Psalm 90; Luke 12:35-59

Psalm 90
According to the headnote, this psalm was written by Moses, the man of God.
He starts by remembering that God has always been. "Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God." I don't know about you, but I find when I think about history, anything that happened before I was born seems very far removed from me. This is never true of God! He apparently doesn't mark time in the same way we do. "For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours." v. 4 Our lives are as brief like the night watch, v. 4, a dream, v.5, or like grass that springs up in the morning but dies by evening. vv. 5-6. The next verses 7-9 probably refer to the 40 years that Moses and the people of Israel wandered in the desert because of their sin. Many of them including Moses himself would not live to see the Promised Land. I think it's O.K. to apply these verses to our lives, because the truth remains that God sees our sins and rebellion too.

v. 10 tells us that we are given 70, maybe 80, years. Obviously, this is an average. Some individuals live only a few hours or a few years. Some may reach 100 or more. But no matter how short or long they may seem to us, our lives are short and full of pain and trouble. Not very encouraging, is it? Moses prays in v. 12, "Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom." I might add, "Teach us to realize what is really important in this brief life." When we are young, our whole life stretches out before us, and we can't imagine the long range effects of our decisions. And so it's a good thing to pray for wisdom.

As I look ahead to v. 14, I see that Moses prayed, "Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives." He goes on to ask God to make them glad, to let them see God's glory. He asks for God's approval, and he asks God to make their efforts successful. 

Don't forget that though life is filled with pain and trouble, these trials usually do not last long, and there is always hope ahead!

Luke 12:35-59
When Jesus returned to heaven, as recorded in Acts 1:9-11, the angel promised, "...someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!" Jesus Himself made this same promise in John 14:3. With this in mind, this passage in Luke 12 is telling us to be ready. We don't know when He will come, but it's our job to be prepared.

He warns us that while we are waiting and serving on this earth, we will likely experience resistance, maybe even from members of our own families. We certainly do see resistance to Christianity in our American culture. It seems that we have very few taboos in our culture except mentioning the name of Jesus!