Slices
Prepare
Where do you feel at home?
Bible passage
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 splendour to their children.
17 May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us;
establish the work of our hands for us –
yes, establish the work of our hands.
Explore
The psalm’s heading, ‘A prayer of Moses’, might lead you to imagine the aged Moses, after his long journey through the wilderness, standing at the edge of the Promised Land (but unable to enter it), reflecting on life’s highs and lows (Deuteronomy 4:21–24).
The psalm begins with a reminder of the eternal God’s faithfulness to his people. We have read in Leviticus of God’s dwelling place among his people as they travel to a new home in the Promised Land. Here, the psalmist sees the Lord himself as the permanent home in which his people live (v 1). Home is defined not by location but by relationship.
The psalmist prays for a heart of wisdom which comes from seeing the fleeting nature of our lives in the light of God’s eternal plan (v 12). Though all may crumble around us, and we are aware of the impermanence of life, it is good to be reminded that God’s love is unfailing (v 14). It’s no surprise that Isaac Watts’ paraphrase of this psalm, ‘O God our help in ages past’, is a favourite at funerals and is sung at London’s annual remembrance service.
Avoiding the extremes of panic in the face of uncertainty or complacency, in the security of being at home in God, the psalmist prays for God to be at work through all he does (v 17).
Respond
O God, our help in ages past, / Our hope for years to come, / Still be our guard while troubles last, / And our eternal home!
(Isaac Watts, 1719)*
*For other verses see https://hymnary.org/hymn/CYBER/4892
Deeper Bible study
‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall’.1
This is the one psalm attributed to Moses. It is a fitting companion, with similarities and contrasts, to the two songs of Moses in the Pentateuch and his blessing on the tribes of Israel.2 The heading describes Moses as ‘the man of God’. This phrase elicited this comment from Charles Spurgeon: ‘Moses was peculiarly a man of God and God’s man; chosen of God, inspired of God, honoured of God, and faithful to God in all his house’.3 Zamani Kafang makes the interesting point that this same phrase describes all of us who love the Lord and are attuned to his Word.4
The psalm features two main contrasts. The first is between God’s eternal existence (vs 1,2) and our fleeting human life (vs 3,6). What is there on earth that is more enduring than mountains? How does their age compare with the ancient Creator God who fashioned the earth in which he planted them? Verse 10 is a generous description of the average human life span on the earth today. It compares very poorly with Methuselah who, at close to a thousand years, is the man who has lived the longest on our planet.5 How does that relate to God’s timescale in verse 4? In light of all this, the prayer in verse 12 is most appropriate for us!
The second contrast is between the anger which God displays (vs 7–11) and the compassion for which the psalmist pleads (vs 13–17). God’s anger is great and powerful, but it is fully justifiable as his just and holy response to the affront of sin (vs 7,8,11). The only viable response is to plead for his compassion on the basis of his unfailing love (v 14). Our own situation is no different. The psalmist’s conclusion in verse 17 is exactly what we need.
Let us pray with the psalmist today: ‘May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us — yes, establish the work of our hands.’6
1 1 Pet 1:24 2 Exod 15; Deut 32,33 3 Quoted by David Guzik’s commentary, enduringword.com/bible-commentary/ 4 Zamani Kafang, in Africa Bible Commentary 5 Gen 5:27 6 Ps 90:17
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Samuel 1–3; Mark 9
Pray for Scripture Union
Join Scripture Union Ecuador in praying for new doors to open as they face some challenging times in ministry. Pray that the Floor Ball programme will reach more young people in the community.
