Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19971123.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Ninety - Learning From A Truly Godly Giant's Outlook On Life
(Psalm 90:1-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. Moses was one of the great mortal spiritual giants in history. At his passing, Joshua wrote that "there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face t o face . . . ", Deut. 34:10.
    2. From such a spiritual giant, called "the man of God" in the introduction of Psalm 90, we can learn about the proper outlook to have in life to escape lots of sorrow and defeat and gain divine blessing.
  2. Learning From A Truly Godly Giant's Outlook On Life, Psalm 90:1-17.
    1. In Moses' lifetime, he witnessed both the awesome deeds of God's miraculous power in the exodus from Egypt and the tragic devastation of unbelieving people who perished in the wilderness.
      1. On the one hand, Moses witnessed the great miracles of Egypt culminating in the crossing of the Red Sea and the great divine deliverances in the wilderness wanderings, Deut. 34:11-12.
      2. On the other hand, he saw an entire generation of people die in the wilderness due to their unbelief (cf. Num. 14:20-24). Even Moses himself was destined to die outside of the Promised Land because he faithlessly failed to obey God and glorify Him before the people, cf. Num. 20:12; Dt. 32:48-52.
    2. Reflecting in these events, he came away with some revealing, overwhelming conclusions about life that locks man into a hopeless venture if considered alone, and he wrote about it in this psalm as follows:
      1. Fact One - Moses found that God is man's only habitation of refuge from trouble in history, Ps. 90:1-2.
      2. Fact Two - Man, because of his sin, is incredibly short-lived on this earth in this life, Ps. 90:3-6.
      3. Fact Three - Man's sin leads to his short life because God's wrath dictates he die for sin, Ps. 90:7-11.
      4. Summary - Thus, God, Who is man's only hope for refuge, because of man's sin, becomes the Source of man's trouble as God's wrath via man's sin dooms him to an early death.
    3. This troubling summary led Moses to ask God to teach his psalm's hearers to evaluate their lives like this so that they would apply their hearts to true wisdom, Ps. 90:12.
    4. That wisdom is presented in the resolution to the awful bane that sin has created in man's hope for blessing with a righteous God as follows:
      1. Moses called on God to have mercy and compassion on His mortal, hopelessly sinful servants, v. 13.
      2. That mercy, applied, would return the relationship with God to one of blessing described in verse 1:
        1. If God would have compassionate mercy on His servants, their sorrow would turn to joy, v. 14-15.
        2. If God would have compassionate mercy on His servants, they would be shown His miraculous deeds of intervention in life's troubles to cause His servants to glorify Him, Ps. 90:16.
        3. If God would have compassionate mercy on His servants, He would establish the works of their hands to outlast their mortal lives, giving them great meaning and value, Ps. 90:17!
    5. In Moses' own experience, God's compassionate mercy was powerfully displayed in accord with his prayer.
      1. The Law that God gave to Israel through Moses has become the backbone of Western Civilization's concept of law and order, a monumental feat, cf. Edward McNall Burns, Western Civilizations, p. 100.
      2. Though he died outside of the land, in glorify, in the absence of his sin nature, Moses victoriously appeared with Jesus and Elijah IN THE LAND during Christ's transfiguration, Lk. 9:28-30. Moses and Elijah talked with Christ of His need to depart this life by His atonement for sin, Luke 9:31. Moses then realized the need for Christ's atonement for the application of God's mercy to be complete!
      3. Thus, Moses' prayer for God's mercy to be applied to establish the works of his hands and produce fulfilling joy and works of great glory to God was fulfilled beyond his greatest of earthly dreams!
Lesson: Taking a tip from a great giant in the faith, Moses, we can avoid trouble and pain in relating to God by (1) realizing our hopeless debt of wrath-producing sin with God, and (2) plead the grace of God to deal with us in forgiveness (3) so t hat we might enjoy God's forgiveness, producing joy, and see His great hand move again in our lives to make our works truly productive beyond this earthly life.

Application: To escape lots of grief and a short-lived life, realize our hopelessness due to SIN, and depend on God's GRACE in Christ for forgiveness, blessing and to have God make something eternally meaningful with our life's efforts!