The Bible Study Hour

Guest (Male): Only one Psalm in the Psalter is attributed to Moses, and its mood is somber. A Psalm of reflection, noting the brevity of life and the greatness of God, and ending with an appeal for the outpouring of his grace to establish the work of our hands.

Welcome to the Bible Study Hour, a radio and internet broadcast with Dr. James Boice, preparing you to think and act biblically. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations." With those words, Moses opens his song, acknowledging that God has been the refuge of his people, the God who has defended and protected them, and the one they've turned to when they've aroused his displeasure.

Let's join Dr. Boice as he examines Psalm 90 and shows us the heart and mind of Moses, God's chosen servant, as he reflects on the weakness of man and the greatness of God.

Dr. James Boice: I don't know of any passage in the Bible that's more appropriate to the beginning of a new year than Psalm 90, but that's not why we're studying it this morning. It's just come up next in the series of our studies of the Psalms. We've been doing that for some time. It's providential, but then, as one of my theological professor friends reminds me, all things are providential. But this is a providence that we are aware of and for which we're particularly thankful.

Psalm 90 is the only Psalm in the Psalter that's attributed to Moses, but it's not the only song he wrote. I've called it a song of Moses. The Psalm itself in its heading calls it a prayer of Moses, but there are two other Psalms or songs. One is the song the people sang after they had been delivered, brought out of Egypt, and God had destroyed the armies of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. They sang it after the deliverance. It's recorded in the 15th chapter of Exodus.

Then there's another song of Moses that comes toward the end of his life, just before he is about to be taken up into Mount Nebo, where he was to die. It's a challenge to the people. The first is a song of pure joy and jubilation. The second is more serious. It reminds them of their failures over the many years of their wandering in the wilderness and of God's judgment. It challenges them to be faithful. Those two songs are poetry also by him, but this is perhaps the greatest of all. Psalm 90 is particularly sober and it's the most personal of all these other poetic compositions.

Now, I think there is a setting for it. The setting, I think, comes from the 20th chapter of Numbers, and it's where Moses has just lost Miriam and at the end of the chapter he will lose Aaron. They died there in the desert. Miriam was his sister, Aaron was his brother. And in between those two deaths, we're also told the story of the sin of Moses in striking the rock. Now, there are scholars who would question whether the Psalm is even by Moses. I take the headings of the Psalm seriously and believe it is.

Even among those who would attribute it to Moses, there would be some doubt whether that's the background. But it seems to me that the kind of things that happened there in that chapter to Moses, his experience toward the end of his life, are an apt background for what the Psalm itself says. So we kind of look at that and then come to the Psalm as an inspired reflection on Numbers 20. In spite of the fact that these sad events are reflected in the Psalm, the Psalm itself doesn't have a defeated or bitter tone. It only has a tone of a sober reflection on what are indeed sober aspects of life: death and sin.

Leupold, one of the great German commentators, says there does not appear to be any trace of bitterness or of undue pessimism, just a plain, realistic thinking. That's what marks these words. Well, I suppose it's that that has commended it to Christian people so often. Certainly commended it to Isaac Watts. He wrote a great hymn which we frequently sing, "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past," our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. We're going to sing that when we come to the end of the service today.

It's a wonderful poetic expression based on the words of this Psalm. Now, like Moses, Watts was well aware of the insubstantial and brief quality of human life. But he was also aware that those who rest in God have an eternal home in him, and that's what both the hymn and the Psalm are about. Now, I said that Numbers 20 is probably the background for the Psalm, and so it's worth taking a look at those events that I mentioned earlier. If it was written after this, Miriam and Aaron have died.

Moses is soon to die. The sin of Moses, in the meantime, has kept him from entering the promised land because that was God's judgment on him for striking the rock. And it's out of that kind of background that we enter into the tone or the mood of the Psalm. The death of Miriam, first of all, is only told briefly in the chapter. It only takes five or six words in English. And yet, it must have been a very traumatic and terrible thing for Moses. He presumably was very close to his sister. She was not without her faults. She had participated with her brother in one of the rebellions that took place against Moses' unique authority, and God had judged her for that.

Nevertheless, they were close. They'd been close in Egypt. It was Miriam who had told the daughter of Pharaoh that she would find somebody to take care of that little baby that had been put in the ark, and she went and got Moses' mother, Jochebed. And then undoubtedly all through their lives, they had been close, but now Miriam dies. And then there's the sin of Moses in striking the rock. It's something that we tend to sympathize with Moses for. After all, he was nearly 120 years old at this time, and he'd been leading this rebellious group of people for 38 years.

