Psalm 90: The Big Ugh!
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!
Peruvian Lily | January 2022 | Scottsdale, AZ
Lowry’s idea is that a good sermon brings people through that progression. His suggestion is to “get Jesus into as much trouble as possible” before revealing how he outwits them all and is the answer we really needed all along. And if you don’t really get to a legitimate and genuine UGH!, you’ll never really fill the hearts of the hearers with Jesus. And that is the task of the preacher.
This psalm celebrates the reality of everyone’s true, genuine, legitimate, and inescapable UGH: Death. We may live to 70 or 80 years of age. These days 100 is not totally unheard of. But our days are numbered. None of us can escape that. And we have reminders of that reality constantly before us. A child dies of a rare and incurable disease. A friend is killed in a car accident. A coworker falls to his death. A young husband enters the hospital through the ER, and never comes home – though he does go to his True Home with Jesus.
It wasn’t always so. In the beginning life reigned. There was no death. No sickness. No thorny weeds invading our landscapes. No pain in childbirth. No strife between husband and wife. No floods. No storms. No sickness. No suffering. Pure joy. Perfect communion with God.
But when Adam and Eve chose to eat of the forbidden fruit all that changed. All of it. Sin brought sickness, shame, separation, suffering, sadness, and death. We live in a fallen world.
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.
We’re part of that fallen world as shown not only by the troubles we bear, but also by the ways we add to our own suffering through sins and iniquity of our own – some hidden, some all too well on display.
This psalm requires us to look that square in the face. We have sinned. We are fallen. We will die. Not a happy note. But certainly a true one. Neither, however, is it the only note. For in the end of this psalm a note of hope and anticipation rings out.
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.
There is a grand WEE! God’s goodness prevails, together with his grace and his steadfast love. We must face death. But we do not face it without hope. Through Jesus we have redemption, salvation, life and eternal joy. Yay God!
David Bahn - Reflections 