Psalm 90, read by Michael Kaskey. Sermon by Dave Weidlich, November 24, 2024 at Grace Community Church San Francisco.

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses the man of God.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    
throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born
    
or you brought forth the whole world,
    
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn people back to dust,
    
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”

4 A thousand years in your sight
    
are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.

5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
    
they are like the new grass of the morning:

6 In the morning it springs up new,
    
but by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We are consumed by your anger
    
and terrified by your indignation.

8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    
our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
    
we finish our years with a moan.

10 Our days may come to seventy years,
    
or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

12 Teach us to number our days,
    
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
    
Have compassion on your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    
for as many years as we have seen trouble.

16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    
your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor[a] of the Lord our God rest on us;
    
establish the work of our hands for us—
    
yes, establish the work of our hands.

Tim Stafford: 
”What does it mean to “number our days”? Moses, to whom this deep, austere psalm was credited, spent decades as a shepherd. A shepherd’s use of mathematics is rudimentary: he counts his sheep to ensure that none goes missing. Unless he counts, and counts carefully, he cannot be sure that he has kept his sheep well. So we are to number our days in this long, brief life, to ensure that none goes missing—that we do not squander the gift of God, through carelessness letting days or weeks or years slip away unnoticed, without profit. That, it seems to me, is just what many people nowadays would like to do with old age: to let it slip away unnoticed. The Psalmist’s view is different. The fundamental mathematics of “numbering our days” is that old age is good, good even if hard. It is good because it is part of life as God made it. It is good because God is in it. Not a day should be missed.”

Stafford, Tim. As Our Years Increase: Loving, Caring, Preparing, A Guide . Franklin Park Press. Kindle Edition.

Grace Community Church San Francisco meets Sundays, 11:15 am at the Miraloma Park Improvement Clubhouse, 350 O’Shaughnessy Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94127. Contact Me for more info.