For the past several weeks, Bill has encouraged our church to persevere in faith as we’ve walked through the pandemic. In the sermon on Sunday, he taught us from Psalm 90 about how we should approach life differently when things go back to normal.
Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses capturing the lament of God’s people as they wandered through the wilderness. It was a time of great trial and discouragement. It’s also a prayer for God to intervene, to act and empower God’s people in the midst of hardship. It’s “an argument at the throne of grace.”
There were three main take-aways from the message:
God is eternal, powerful, and involved in your life
Life is brief
Consider God’s power
1. Knowing God’s eternality and sovereignty makes all the difference as we go through this pandemic, and it should make all the difference when the pandemic is over. He is eternal, powerful, and we can trust Him.
“In times of uncertainty, it is theology that makes a difference.”
-Bill
2. In contrast to God’s eternal nature, our lives on earth are brief and frail. Although believers have escaped the wrath of God through the death of Christ, we still experience the effects of the Fall with the rest of humanity. Death is the last enemy, and we will all face it. But as we face the hardships of life, and ultimately death itself, we can do so with faith because God has saved us and filled us with joy. Life in seclusion is difficulty and we can be tempted to despair. We must pursue biblical community the best we can while we wait to be together again.
“We are not cedars, or oaks, but only poor grass, which is vigorous in the spring, but lasts not a summer through. What is there upon earth more frail than we?...The grass has a golden hour, even as man in his youth has a heyday of flowery glory…Here is the history of grass – sown, grown, blown, mown, gone; and the history of man is not much more.”
-Charles Spurgeon
3. As we think about the greatness of God and the frailty of our lives, our priorities are re-set. He is powerfully at work in our lives. He has saved us by His grace, He is sustaining us by His grace, and He is calling us to live for His glory and mission with the time He gives us. Ps 90 teaches us how to respond to God during times like these. In vv 13-17, Moses prays for God’s presence and power to be made manifest. He prays for revival and for help to serve God with the time He gives us. May He establish the works of our hands!
“A short life should be wisely spent. We have not enough time at our disposal to justify us in misspending a single quarter of an hour.”
-Spurgeon
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
-Hebrews 4:16