And they really had been. They were cantankerous and difficult. And here he gets to the end and they're complaining again. God had provided for them year after year after year. They're saying we're going to die in the desert, we don't have any water. God tells him to speak to the rock and it will bring forth water. Moses is angry, he strikes the rock instead of speaking to it. He takes some of the glory to himself, perhaps not intentionally. He said, "Must we bring forth water out of this rock for you?" Doesn't seem like a whole lot to us, it seems like a small thing. But God took it very seriously. God takes all sin seriously.

And as a result of that, Moses wasn't able to go into the land. He pled with God, he wanted to be able to do it. He had come to the culmination of his career, he wanted to pass over Jordan. And God said no. And so you have that sad element. And then finally, you have the death of Aaron. Aaron was his brother. He worked very closely with Aaron. Aaron was the high priest. It was a moment of transition for the people. They had a 30-day, month-long time of mourning for Aaron. And although the death is reported factually without any emotional overtones, all these stories are reported that way, you can be sure that it was an emotional and very distressing time for Moses. A down time for Moses, as we would say.

Well, with that background, we come to Psalm 90 itself. It's a reflection on human mortality and the brevity of life. But at the same time, it expresses, as I indicated, a quiet confidence in God who is the eternal home of the believer. Now, there are few people on earth who have had probably as strong a sense of the greatness and eternal grandeur of God as Moses. Here and there, prophets have expressed that in brilliant language. Isaiah was caught up to heaven and saw the Lord seated upon his throne with all of the glory of the temple.

But Moses, after all, spoke to God face to face. It's a qualification of Moses that's mentioned several times. He was there on the mount with him for 40 days receiving the law in the cloud and the thunder and all of that. And there was that great time in his life when God placed him in the cleft of the rock and covered him with his hand and passed by and declared his name to Moses, "The Lord, the Lord, the long-suffering, compassionate God," and so on. Moses, above all people, had a sense of the greatness and the grandeur of God.

So it's not surprising that he begins the Psalm that way. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." You see, Moses was aware, and probably more than most of us in this area as well, how brief life is. He lived to be 120, but he was going to die before he entered the promised land. But at the same time, he began with an awareness of the greatness of God. God is the one sure, eternal foundation of all things. Everything comes from God, everything is based upon God, everything is anchored in God, everything has to do with God.

And so the Christian who is anchored in God has a sure foundation. Moses calls God a dwelling place, but that has overtones that don't come across with a simple translation in English. It also means a refuge because, of course, in ancient times, if you would enter into someone's home or dwelling place, however humble it may be, it could be a tent out in the desert, that was a refuge because it was the responsibility of the owner of the tent or the home to defend his guest at all costs, even at the cost of his life.

That same word is translated refuge in other places, in Deuteronomy 33:27, for example. It's another one of the songs of Moses, and this and other verbal echoes between Psalm 90 and things that appear in the Pentateuch are additional evidence for the fact that the Psalm really was written by Moses, as the title says. Well, we need to apply that. Here we are talking about God being an eternal refuge for his people. Is God your refuge? Are you anchored in him? You certainly don't have a fixed refuge here. No fixed dwelling place here.

For all things here pass away. They may seem to last a long time, you may build for years, but it doesn't last. You see, the people of God know that their home is in God and therefore they look not to a passing earthly city or a passing earthly home, but that city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God, as it tells us in Hebrews was the case of Abraham and all the others. You see, we have our home in God now and we are looking forward to that home that he has gone to prepare, Jesus has gone to prepare for us in heaven.

Paul had that vision. He said when he was writing to the Corinthians, "We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." God is unseen, but he's eternal God and we need to rest in him. Now, in contrast with the stability and the eternity of God, Moses now directs our attention to the weakness of man and to the brevity of his earthly life, verses three through six. I want to read parts of this. This is such wonderful poetry. We need to have it in our minds.

He writes, "You turn men back to dust, saying, 'Return to dust, O sons of men,' for a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death. They are like the new grass in the morning, though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered." In the dry, arid climate of the Near East, it would often be the case that a night rain would cause grass to spring up in the freshness of the morning. The brown hills would suddenly become covered with a shade of green.

But then as the day wore on, as the sun blazed down in all its eastern fury, that grass that was so green in the morning would dry up, and by nightfall it would all be brown again. Moses is saying our life is really like that. We spring up, but it's not very long before it's gone and we wither away. You know, the Apostle Peter picks up on verse four about a day being like a thousand years with the Lord and so on in 2nd Peter 3:8. He said, "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."

