"Thanksgiving" Sermon: Psalm 90

“Thanksgiving”
[Psalm 90]
November 16, 2008 Second Reformed Church

Many of you will have noticed that I tend to preach through books except during the holidays. During the holidays, I tend to use the Scripture selected in the Lectionary. The Lectionary is a device that divides most of the Scripture into readings over three years. One of the readings for today is the ninetieth Psalm.

The ninetieth Psalm was written by Moses while he was leading the people of Israel in the wilderness. It is one of the oldest pieces of literature in the Bible, and one of the oldest hymns of the Church. Moses wrote this Psalm so all who sing it would remember who God is and who humans are and our relationship with Him. Moses considered, as we shall see, the fact that almost everyone that God delivered from Egypt was going to die in the wilderness for their sin.

What does this Psalm mean for us on this Thanksgiving Sunday?

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Moses begins by reminding Israel – and all those who would believe in the Savior – that the rightful dwelling place of humans is with God. Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden. God is our refuge; we were created to be with Him, and our being separate from God – at odds with God – is an unnatural state. We are not meant to be apart from God.

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth
and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

And Who is this God? This is the Creator God – He Who before everything was created, existed eternally before everything and eternally before time itself. God always is and was and will be.

“You turn us back to dust, and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’

We know, as we have looked at the opening chapters of Genesis recently, that we were not created to die, but due to the sin of our first parents, we all now return to the dust from which we were created. All humans are mortal and all humans die, unless the Lord intervenes. We remember that Elijah was caught up in the whirlwind and never experienced death, and Enoch walked with the Lord and one day was not, as God took him into glory without physical death, and all those who believe and are on the earth when Jesus returns will be taken, right then with Him into glory – but most of us – most of humanity – experience death. So, we are told to turn back – to repent – to find hope, at least, after the death of this body.

“For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watching in the night. You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

This is the Psalm that Peter quoted from to the scoffers who scoffed at Jesus’ Return – that He had not returned after thirty or so years – now we have been waiting over two thousand years, and the scoffers have multiplied. So, understand the difference in perspective between humans and the Everlasting God: a thousand years with God is like an evening past to us. When God destroyed the earth with the flood, it was but a moment to Him. Humans are like the grass that grows up in the morning and withers away at night – that is really the length of our lives, isn’t it? Have you ever said, “Where has the time gone?”

“For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh. The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

We die as a result of sin – remember the Law, “The wages of sin is death...” (Romans 6:23a, ESV). And God knows all our secret sins – nothing is hidden from Him, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13, ESV).

Our days have been cut short – Moses knew as the author of the first five books of the Bible, that humans beings were created and lived eight hundred, nine hundred, years when God created us, but after the flood, those years were cut down to one hundred and twenty, and as Moses had led the people through the wilderness and they sinned and sinned and sinned in their ungratefulness for God’s deliverance, God promised that except for Joshua and Caleb, everyone who came out of Egypt would die in the wilderness – which meant that most people died in their seventies – or perhaps, eighties, if the Lord was willing.

And they knew then, as we know now, even a life of a mere seventy or eighty years is not a life of ease, but a life of trouble, especially as we grow older, as our body ceases to work properly, and eventually dies. We don’t like to think about death in our culture – we do what we can to still look young, to pretend that we are young – yet this decay is only one effect of sin – of God’s Wrath for sin.

“Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

Moses says that the Wrath of God is upon humanity for our sin, and it is overwhelming. Yet, none of us has experienced the Wrath of God in it fullness, except for Jesus, as He suffered Hell on the cross for the sake of everyone who would believe. We experience a little of it – we have a taste of it – but Jesus took on the fulness of it, to the point of being forsaken by the Father in the depths of receiving God’s Wrath for your sin and my sin.

So, we ought to consider our sin. We ought to consider the anger that it stirs up in our Holy God. We should consider what we have brought upon Jesus – that we might be thankful to Him and also have a reason to refrain from the depths to which we are prone to descend. We ought to consider our sin, God’s Wrath, understand that sin is why we die, and we will all die, unless the Lord tarries.

