FROM EVERYDAY TO ETERNITY (PSALM 90)
https://bible.ryl.hk/web_en Grammar Bible (English)
https://bible.ryl.hk/web_Bah Tatabahasa Alkitab (Indonesian)
https://bible.ryl.hk/web_Esp Biblia de Gramática (Spanish)
https://bible.ryl.hk/web_Tag Gramatika Bibliya (Filipino)
https://bible.ryl.hk Chinese Bible (Chinese)
Mickey’s wife bought a new line of expensive cosmetics guaranteed to make her look years younger. After a lengthy sitting before the mirror applying the “miracle” products, she asked, “Darling, honestly, what age would you say I am?”
Looking over her carefully, Mickey replied, “Judging from your skin, twenty; your hair, eighteen; and your figure, twenty five.”
“Oh, you flatterer!” she gushed.
“Hey, wait a minute!” Mickey interrupted. “I haven’t added them up yet.”
The last year 2015 was characterized by the 4Ts – terror (ISIL), trouble (Occupy Central) and tragedy (New Year stampede, a capsized ship, coal-mine explosions and fires, and a toppled building).
Psalms 90 is unique in three ways: (1) It is the oldest psalm written by the oldest man in the post-Genesis era. Psalms 91-100 is traditionally ascribed to Moses. (2) The timeline is from eternity (vv 1-2), future (vv 3-11) and then present (vv 12-end). (3) It is a favorite psalm for funerals, as attested by Spurgeon.
How do you characterize your life? What meaning does your life have? What difference have you made? Does your today and tomorrow. Psalm 90 has a perfect answer for viewing life past, present and future.
Seek His Permanent Dwelling
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.
The most famous golfer today is Tiger Woods, who became the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur Championship, at age 18. But at 40 in 2015, USA Today has an article titled “Tiger Woods turns 40, but it sure looks like 70.”
Another says, “Tiger Woods at 40: Down and in pain, but not yet ready to call it a career.” He’s cashed for more than $1 billion, according to Forbes. Tiger was so great everybody thought he would break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors but he stopped at 15 in 2008. The physical toll from unleashing one of the most powerful swings in the game has beaten his body down. Tiger has not played since three surgical procedures for his ailing back in 19 months in the third week of August 2015.
The Years of Peak performance
Hard work is the trait all top stars have in common, but age is the wild card:
Track and field world record breakers – 25 (at age of peak performance)
Major league baseball MVPs – 27
Chemists – 35
Economists (theoretical) -36
Great inventors – 39
Economists (data-driven) -56
Philosopher – 64
Source: David w Galenson, Benjamin F Jones, Harvey C Lehman, Fortune “What It Takes to BE Great” 10/30/06
Let me ask you a question: Out of 150 psalms how many prayers are titled as “A prayer of so and so…” The answer is only five– three are from David (Ps 17:1. 86:1, 142:1), one is from Moses (Ps 90:1) and one “a prayer of the afflicted” (Ps 102:1), so this is a prayer, a psalm and a poem – in that order. How often does this noun “prayer” appear in Moses’ story or account? The answer is none until Psalm 90. The verb form occurs in Moses’ account as many as four times – three times to pray for the people (Num 11:2, 21:7, Deut 9:26) and none for David. Rabbinic tradition assigns the ten following Psalms, Psalms 91-100 to Moses. Other Psalms written by Moses are also found in Exodus 15, and in Deuteronomy 32. Psalms 90-106 is Book IV of Psalms and Book IV begins with a powerful and praiseworthy prayer. Of all the 150 psalms in the Bible, only Psalm 90 begins with the respectful “Lord” (adonai) address. That itself makes it a direct, distinctive and distinguished prayer. Adonai means the Master and more than just the Maker, the Commander, chief and controller of your life and not just the Creator, chum or companion of your life and not just the Creator, Big Boss first before Best friend.
