Tags
Everlasting God, Faith, Love/hate, Perspective, Psalm 90, trust
“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” ~ Job, from Job 42:5
“Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” ~ Psalm 90:12
“Knowing (or in this case, seeing) is half the battle.” ~ G.I. Joe
Is there anything in this life that you would say you have a love/hate relationship with? Well, today, in the midst of my current struggle, I think I could say that about the title of this blog post. Perspective, OH THE AGONY! It is so hard to gain perspective, and let alone to live by, breathe, and trust in certain perspectives.
This is something we talked about in my morning counseling session today and with it we looked at Psalm 90, the prayer of Moses. Firstly we talked about, when do you think the Psalm was written/prayed (before, amidst, or towards the end of the wilderness, or maybe before, amidst, or towards the end of the exodus)? We’re not told, however you could reason that it likely wasn”t written towards the end of the wilderness because Moses dies near the end of the wilderness and in this Psalm he talks about the length of our days being 70, or 80 if we have the strength (vs. 10). Moses lived to be about 120 years old total, so one could reason that this Psalm was written/prayed at least before the wilderness began being that the people of Israel were in the wilderness 40 years and 120 – 40 = 80.
All of this to say that, it took a long time for God to establish the work of their hands (vs. 17). To this my counselor asked, “if it took 10 more years for God to complete what he wants to in the way he sees fit, and by then your kids being teenagers could then also see and understand at least some of the will and goodness of God, is it worth it? Would you do it? I didn’t even really have to think about it as I answered, “Yes.”
Secondly then, what does it mean for you that from everlasting to everlasting God is our God? In other words, no matter what, throughout all time, etc… God is, God has been, and God will be our God! I find myself at a loss of how to respond to this completely, but it definitely is awesome!
Thirdly, what is it that Moses takes, or desires to take, delight in amidst it all? Vs. 14 says, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Moses’ delight or satisfaction is not in his suffering or hardship coming to an end and being complete, but that God would satisfy him and the people of Israel with his unfailing love day in and day out. As Lamentations 3:22-23 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Well, that’s about where we left off, after all, you can only get so far in an hour. Perspective though… Maybe the above is another way of saying, seeing is believing. Having proper perspective, which is a certain way of seeing or understanding, helps a person keep believing and trust and strive forward in faith. And faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).
Just some thoughts for today. Maybe there is encouragement in them for you as well. Or they might come across as not too easy to accept as well, as they can for me also.