His point there in his letter is that God isn't slow bringing about his judgment and the return of Jesus Christ, because a thousand years are just like a day to a Lord. Thousands of years can go by and from God's point of view it isn't any delay at all. That's not exactly the point that Moses is making. Moses is not saying that time goes by quickly for God. Moses' point is that time goes by quickly for us. Our life goes by very, very quickly. And he's not glossing over that. He's not pretending that it's different from that. He's saying that's really what it is to be a mortal, to be a man or a woman, even if we should live to be a thousand years old, as Methuselah almost did.

It's still only as a day, and it passes quickly. A day that has gone by or as a watch in the night. Now, later on in the Psalm, he's going to speak of the length of our days being 70 years or 80 if we have the strength, verse 10. I've noticed when I've been visiting very elderly people on their birthday sometimes that there are two things they're very proud of and they always talk about. One is that they've lived so long. They count the years, you know.

You go to visit them and do you know, that's my 82nd birthday, my 87th birthday, my 93rd birthday. They want to tell you that, that's the one thing they're proud of. And the second thing is that so many people remembered them by sending them cards. They'll point out, "I got 13 cards here this year." Now, that's all very good and I'm proud of that with them. I rejoice in that with them. But you know, you can live to be a hundred or 102, stretching what Moses says here, but sooner or later it's all over, you see.

And though there may be people who remember you and send cards, in time, all of those people are going to die as well, and you're really going to be forgotten. Only one person that doesn't forget you, and that's God, you see. And there's only one person that can establish your work and make it count for all eternity, and that's God. So that's what Moses is saying. You see, he is addressing a very serious thing here. Most of us don't think along these lines because we don't want to be disturbed by thoughts like this. We just kind of push it aside. It's only in moments of crisis that we begin to think along these lines, but Moses is bringing it up. He wants us to think about it because he wants us to rest in God.

Now, the third section of the Psalm, verses seven through 12, recognizes that man's greatest problem is not just his frailty and the shortness of his life, the fact that we die so soon. It also goes on to talk about his sin and that our sin brings us under the wrath of Almighty God. In fact, it is the sin that is the cause of the death and misery that he's talked about earlier. Now, there are phrases here in these verses that make us think that Moses is thinking about Adam and Eve and their fall into sin. But Moses must also have been thinking about his own sin because in the company of the death of Aaron and Miriam, you have the story of his sin in striking the rock.

Can't you hear him saying that as you read these words, having that in his mind? "We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you." That's a profound set of statements because Moses here is not just doing what he did earlier. You see, earlier, when he talked about the eternity of God, he made a contrast with the brevity of human life.

Here he talks about the sin of man, and you would expect him by contrast to talk about the holiness of God. But that isn't what he's concerned about. Instead, he brings it into connection with the wrath of God because what he wants to say is that our sin is the cause of our misery. And so unless God does something about our sin, there's no hope for us anywhere. He does that, of course, we know, in Jesus Christ. Now, Moses says that sin leads to death. Are you aware that sin always leads to death? Spiritual death, of course. Apart from the work of Jesus Christ, we're destined to perish eternally.

But also the death of other things: the death of dreams and hopes and plans and relationships, and even our own health at times because of some sins. You see, if you're aware of that as Moses was, you won't treat sin as lightly as many of us do. You'll say with David, "Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults." You'll pray, "Keep your servant also from willful sins. May they not rule over me." You'll try to live an upright life before God. Well, the fourth section of the Psalm, verses 13 through 17, this is an appeal to God for the outpouring of his grace, that is, that we may be satisfied with God himself and that our work might endure as something of lasting value, even though we ourselves pass quickly away.

Now, again, let me read a little bit of it. "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've 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."

Let me back up one verse to verse 12 and point out that here in this concluding section of the Psalm, Moses makes three petitions. It says at the start of the Psalm that this is a prayer of Moses. Here are petitions that are part of that prayer. Number one: "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." This isn't a prayer for God to tell us how long we're going to live. Is it going to be 70 years or 80 so that in a certain sense we can kind of check off the days and say, "Well, you know, I have three years and 34 days left, I have three years and 32 days left." It's not a question of that at all. It's rather a prayer that God will help us to live holy lives.

Numbering our days aright means to see our days in the light of God's eternity and make them count. We have to make each day count for God. How do we do that? Well, first, we have to recognize life's brevity. That's what Moses has been chiefly writing about in the Psalm. I suppose if Moses had been a lesser poet, he's a great poet, but if he'd been a lesser poet, he might have written the verses that probably stick more in our minds. We say, "Only one life 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last." Well, that's not great poetry, but it's true, and it's what this is about.