The noun “dwelling place” is translated as habitation (Deut 26:15) and den
(Jer 9:11). A dwelling place is a place to reside, to retreat, to reflect, to relax and to rest. A dwelling place is not a house or a habitat, but a home and a harbor. The phrase “all generations” is an echo of God’s revelation in Exodus 3:15 that is dominated by the Psalms (Ps 33:11, 45:17, 49:11, 72:5, 79:13, 85:5, 89:4, 90:1, 100:5, 102:24, 106:31, 119:90, 135:13, 145:13) more than any book of the Bible. In all generations in Hebrew is simply “generation, generation.” It is a continuous, consistent and close relationship, not a checkered, chilly or contentious relationship.
There are three words associated with time in verses 1- to 2: all generations, before, and everlasting. Another triplet is mountain, earth and world. The Lord’s presence and promise are unstopping, unchanging and unerring. The Lord wants to establish a firm and fixed relationship, not a fast and fleeting relationship. Verse reveals that the Lord by nature is an everlasting, eternal and enduring God, so His relationship with us is not ephemeral, expiring and ended. It is a generational, growing and gradual, grounded and gridlock relationship. All life is characterized by decay, decline, death. Only the Lord is faithful, final and forever.
See Your Powerful Decline
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.
The Greeks told a story called, “The Riddle of the Sphinx”. Each year a monster came to the city with a riddle: What speaks with one voice, but walks on four legs, on two legs, and on three legs?” If no one could answer the question, the monitor would eat one of the people of the city.
Finally a hero came along, Oedipus. He answered the riddle saying: “It is man, who crawls on all fours when he is small, walks on two legs when his is grown, and hobbles with a cane, thus the three legs when he is old.” (Internet)
You turn people back to dust (v 3) You sweep people away in the sleep of death (v 5) You have set our iniquities before you (v 8)
Call Cessation Consequences
Futility Fragility Finality
Disintegration Death Destiny
Your Sad Source Your Sound Sleep Your Secret Sins
Past Present Future
In your sight (v 4) In the night (v 4) In the light (v 8)
Verse 3-11 introduces three “You have…” in Hebrew: (1) You turn people back to dust (v 3), You sweep people away in the sleep of death (v 5), and You have set our iniquities before you (v 8).
The permanence of God is next contrasted with the passing of time and man. God’s timelessness is from all generations (v 1) and from everlasting to everlasting (v 2) are contrasted with the transitory, temporal, trivial and terminal nature of man are contrasted with dust/destruction (v 3). Turn and return (v 3) are the same word, of which the second is an imperative. There is no choice, cure or concession. Dust (v 1) is more favored by four translations (NIV, NASB, RSV, ESV) versus destruction by two (KJV, ASV). In other passages the translation is contrite (Ps 34:18, Isa 57:15). We are to revert, return and retreat to destruction or dust. The verb form for “destruction/dust” are crushed (Job 4:19), destroy (Job 6:9), break in pieces (Job 19:2), broken (Job 22:9), smitten my life down (Ps 143:3), oppress (Prov 22:22), humbled (Jer 44:10), bruised (Isa 53:5, 10). It could happen in a thousand years (v 4), a day, a watch (a few hours), night, morning (v 5) or evening, whether to mountains (v 2), men (v 3, mortals) or grass meadows (v 5, flower). In the morning the grass is watered and wonderful in the evening it is withered and wasted. In the morning it is planted and prized, and in the evening it is plucked and perishable. In the morning it blossoms and in the evening it is burned. One day it is ripe and reaped, the next day it is ruined and recycled. All nature and things are passing, perishable and pretentious, never perfect, permanent and perpetual. One day it is flower and grass, the next it is fertilizer and garbage. One moment is sprouts, the next it sags.
This favorite word gone by (v 4) means cross over, pass over or go over to the other side. The next imagery is like water, as “sweep” (v 5) is usually translated as poured out water (Ps 77:17) and carriest them away as with a flood (Ps 90:5). Gone by/past (verb) (v 4) has to do with time, swept has to do with intensity, tenacity. One is calm, one is the storm.
