On Sunday evenings, BBC Radio 5 ran a fascinating weekly show called “Brief Lives.” The show looked at various people – famous and significant folks – who had died during the preceding week. Each segment was 6-7 minutes in length and there was a sense that a long life could be summed up in a few minutes. Life is brief.
Because our lives our short, we don’t have a very good perspective on history. We judge history by what is going on right now. We despair that life is hard because we are stuck in this moment, and we can’t get out of it. But the Psalms are intended to move us from lament to praise. The way they do that is by changing our perspective.
I love how Psalm 90 reorients our perspective. After psalms that lament the destruction of Jerusalem and wondering if God had forgotten his promise to David (Pss. 88 & 89), Psalm 90 reorients our perspective by looking to God. God has always been the rest and comfort for his people regardless of the circumstances of life. The temple in Jerusalem might lie in ruins, but this prayer of Moses is the response to the despair in Psalms 88-89. God has always been faithful, even when his people have not been. Moses prayed for Israel when they had worshipped the golden calf; Moses had been faithful when the people had not been. And Psalm 90 is a call to remember that your life is short. You will be tempted to judge the present by your experience.
God has always been the rest and comfort of his people. Even before there was a temple, Moses prayed, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” The Lord has always been the true king. He was the king in the days of Moses – before David was born; he was king before the mountains were created, and he is still King now after the temple is destroyed and Jerusalem is in ruins. He is the everlasting King.
Our perspective is short. This is why we need a Godward perspective. Life will tempt us to despair. Life doesn’t get easier the older you get – it is filled with trouble and sorrow. And those 70 or 80 years find that the troubles only increase. It doesn’t get easier. Today might be easy for you because you are young. But then you grow older and the troubles seem to continue to pile up on top of one another. Will you seek to be bitter or better?
The way we seek to be better is by keeping that Godward perspective. God is eternal. God sees the beginning from the end. But for me, I may have 25-30,000 days. I have already lived about 17000 days. My life is short, and I don’t know how many more days I have. Do I want to live in despair and sorrow, or will I gain a heart of wisdom that looks at life and learns to live in the ways of God? Will I only increase my sorrow by living in sin and pain, or will I live better by knowing my life is short and God has history under control?
When I number my days, then I look at the everlasting God, the God who existed before the mountains were created, and I think, “Who’s got things under control?”
So as summer moves along so fast, remember the one who has every day under his control and live for him!
Living in light of eternity,
Andrew
