Psalms at Morning Prayer (Day 18), Notes on Psalm 90

Psalm 90. No specific crisis is identified, but this is suitable for any time of lament when “the frailty of life stands in stark contrast to God’s eternal strength.” Format: vss.1-2, God’s eternal nature; vss.3-6, the brevity of life; vss.7-11, human sinfulness causes the dismal state of the human race; vss.12-17, prayer for wisdom and grace.

90.1. dwelling place. In contrast to the temporary and uncertain nature of human life is the eternity of God as the refuge for His people. God is the one to go to in times of lament and insecurity, for God is before all creation and time.

Westminster Larger Catechism. “Q. 7. What is God? A. God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.

The hymn, “O God our Help in Ages Past,” gives the devotional aspect.

A marvellous rendition is offered at Westminster Abbey. The words are below the video link found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asrwlIxLeko

The words of this hymn are:
O[ God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defence is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
Return, ye sons of men:
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ‘tis night.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our God while life shall last,
And our eternal home.

Wikipedia gives us these few brief notes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_God,_Our_Help_in_Ages_Past (accessed 18 Aug 2010).

“The hymn was originally part of The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, published by Watts in 1719. In this book he paraphrased in Christian verse the entire psalter with the exception of twelve Psalms which he felt were unsuited for Christian usage.

The hymn is often sung at festive occasions in England.”

It remains a classic in the repertoire of Anglican hymns.

90.1. LORD, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. The Psalmist looks back to Eden, the flood, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the Conquest, the Judges, Samuel, Saul and the establishment of the monarch, David, Solomon, and the division of the monarchy with their respect kings. This is a summary of redemptive history and is laced with the merciful, gracious, lovingly kind, and abiding covenanted mercies.

We are reminded of the historic width and breadth of this covenant in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 7.5-6:

V. This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the Gospel: under the law it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all fore-signifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation; and is called the Old Testament.
VI. Under the Gospel, when Christ, the substance, was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed are the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper: which, though fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity, and less outward glory, yet, in them, it is held forth in more fullness, evidence, and spiritual efficacy, to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles; and is called the New Testament. There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations.

The Psalmist evinces an understanding of the covenanted presence of God with His people.

90.3. return man to dust. Punishment for the first sin in Eden. Death now reigns throughout the human race. The entire creation groans, awaiting the day of redemption (Rom.8). In Gen.3.19, death is pictured as a return to dust from which God created man. The emphasis is on the brevity of life and the difficulties of life under the divine sentence.

90.4. thousand years. The contrast is between the brevity of human life and God’s eternity. Time is but fleeting with God, a thousand years but a breath. Augustine: “No one may imagine a thousand years are reckoned by God as one day, as if with God days were so long, when this is said in contempt of the extent of time; he adds, `and as a watch in the night:’ which only lasts three hours.”

90.4. are but yesterday when it is past. The fall in Eden is ever present to the eye of the eternal God. The final judgment is ever present to God (Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 33). Church and all other histories are but as a “yesterday,” a fleeting moment.

90.5-6. Human frailty and mortality are like a passing dream, forgotten by the morning. “Time carries life away like a raging flood sweeps away everything in its path. Life comes and goes; it is but “vanity of vanities” apart from God (Ecclesiastes). The Bible is a sure antidote to clinical narcissism.

90.7-11. It is not just brevity of life that brings despair. God’s anger over sin causes life many hardships and difficulties (Gen.3). Life is burdensome. There is toil, sweat of the brow, and havoc in creation. Life comes to end as a “sigh.”

90.7. by your wrath we are dismayed. “Dismayed” is the ESV. “Are afraid” is the Psalter version of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. This gives another glimpse of God’s relationship to sin, even for the people of God.

Ex.34.6-7. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

90.8. secret sins. Sins that are “hidden from our thinking unless it be revealed in the law of God.” (Chemnitz, Lutheran Study Bible, 935).

Hence, the daily prayer in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, who confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

In the Anglican prayer book is the studious awareness of: (1) secret desires and devices that give rise to actual sins and (2) the need to repent and unfeignedly repair to the Eternal God as the refuge of His people through all generations.

90.12. A series of requests or petitions ensue. First, that we may learn understanding and wisdom. Second, that we may use of days advisedly and with wisdom. Third, that we should take refuge in the eternal God, our bulwark and rock.

90.12-17. A prayer for God to turn His anger to stedfast love.

90.13-16. Return, O LORD! The prayer is to end the despair. The Psalmist longs to see God’s power. “Satisfy us in the morning with your stedfast love.” (vs.15) The “morning” is a time of renewal and refreshment.

90.14. Satisfy us in the morning with your stedfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Notwithstanding the sorrows, brevity, and sins noted above, this prayer rehearses the understanding, belief and embrace of Leviticus, the sacrifices, the Feasts of worship and the Sabbath, the Day of Atonement, God’s holiness, God’s presence with Israel, God’s covenant of mercy, God’s forgiveness and kindness, and the Gospel of blood-atonement of propitiation and expiation. It is a prayer to be satisfied with the Gospel's assurances, comforts and love.

90.15. Prayer that life’s joys will balance out life’s sorrows. God’s answer is outlined and goes much further (Rom.8.28-39).

90.16. Let your work be shown to your servants. This is God’s work of salvation (Ps.96.2-3). The Psalmist seeks deliverance from crisis, famine, enemies, sickness, and injustice. It is prayer to understanding and enlightenment, as well as the actual deliverance. It is a call to doctrine, worship and pious living.

It is a call for the Light of lights, God of God, and the Light of the world (Jn.8.12) to “lighten our way.” From Evening Prayer of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

The Third Collect, for Aid against all Perils.

Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Another suitable prayer and prayer for the LORD to feed and shew mercy. http://comfortablewords.com/comwords/prayers.php?searchtype=keywords&searchvalue=Wisdom (accessed 18 Aug 2010)

Knowledge From The Scriptures
Bede (c. 672-735)

And I pray Thee, loving Jesus, that as Thou hast graciously given me to drink in with delight the words of Thy knowledge, so Thou wouldst mercifully grant me to attain one day to Thee, the fountain of all wisdom and to appear forever before Thy face.