Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Memento Mori | The Writings | Psalm 90

Episode Date: August 9, 2024

Is God an idea or a refuge? Are you numbering your days? Where are you looking for satisfaction? In today's episode, Jeff shares how Psalm 90 invites us to recognize our limits and trust in God's eternal power. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 90

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. If you're looking to spice things up with your home decor this season, you might consider an eye-catching yet unconventional addition to your living space. And the best news is, it's not a large or particularly expensive decoration. But it is one that may create some questions. What is it? A memento mori.

Now, it's likely that you haven't seen this traditional. item at a friend's house anytime recently because a Memento Mori would probably confuse, maybe even scare most modern people today. Memento Mori is Latin for remember death or remember that you have to die. And it was commonly represented by Christians long ago via a skull sitting on someone's home or office. Now, while it would be a great conversation starter to have a Memento Mori adorning your living room, I get that it might not be the vibe you're going for. But the key to remembering death, Memento Mori, it doesn't have to do with how we arrange our homes.

It's all about how we arrange our lives. That skull sitting on a desk somewhere in your home, it wasn't meant to be a distraction from work. It gave direction to work. Our tendency today is to remove death from our line of sight. And while we can't avoid the reality of death at the end of our lives, we would prefer to avoid it in our daily lives. As a small example, most people in the modern West

have to drive for miles in order to visit a graveyard. But in other parts of the world, and in other generations in human history, you would get to a graveyard by foot and see the headstones of people you knew. Then and there you are face to face with your finitude. But today, we imagine that we can be infinite and we ignore death.

But what does this blissful ignorance of death cost us? What will be different if we let Memento Mori rearrange our priorities? Psalm 90 will provoke us to consider these questions and show us how the reality of death can alter the reality of our lives. And even more than that, it will free us to reconsider who God is and what he's up to in the midst of our finitude. As we approach God's word today, let's pause and ask for His grace to move through our time together.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life and breath, and thank you for your word. Jesus help us abide in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to graciously move in and through this time in Psalm 90. And as we read these words that you have for us, let these words read us and restore us. In Jesus' name, amen. So Psalm 90 is the only Psalm attributed to Moses in the Bible. And with Moses as the source of this Psalm, we can imagine the original audience coming out of generations of slavery in Egypt,

wondering what their lives are worth, what their lives are for. But importantly, Psalm 90 doesn't start with the Israelites coming out of slavery in Egypt. Doesn't start with you, doesn't start with me. Psalm 90 starts with God. We read this in verses 1 through 2. Lord, you have been our dwelling place, our refuge, in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

So across all space and all time, God is our dwelling place, our refuge, in all generations. Now, this is some powerful language in general, but it's especially powerful when we remember the people who heard it first. Moses says that God is our refuge in all generations, but don't miss this. That includes the generations that endured the hard treatment of Pharaoh in Egypt. That's what the original audience is thinking. Moses is saying even when we were in the darkest, most uncertain and painful stretches of life, God was there. God was our refuge. Yes, even there. Well, let's Do you believe that about God? Do you tend to view God as just an idea to ponder, a problem to solve, to figure out?

Or do you see him as your refuge, as your dwelling place, even in the darkest, most uncertain, painful stretches of life? Verses 1 through 2, they introduce us to God as the good eternal creator, who not only made us, but who restores us. And this beginning is key, because next Moses spends the next nine verses unpacking the tragic nature of sin, how our world and our lives aren't the way they should be. And the eternal creator, God, isn't oblivious to the ways that sin has corrupted our existence. We read this in verses 7 through 8, for we are brought to an end by your anger. By your wrath, we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. Man, that's heavy and humbling.

Even the secret sins that we pretend God might not see, they're not really hidden. And this humbles us, but it also certainly humble the people of God coming out of slavery in Egypt, because even though they were saved from slavery of Pharaoh, they were still held captive by the slavery of sin. God's response to our sin is wrath. justice. And as verses 9 through 11 tell us, we're bound not only by the power of sin and evil, but also death. That brings us to the memento mori. In response to the effects of sin, death, and evil, Moses appeals to God with a list of requests in verses 12 through 17. And the first request

hits us like a splash of cold water in the face. He says this, so teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. God teach us to number our days, to remember that we're going to die. This first appeal for Moses establishes the foundation for what follows. Because Moses is not trying to be morbid here. He's trying to be meaningful. When God teaches us to number our days, we get a heart of wisdom. We're less inclined to waste our days and more likely to engage them. Some of us are tempted to believe the lie that our lives are meaningless. But this verse speaks truth to the lie. Your life is not meaningless.

It matters. So for you, what would it look like for you to number your days? Maybe you don't have a skull on your desk or some in your house, but what would it look like for you to number your days in your head and your heart? What would a heart of wisdom look like for you? How would it change your calendar, your book, budget, your thoughts, your desires. All of the appeals in verses 12 through 17 are powerful to consider, but let's just focus on a few. Verse 14 asks God this,

satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. So yes, we need to number our days, yet that wisdom is held together by being satisfied by God's steadfast love, His Hecad. God's steadfast love isn't just something that saves you. It is that, but it doesn't just save you. It's something that satisfies you as well. With it, you live like every day is a gift, like every breath is a gift. So what's your greatest source of satisfaction these days? What do you tend to lean on for comfort when life is coming undone? What do you long for spend your days daydreaming about. And the logic of Psalm 90,

the life that is made wise through facing finitude is also made joyful by seeking satisfaction in the steadfast love of God. But Psalm 90, it's not just about how we think and feel. It's about that, but it's about way more than that. It's not just trying to make us reflect on a faithful life. It wants us to live a faithful life. And so work becomes the final theme of appeals in Psalm 90.

And interestingly, it starts with an emphasis on God's work in verse 16. We read this, Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children. Now, this is a noteworthy move on Moses' part. Before we consider the work that we're going to do, we need to see the work that God is already doing. before using our power to live differently, we need to see his power going ahead of us. Because when we believe that God is already at work, our work is able to take on an eternal significance.

Psalm 90 ends in a masterful way with a final request as God's eternal presence and power connects with our human presence and power. We read this, let the favor or beauty of the Lord. our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. With this ending, we see that Psalm 90 isn't meant to make us into a kind of naval gazing people who perpetually philosophies day in and day out. The truth of this Psalm gets worked out into the work of our hands. If God is establishing the work of your hands, that everything you do today, matters. It matters more than you know. Whether you're working through spreadsheets, meeting with a

client or a patient, caring for a loved one, or changing a diaper for the fifth time, God is establishing the work of your hands. Memento Mori, it reminds us that we're surrounded by moments that are meaningful, if we would just see them. It reminds us that our lives matter, that we're meant to be satisfied with steadfast love. It reminds us that God is working and that our work is an important participation with His. So in light of death, everything matters today. But at the same time, death itself has an expiration date.

Because God's steadfast love will not only satisfy us, but also restore us and all things when Jesus returns. because of the resurrection of Jesus and the future resurrection of all those who trust in Him, we can say that everything matters today, but we can also say that everything matters into eternity. So remember that you're going to die, so that you can live more faithfully and more fully today. But also remember that in Jesus, you will live forever.

And everything matters into eternity. Heavenly Father, would you teach us to number our lives? days, satisfy us with your steadfast love. Show us your work and help us participate in your work. And whatever you have before us today, God, establish the work of our hands. In Jesus' name, amen.