There are five “for” in the passage (vv 4, 4, 7, 9, 10). There should be a “for” in the beginning and middle of verse 4 (“for” a thousand years, and “that” is “for” in Hebrew). There are three anger words, anger (aph) and indignation (chemah) in verse 7 and wrath (ebrah) in verse 9. Anger is a body part for nostril, indignation is the behavior, and wrath is the boundary line, crossing or passing it. Consume (v 7) is the end, terrified is the emotions. The first verb is the termination; the second verb (terrified) is the terror. One is the finish, the other is the feelings.
The passage is likened to the many faces of death – gone by, swept or fly away. Pass and fly (v 10) are negative and not positive. Pass is cut off in KJV. It is like cutting off the balloon strings and see it lift off. One is to see it loose and the next is to see it off. One is to remove and the other is to release. One is to free it and the other is to fly away. Strength (v 10) is the word for “warrior” – when you are no longer on top or on track of things - but “trouble and sorrow” (v 10) is work and wickedness, industry and iniquity, exertion and evil, diligence and depravity.
Seize the Priceless Day
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 splendor to their children. 17 May the favor[a] of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.
This year in basketball every Laker game is filled even if it is the second worst team in the NBA. Why? Because the owner of five championship rings Kobe Bryant is retiring. He started his career at 17 but now he is 37, elderly, exhausted and expensive. Played 1037 games, 47592 minutes (793 days) and scored 32967 points. The hard-driving and –demanding Kobe was asked what advice he'd offer an 18-year-old Kobe today.
Kobe answered, “It’s hard to tell somebody at that age to understand compassion and empathy. That would be my advice. It comes with time. The biggest thing about being a leader and winning a championship is understanding how to put yourself in other people’s shoes. It’s not necessarily the individual skill you possess. It’s about understanding others and knowing what they may be going through. It was in a meeting at Southwest College [in Los Angeles], and we were having a team meeting and Rick Fox said, 'Kobe, we just want to feel like you need us.' "I was like, 'What the hell is this grown man [saying]? What are you talking [about]?' But then, it kind of caught me, because it was a very vulnerable thing for him to say, and it helped me have perspective on what he may be going through and what he's feeling. And then, from that standpoint, it really changed my mentality and how I kind of looked at it, and I've been working on it ever since. I had a big transition when I started to understand that my teammates viewed me like some damn machine who didn’t feel anything and was oblivious to pressure,” Bryant says. “They found that very unrelatable. I had to explain that I had the same fears, flaws, vulnerabilities, so they could relate to me.”
“Kobe wishes he could tell his young self to understand compassion,”
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/kobe-wishes-he-could-tell-his-young-self-to-understand-compassion-212238852.html
The verb “teach” is the imperative and the verb “number” is the purpose (infinitive). Teach is the traditional word for “know.” Out of the verb “know” we have acknowledge, accept and appreciate our days, but not add, arrest or alter our days.
The purpose “number” is more than just mindless numbers but also means count (Num 23:10), appoint (1 Chron 9:29) and prepare (Ps 61:7). It is to spend our time wisely, watchfully and worthily, not weakly, wearily and worriedly. It is not to cross out your calendar but to commit the days to the Lord. It is not to wait for your death, but to work out your life.
There are six imperatives after the imperative plus purpose of verse 12 - “Teach us to number” (infinitive). The imperatives are in doublets: relent and have compassion (v 13), satisfy us (v 14) and make us glad (v 15), establish repeated (v 17)
Relent, Have compassion (v 13) Satisfy us (v 14), Make us glad (v 15) Establish, establish (v 13)
Pardon Provision Productivity
Delivered Delighted Developed
Forgiveness Favor Fruitfulness
Goodwill Gladness Growth
Compassion Comfort Completion
Redemption Resources Reinforcement
Salvation Satisfaction Strength
Conclusion: Have you been thankful for the past year? How have you triumphed in the year? How were you tested and transformed? How were you touched and toughened? What have you taken for granted? How are you tepid for the year? Were you true to God, trustworthy as a person and truthful with others?
