Day 496: Lesson of a plague – Psalm 90

1-2 Lord, you have been our dwelling place (refuge) in all generations. 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!” 4-6 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,  like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. 7-10 For 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. For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 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. 11-12 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

13-15 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 16-17 Let your  work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands. Psalm 90 English Standard Version

If there was a 'hit parade' for the Psalms I suspect the Psalm after this one (Psalm 91) would be in number 1 spot, especially when we're faced with a pandemic such as the current one. Psalm 91 gives many promises of God's protection of His people during life threatening situations. But today's Psalm may have a more important lesson for us in such days. It was written by Moses and he noted how our lifetime is but seventy or eighty years, years that are full of hard work and pain. They pass quickly, and soon we are gone. So he reflects: “Who knows the full power of your anger? Your anger is as great as our fear of you should be. Teach us how short our lives really are - so that we may be wise.” (Vs 11–12 New Century Translation).

That last sentence is the important lesson we can learn from viruses that sweep the world, and amidst the panic that always follows. The original language literally says "teach us to 'number' our days!" (There's an expression that says 'our days are numbered!’)

When we live in times where business is booming and there are no plagues, famines or world wars to worry about, we can be tempted to live as if we have many years ahead of us. But when any of the above things suddenly appear, we begin to realise, as Moses did, that life is actually quite brief. If we're 'lucky' we could reach 80 or more. But what is that compared to eternity? Moses compares the shortness of our lifespan to the eternity of God. God existed even before the mountains were brought forth.

But Moses also notes that the main reason for our brevity of life is due to God's anger at sin. In vs 3, where Moses says of God “You return man to dust  and say, ‘Return, O children of man’”, the word for ‘man’ is the same as the word for Adam. It was after Adam sinned that death came into the world. God is absolutely holy and can never condone sin, or be comfortable with the sort of rebellion against Him that has been so evident in the world since Adam's fall.

But Moses also believed that if we really took to heart how few our days are, perhaps we would be more earnest about finding out how we can be at peace with God, and how we can have His blessing on our lives. There is such a thing as a 'godly fear'; an awareness that God is greater than we are, and we are accountable to Him one day for the lives we have led. So Moses finishes in vs 13-15 with a prayer for God's mercy. He was probably interceding for the Israelites who'd rebelled so often against God when He recued them from Egypt. But it's a prayer we can take to heart as well for years we may have wasted. May that prayer lead us, by faith, to the cross where Jesus paid the price for our rebellion, and made peace with God a reality that we can enter into. And our children too.