Psalm 90: 1-8 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 90: 1-8 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Verse 2Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Verse 3You turn us back to dust, and say, "Turn back, you mortals."
Verse 4For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
Verse 5You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
Verse 6in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
Verse 7For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
Verse 8You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
Devotion
Paul Tillich wrote that the “measure of man's transitoriness is God's eternity. The psalmist calls God our dwelling place, the only permanence in the change of all the ages and generations.”
There is good news for the spouse who has lost a partner, the parent whose child is on drugs and the family facing reality of foreclosure. Count your days that you may gain a wise heart.
We embrace both life and death. Our journey leads us to rediscover in ourselves the passion of knowing God. Despair can only be filled in the presence of God. We encounter and embrace life and death, where emptiness and absence becomes filled with the presence of God who has come to greet us.
Prayer
Into our barren experiences comes the resurrected Lord Jesus to remind us that we are loved. Thanks be to God. Amen.