Week Thirty-Nine - Make Us Glad

Psalm 90 is one of the oldest psalms. Penned by Moses as a prayer, it focuses on longevity and wisdom. Man's life is short compared to eternity, so Moses desires wisdom to live well and be productive.

His desire is found in verse 14-15, "O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil."

Moses' life, from start to finish, is hardly one in which we read of gladness, so we might wonder why his prayer contains that word. He is abandoned to the river, grew up in a foreign household, fled into the wilderness, stood before Pharaoh, carried the burden of the people of Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness, and finally died without making it to the promised land. That's hardly a happy song.

But here is His secret. His prayer begins with God, "Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God" (vs. 1, 2), and it ends with God, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it."

Whatever happens in between doesn't matter as long as God is there, as long as God is woven through all the ups and downs.

This is the tale that is told (vs 9). This is the wisdom of verse 12: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." He is our dwelling place - “from everlasting to everlasting thou art God” (vs 2). And that should make us glad!

Our lives may not be as tumultuous and shifting as Moses’, but we can still rely on the secret He reveals. Whatever has happened in our lives, God is there. That is the tale we tell. This is the story that makes us glad. God is with us - for eternity. He is our dwelling place, and He will satisfy us with His mercy so we can rejoice and be glad all our days.

If you are going through a troubled time, remember you aren’t finished yet. God was with you in the beginning, and He will be with you in the end. Not only that, but just as He was with Moses through all his ups and downs, He is with you in the middle, too.

Let your heart rejoice, and let Moses’ secret make you glad.