wisdom. I don't know if any of you have read the book 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen R. Covey, but in his second habit, begin with the end in mind, he says if you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in your funeral experience, you will find your definition of success. Ladies when we recognize we only have limited time on this earth, we then begin to live the time we have with purpose and hopefully wisdom. Verses 13-17 Relent O 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 your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us. Establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. Warren Weirsbe's third point was that the future is our friend. One of my favorite sayings is from a missionary, Adoniram Judson, the future is as bright as the promises of God. According to Godfrey, the answer is that God works to make our lives and our work significant. So let me ask you, do you have the perspective that God is beyond you and yet he is our dwelling place? Second, do you have some secret sins you need to confess and lay at the Lord's feet? He already knows about them, but there is healing that comes with confessing them to him. Is your heart crying out to the Lord, how long? If Moses cried it out, it's okay for you to cry it out too, for our Lord is compassionate and full of unfailing love. Are you satisfied with your life or do you need to make some changes? It's okay to ask the Lord to bless and establish our work, but it is equally important to make sure that the work of our hands is what the Lord has called us to do. When we align ourselves up with the ways of the Lord, we are blessed with his presence. If you have heard his voice today, please don't harden your heart, instead let's be women who hear and obey like Moses. Until next time and thanks so much for listening.