From everlasting to everlasting He is God - Psalm 90

There is a song I used to listen to a couple of years ago. There is a part where the rapper says, “Sit down, be humble”. That is exactly how I felt when I read psalm 90. I was put in my place. 

In a busy and uncertain season of my life, it became apparent that unbelief had taken form in my heart in the shape of pride. It showed itself in anxiety, fear, worry, overworking, and loss of control over my life and use of time. My sin was exposed under the light of his presence and word. I was deserving of his anger and wrath of putting myself in his place as “god in control”. Instead, in his mercy, the Lord put me in my place (sit down) by reminding me of who he is: that he is eternal and I am but dust (be humble). 

God is eternal

The Lord is eternal. “From everlasting to everlasting he is God”. The Lord formed the earth and the world, he made the the mountains (v2). He has seen its genesis and currently sustains it and keeps it at his will. He is sovereign. God has been a dwelling place for countless generations too (v1). He has seen the coming and the goings of nations, the rise and fall of Kings and rulers. Nothing is new to him, nothing surprises him. In everything he is sovereign, in control and knows how the world works; its seasons and its people. 

We are dust

You and me on the other hand, are here today and gone tomorrow. We are limited to space and time. We are finite beings, here for a set time. We do not know how long  the Lord has given us. God is kind to give us today to live and honor him. However, despite our limitations our heart desires want to be little ‘g’ gods of our little ‘k’ kingdoms. We want our ways and thoughts to prevail instead of God’s perfect will. We want to control our lives and do what is right in our own eyes. We worry, complain or grow frustrated when things do not our own way as though it will turn situations in our favour. 

Being little gods of our little kingdoms robs God of his rightful place as Sovereign Lord and Creator who knows all things and whose power and wisdom is sufficient for us. It robs creation of a relationship with its Creator. We become thankless and insensitive, enslaved by the idols in our hearts.  

Being little gods robs us of taking a step back (humility) and remembering that this life we have been given is a gift from God - that we are stewards of the time and gifts. It also robs us the serious consideration of the brevity of life. The need to ponder such things hardly arises for we ‘think’ that we are eternal beings. Therefore, we run the risk of facing the Lord’s wrath because we think we do not need saving.

Moses in his prayer displays his awareness of his finiteness, in relation to God’s infiniteness. He is aware of his place in relation to God. He sees that he can not even measure up to what God can do. His iniquities and that of his people are an indicator that unlike the Lord who is holy, they fall short of such holiness and deserve to be under his wrath. In his finiteness he asks for pity, for grace. 

Moses’ response is to lean in on the one who is infinite. First, he does this through prayer. A sure sign of knowing his place before the Lord. Talking to the all-knowing and all powerful God who created him. In his prayer, he asks for a heart of wisdom to the one who possesses sovereign and timeless wisdom so that he may live his life in line with God’s will - not his own. He asks for the joy and gladness from the Lord who knows what is best and brings contentment with his steadfast and enduring love. He asks for grace and that his life and work may be work that is fruitful in the time and season that he has been given. He seeks to live in humility, in going with the grain of God’s sovereign will for his creation. 

Let us live with a big and reverent view of God and a realistic view of ourselves. Let our finiteness and falling short of the Lord’s standards be apparent to us. As a result, in seeing our shortcomings may our need for him and need for his grace and mercy in Jesus grow more and more in dependence. May we obtain a heart of wisdom unto the salvation that he has called into through Jesus Christ, that we may not find ourselves outside his will and under his wrath, but in deep relation with him as his beloved children.