Psalm 90:1-12 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 90:1-12 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.
Verse 9For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh.
Verse 10The 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.
Verse 11Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
Verse 12So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
Devotion
The Psalmist appeals to God for sympathy. Our lives are so short according to God's sense of time. Must we spend these fleeting days suffering? I hear in this Psalm all of the prayerful moments I have spent begging God to forget the things I cannot. I plead with God to cover my debts with forgiveness, afraid that the words of absolution are for everyone except me or that their grace expires with time. These prayers rise not like incense, but reek of insecurity and doubt.
I imagine God answering my prayers and the Psalmist with a smile and a nod. "Yes. Your life is short. Why do you choose to spend it suffering for things I have already forgiven and things Christ has already taken from you?"
Prayer
God of mercy, my life is short and my burden is great. Take from me the things that cause sadness and suffering so I may be resurrected for your work each of these blessed and fleeting days. Amen.