Living and Dying Well : Lessons from the Prayer of Moses By: Rev. Arnel Tan Psalms 90 A prayer of Moses, the man of God. 1 Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! 2 Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God. 3 You turn people back to dust, saying, Return to dust, you mortals! 4 For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. 5 You sweep people away like dreams that disappear. They are like grass that springs up in the morning. 6 In the morning it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it is dry and withered. 7 We wither beneath your anger; we are overwhelmed by your fury. 8 You spread out our sins before you— our secret sins—and you see them all. 9 We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan. 10 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. 11 Who can comprehend the power of your anger? Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve. 12 Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. 13 O LORD, come back to us! How long will you delay? Take pity on your servants! 14 Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. 15 Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good. 16 Let us, your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory. 17 And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful! Psalm 90 is the prayer of Moses the Man of God, actually the man who is a friend of God. This Psalm 90 is so rich and so full of timeless insights about living well and dying well. It provides some estimates and specifics regarding life as well as highlighting realities that many of us are not comfortable to talk about. Moses is not preaching a sermon he is offering a plea, expressing praise and availing for mercy. Ed Dobson said “dying slowly shakes our faith he is known to be the faithful dissenter who dare ask the questions we ask but has no courage to voice out. He talks about the issues that battles death and the sad realities that surround it. I dont only know death I feel it ( he has been diagnosed to have a crippling disease called ALS) Ed voiced out what many of us ask No one prepared us to die well....as Billy Graham would say death is sure but no one taught us how to grow old In the prayer of Moses we see glimpses of both painful and pleasant realities of life and death. Let us prayerfully learn then lessons and somehow be equipped to live well and die well.....remember it all comes from the God initiated awakening that life is short. Heres the issue if we live up to 70 years old and sometimes 80 years old what are the things that we need to remember should God grant us the grace to live this long? Consider this sermon as an advance plotting and planning on how should life be lived well and before we die how to exit well! THE PRAYER OF MOSES REVEALS THAT HIS VALUES ARE NOT DETACHED FROM THE ETERNAL (1-2) Moses prayers reveal his closeness to God- in the beginning of his prayer you can sense that this Man is not only mouthing God ... He enjoys friendship with God! Moses reviews that his confidence has always been in God- the only source of courage in facing the realities of life in Egypt, in the wilderness, on top of Sinai and his disqualification from crossing over to Canaan was that God is His confidence! Not health, not wealth, not connections, not giftedness but God Himself his confidence! Moses reflects on Gods Sovereignty that never changes through out all generations- here is the beauty of prayers it leads us back to God! Allows us to discover Thant His ways are higher than our ways....loans is courage to live confidently and die confidently well for His glory. THE PRAYER OF MOSES REVEALS THAT HIS VISION IS NOT DENYING THE TEMPORAL REALITIES (3-10) Life is short Living is hard Death is painful Dying shakes faith Life span is up to 70 to 80 years Big chunk of the prime life is lived in sorrow (paying consequences of foolish choices) Were gone and forgotten In prayer we dont deny these realities we begin to accept them and live with them throughout life In prayer we depend on the Lords grace to live above them In prayer we dont negotiate we surrender THE PRAYER OF MOSES REVEALS THAT HIS VICTORY IS NOT DEPENDENT ON THE MATERIAL (12-17) He calls on God for daily realization that life is short- when one really realize the brevity of life many things will change. Living well starts here and dying well is prepared here. Ed Dobson said if the day comes when I can no longer speak or teach, I want you to know Lord its okay with me. You say this while life is in its prime and its shortness is clear. If we say were old and life is short how does this affect your life now? • Your attitude • Your generosity • Your dealings • Your reaction to lifes routine One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, Why did you just do that? That guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital! This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, The Law of the Garbage Truck. He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage -- frustration, anger, disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes theyll dump it on you. Dont take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Dont take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who dont. He longs for Gods presence to become so real to him everyday He cries for Gods wisdom to handle the remaining days He pleads for joyful moments to abound He prays for redemption, the grace of second chance Replace the evil years with good.....(faithful Redeemer redeemed the the remaining days) • that they may see His glory earth • let your servants see you work again • let our children see your glory • May The Lord show us His approval • make our efforts successful Conclusions The prayer of Moses first to last helps us see God better. Whether in life or in death I dont know what He would allow or not allow one thing I know for those who trusted Christ when death comes He will be there. How do,we die well?......in prayer we put ourselves on the offering plate and say Lord what ever you plan it will be okay for me.... Amen
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 02:35:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015