The Psalms are divided into 5 Books.
We will be in the first Psalm of Book 4.
The Psalm is not encouraging at first; STICK WITH IT!
Yates said, Book 4 is a great faith-building volume, as great as anything the OT contains … .
This Psalm acknowledges man weakness, but it ends with the words of hope of Yahweh.
Psalm 90 offers wisdom to the people of God.
PRAY
Hang in there with the Psalm
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
The awesomeness of creation.
Everlasting to everlasting he is God (2X)
3 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
Return man to dust.
AND SAY
“Return, O Children of man”
Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust
SIDEBAR: God is outside of time.
CONTRAST = Moses places God’s history in perceptive for humans.
ILL:
Psalm 8:4, What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
APPL:
GOD: Dwelling Place. Creator. Beyond the reach of time and its effects.
5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
Hang in here
Three similes to describe humankind’s experience. Moses used the third person (them) here:
ILL:
St. Augustine grass in the summer.
APPL:
Olsen, “The clock talked loud. I threw it away, it scared me what it talked.”
We are withering. Tick-tock Tick-tock
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 10 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
APPL:
Stay dismayed? NO - there is more to the Psalm
“The Turn” in 12 - the pre-turn here in 10b
They are soon gone.
The Story Behind I’ll Fly Away
Albert E. Brumley has been described as the “pre-eminent gospel songwriter” of the 20th century with over 600 published songs. According to interviews, Brumley came up with the idea for “I’ll Fly Away” while picking cotton on his father’s farm in Rock Island, Oklahoma.
Brumley says that as he worked he was “humming the old ballad that went like this: ‘If I had the wings of an angel, over these prison walls I would fly,’ and suddenly it dawned on me that I could use this plot for a gospel-type song.” The song Brumley described appears to be “The Prisoner’s Song”.
It was an additional three years later until Brumley worked out the rest of the song, paraphrasing one line from the secular ballad to read, “Like a bird from prison bars has flown” using prison as an analogy for earthly life. Brumley has stated, “When I wrote it, I had no idea that it would become so universally popular.” (I’ll Fly Away)
11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? 12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Vs. 11
poetically rhetorical
Implied: Wise people consider the power of God’s anger and the God’s wrath according to the PROPER fear of the Lord.
v.12 = SO
I’ll repeat: Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath according to the fear of you?
ILL:
Business goals
Financial goals
Spiritual goals
APPL:
13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Return, O LORD! HOW LONG?
Moses asks for Pity: Sympathy and sorrow aroused by the misfortune or suffering of another. (Wordnik)
Parallelism = return in the NEW way in the morning.
Satisfy us in the morning with your Hised
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. 16 Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!
TWO TIMES: establish the work of our hands.
APPL:
“I’ll Fly Away.” (Song written by Albert E. Brumley), https://www.godtube.com/popular-hymns/i-ll-fly-away/.
Constable, Thomas. “Note on the Psalms.” https://planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/pdf/psalms.pdf.
McGee, J. Vernon. Thru the Bible: Genesis Through Revelation. United Kingdom, Thomas Nelson, 1984.
Smith, William. “Watches of Night.” Smith’s Bible Dictionary, Bible Hub, https://biblehub.com/topical/w/watches_of_night.htm.
Spurgeon, Charles. “Psalm 90.” The Treasury of David, https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/treasury-of-david/psalms-90-17.html.
“Tillie Olsen Quotes.” BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2021. 30 Dec. 2021. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/tillie_olsen_104434
Wordnik. “Dismay.” https://www.wordnik.com/words/dismay.
________. “Pity.” https://www.wordnik.com/words/pity.
Some glad morning when this life is o’er,
I’ll fly away;
To a home on God’s celestial shore,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).
Chorus
I’ll fly away, Oh Glory
I’ll fly away; (in the morning)
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away).
When the shadows of this life have gone,
I’ll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away)
Chorus
Just a few more weary days and then,
I’ll fly away;
To a land where joy shall never end,
I’ll fly away (I’ll fly away)
SongwriterAlbert E. Brumley
Published byHartford Music company