Oh, Moses
Skipping a stone across Moses’ life reveals a 120 year roller-coaster ride.
Born at a time of great danger and slavery but rescued by royalty
Raised in privilege gaining great power and influence
Committed murder and ran for his life to the desert
Chased sheep around the countryside for decades
At 80 hears a call from God to go back to the palace
Returns but filled with insecurities and questions
Center of high drama to release Jews from Egyptian slavery
Leads a caravan that would last 40 years in desert wanderings
So many stories of wins and losses in the wilderness
Blocked from entering the promised lands and dies just short of the Jordan
Compared to this dude my life looks like a bubble-wrapped tip-toe through a field of daisies on a summer day. We all face troubles, but come on…Moses’ life was a wild ride.
As we age, it’s natural to ponder some of the twists and turns of life. Choices. Mistakes. Opportunities just missed and others firmly grabbed. Unchangeable regrets. Good friends and bad. I wonder if Moses, near death on the east side of the river, did some pondering of his own.
Psalm 90, attributed to Moses, reads like it comes toward his end. The verses swing through many of the attitudes we have toward God and how we interact with him over the years. I imagine an old man looking over the landscape of his years taking stock of what he has experienced and learned.
He begins with a declaration of faith, proclaiming God as the foundation of his life.
Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.
What a great line that God has been our home. Not just creator and sustainer or life, he is the stable point in a chaotic world that we can return to. And just as we are welcomed when we come home to family, God welcomes any whose shadow covers his door. So, a question forms:
“Have I embraced the idea that God is both my home and the best welcomer ever?”
Too many times I search for another home and other welcomers. How foolish to think I can top God to comfort, feed, encourage, challenge, warm, hug, fulfill…but I still find myself wandering away from all that is good. It’s good to recall we have a home and a Father who leaves lights on and doors unlocked.
Moses continues his song. I squint and see him as an old man flipping through the photo books and journals, recounting all his adventures, and misadventures, and reflecting on how fast it has unspooled.
You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals!” For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. You sweep people away like dreams that disappear….
Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.
Compared to the stars above or even land we stand upon, we barely make a scratch on history. Living with assumed longevity is a thoroughly human deceit; we know we will die but don’t really believe it. Now that I’m at the 70s level in the big game, the years do seem to fly, even as some of my nights feel endless.
Age humbles as it gives out the wisdom that only comes grudgingly to the old and slow. Some reading this are young enough to think you will never get old and brittle, but just wait. Here Moses is at 120 years old and still wonders how he got so old so young.
So, what’s there to know and how ought we pray in light of how rapidly life runs away from our grasp? Moses concludes his song.
Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. O Lord, come back to us! How long will you delay? Take pity on your servants!
Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good.
Let us, your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory. And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!
This is one of those short seminars from an older, flawed, but faith-filled person that tragically often go unnoticed by the youngers flying along with life. Let’s sift through it, looking for nuggets we can apply in our lives.
Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.
This is The Lesson of Priority. If my life is truly short, regardless of how many years it lasts, the great power we have is to decide how those years of moments are spent. Investment in matters that matter, including rest and recreating and laughing and eating well, seems to be key to a full life. Choosing worth-more as opposed to worth-less pursuits reflect an awareness of our brief life. Prioritize well, friend.
O Lord, come back to us! How long will you delay? Take pity on your servants!
Next comes the Shadow of Unanswered Prayers. Older believers tell stories of God’s work on their behalf, peppered with all the “asks” not answered affirmatively. They will remind youngers of the subtle presence of God the Spirit walking with them through the darkest of days. Comfort is drawn from all of the saints who came before who looked beyond this world to the final embrace of Love. Still, pray and rage and wrestle just like Moses does in this line: How long…? Take pity…! (BTW, a fine book on this is God on Mute by Pete Greig. Helped me a ton).
Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good.
Moses moves on to The Living Reality of Hope. Quite in the midst of memories of his past and under the heart-hurt of unanswered prayer, Moses changes gears. He leans into the truth that he sang at the start that God is his real home where rest is found, true shalom. Our hope in Christ that all will be well…then. We still pray for gladness and good that outweighs our sadness, so we look for hints all around us of God’s unfailing love and it always shows up, as certain as the dawn. All will be well.
Let us, your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory. And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!
Moses closes out this psalm with An Appeal for the Future. First, he prays that God will show up, and show up strong and mighty. Nothing matches the encouragement to Jesus-followers and for the next generation than having a ringside seat to a God moment. That wind in sails propels new efforts for the kingdom, and so the last phrase is the right prayer to lead any ministry or personal move. Make our efforts successful!
Possibly take Moses’ song and prayer with you this week as we begin our trek to Easter. Tomorrow, Lent begins, and with it another calendared opportunity to evaluate our life, pray our heart, hear his voice, and live out out our hope all the way to the empty tomb.
It’s later than you think.
Music is always good…
…and, of course, bad jokes x2
The new librarian decided that instead of checking out children's books by writing the names of borrowers on the book cards herself, she would have the youngsters sign their own names. She would then tell them they were signing a "Contract" for returning the books on time.
Her first customer was a second grader, who looked surprised to see a new librarian. He brought four books to the desk and shoved them across to the librarian, giving her his name as he did so.
The librarian pushed the books back and told him to sign them out. The boy laboriously printed his name on each book card and then handed them to her with a look of utter disgust.
Before the librarian could even start her speech he said, scornfully, "That other librarian we had could write."
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A passenger on a train visited the dining car and ordered a bowl of soup.
When delivered, it had a fly in it! The outraged passenger wrote to the president of the railroad, expressing his dismay and vowing never to ride that railroad again.
Then he received a letter from the president, apologizing profusely, vowing that this was an unprecedented occurrence and explaining the steps that had been taken to ensure it never happened again.
The passenger was almost persuaded until he discovered that the envelope also contained a small slip of paper containing his name and address and the handwritten notation:
"Send this jerk the bug letter.