How are we spending the time that God has given us? Where – in what – are we seeking our satisfaction?

Moses continues:

“So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.

Of course, Moses is not saying that there is a way or that we should figure out exactly how long we will live – God has a date marked for each person and then and then alone we shall face death. What Moses is saying is that believers ought to live every moment with purpose – for Jesus and His Gospel – which is all that will remain.

Moses had wealth and power as the adopted grandson of Pharaoh. Yet, hear what is recorded of him by the author of Hebrews: “By faith, when Moses was grown up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God that to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:24-25, ESV). Did we hear that? Moses is being heralded as an example of faith for making the better choice: he could have stayed in the palace, enjoyed a lifetime of being served, riches, possibly even becoming Pharaoh himself – but that was fleeting – that was nothing, compared to be able to suffer with God’s people. We don’t think like that – “Little Johnny, you can live with so and so the billionaire, have an easy life, everything you could ever want, you can do what you want, or you can go with so and so to be part of a missionary family and likely die completely unknown – which do you choose?” In Moses’ case, we know that the power and the glory of the Pharaoh’s court was worthless – it was sin – compared to the call of God on his life and God’s Salvation for him.

Instead, Moses says we ought ask for wisdom. We may remember that God came to Solomon over a thousand years later, when he had inherited the kingdom of his father, David, and God asked Solomon what he wanted – anything at all – and God would give it to him. What was Solomon’s response? “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or to come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (I Kings 3:6-9, ESV). Solomon asked for wisdom, and God was pleased. May God be pleased to grant us wisdom to be His people.

“ Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.

So, repent and receive the mercy of the Lord. Be satisfied with Him and give thanks for the steadfast love of the Lord – every morning. And then, and this may sound strange, Moses says we should pray that God would make us glad when He afflicts us. And why are we afflicted? For the years of our evil. Moses wanted Israel to understand that God was afflicting her for her sin – they were dying in the wilderness for their sin – sometimes we suffer – now – for our sin. And Moses says, “rejoice.” Why? We ought rejoice when God afflicts us because God deals with us as a Father and not as a judge; God punishes us for our good, not for our destruction. No one enjoys the discipline of a parent, but it is for our good. God disciplines us because He loves us.

“Let the work be manifested in your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands – O prosper the work of our hands ” (Psalm 90, NRSV).

Moses ends his Psalm with a prayer for Israel – for all of God’s people:

First, he prays that the Lord’s work would be shown to us to do. May God be pleased to give us the wisdom to know what God wants us to do and that we would do it.

Second, he prays that God’s Glorious Power would be known to succeeding generations. May God raise up faithful parents who will teach their children everything that God has taught us and told us, that they would know Him and follow Him.

Third, he prays that God’s favor would be upon all those who believe. May God bless His people, and may everyone know that it is God who has blessed His people for His Own Sake.

And fourth, Moses brings the prayer full circle, praying that God would cause us to do the work He has set before us – that He would provide for our needs and enable us to do all that He has called us to do. May that prayer be a promise fulfilled in each one of us.

How may we apply this Psalm to Thanksgiving?

Let us understand the difference between the Eternal and Holy God and finite humans who have sinned against Him – let us understand how great our sins and miseries are.

Let us understand how we may be delivered from all our sins and miseries – by turning back to God through Jesus Christ and His Sacrifice.

And then let us give thanks to God for His Salvation. Just as God delivered the people of Israel from Egypt, we have been delivered from slavery to sin, and God continues to bless us. God continues to guide us and give us His Wisdom. God has given us work to do as Second Reformed Church – beginning with telling others about Him.

Let us be filled with thanksgiving, now and always.

And let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for bringing us into the Promised Land, for making us the people of Your Kingdom, Your sons and daughters, and for giving us work to do. Cause us to live up to the call You have put on each of our lives, and may we always find reason to rejoice and give thanks to You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.