Secondly, in order to make each day count for God, we have to live each day for God. One Bible student wrote wisely, "We cannot apply our hearts unto wisdom as instructed by Moses except we number every day as our last possible day." Do you remember Jesus' parable about the rich man who he called a fool? This man had so much he wanted to save it all, he didn't know what to do with it. And so he said to himself, "I'll build bigger and better barns." It's like saying, "I'll take out a new brokerage account to handle all my extra money and see what I can do with my investments."

And Jesus didn't commend him for that. Jesus called him a fool because here he was laying up for tomorrow, and Jesus said, "This very night your soul is going to be required of you, and then who's going to possess all those things that you've laid up?" You see, Jesus was telling us we have to live each day. Has God given you resources? Don't tell me how you're going to use them tomorrow or next year, at the end of your life or your retirement. How are you using them now? You might not live to retire. What are you doing for God right now? "Teach us to number our days aright that we might gain a heart of wisdom." That's what that has to do with, exactly that.

And then here's the second petition. "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." Alexander MacLaren, one of the other great preachers and commentators, says the only thing that will secure lifelong gladness is a heart satisfied with the experience of God's love. Now, what he means by that is that nothing else really will satisfy the human heart ultimately except God.

So if I can apply it, let me do it this way. Stop trying to fill your life with things. That's what Americans are good at, filling our lives with things. We've got more things than we know what to do with. Especially now, all the things from Christmas. House full of things. They're going to perish, they're all going to pass away. Don't even put your hope in other people. They're going to die, and they're certainly going to disappoint you. But God does not die, and God does not disappoint. Saint Augustine said, "You made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, unsatisfied, until they rest in you."

And here's the third petition, verse 17. "Establish the work of our hands for us. Yea, establish the work of our hands." You see, at the very end with his weakness and his sin before him, Moses appeals to the grace of God to make what he had been trying to do for God worthwhile. He'd been trying pretty hard for a long, long lifetime. Now, of course, God can do without us. He doesn't need anything from us. He's able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham, Jesus taught us that.

But that's only one side of the story. The other side is this. If God has put us in this life to do something good for him, then it's important that we do it and that we do it well. Another commentator wrote, "So long as we are here, we are required by him for something. Let us therefore find out what that is and do it, and while we do it, let us pray that God may establish it so that it may remain to bless posterity." Well, that's what Moses did. Moses did what God called him to do, and God blessed what Moses did.

He blessed it in the history of the people of Israel, of which he was a large part. Blessed it in the writing of the first five books of the Bible, which are attributed to Moses' authorship. Even blessed it in the writing of this Psalm, the Psalm we're studying. God blessed Moses, and what he did has blessed countless generations of God's people. There's one final thing. You know, for centuries this sober song of Moses has been read at funeral services. It's easy to see why. It recognizes the shortness of life, but also the truth that God is able to establish the work of our hands, making what we do for God count eternally.

Don't you want God to do that with you? Don't you want what you are doing now to matter? To count? Don't you want to be a blessing to other people? I'm sure you do. We all do. But there's only one way that's ever going to happen. The only way it's ever going to count for eternity and really count is if God establishes the work. It has to be God's work because all things human pass away. I trust that he'll do that, do that with you, so that others who come after you will be blessed because of you. And so when that day comes when you die and you stand before God in heaven, you'll hear him say those words we long to hear, "Well done, good, faithful servant. Come in and enjoy your master's happiness." And we will say, "Thank you, Jesus." Amen.

Our Father, we thank you for this Psalm, for its sober reflections on the brevity of life, the connection between sin and death and judgment, but above all because of its awareness of who you are and of what is there for the one who by faith will come to rest in you. Grant that we may do that and hear our petitions as well, these very petitions that Moses made. That's what we want to pray. Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. And this one too: establish the work of our hands. Yes, establish the work of our hands. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to this message from the Bible Study Hour, a listener-supported ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. The Alliance is a coalition of pastors, scholars, and churchmen who hold to the historic creeds and confessions of the Reformed faith and who proclaim biblical doctrine in order to foster a Reformed awakening in today's church. To learn more about the Alliance, visit AllianceNet.org. And while you're there, visit our online store, Reformed Resources, where you can find messages and books from Dr. Boice and other outstanding teachers and theologians, or ask for a free Reformed Resources catalog by calling 1-800-488-1888.

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