From the Pastor's Study
From the Pastor’s Study
Humbled to Seek Help
Oct 5, 2022
There are 150 psalms in the Book of the Psalms, and we can read each one separately. But there is also something to be gained by reading a few psalms together and when we do, we will notice that the order of the psalms is not random. Rather, a psalm may pick up an idea from the previous psalm and expand it or expound upon it.
A few days ago I chose to read Psalm 90 during a visit I was making. The psalm begins majestically: Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. When I chose that psalm to read, it became clear to me that I had forgotten the rest of it. Phrases like, “You turn people back to dust” and “We are consumed by your anger” tend to be the theme of much of the rest of the psalm. Moses is said to be the author of Psalm 90, and I can understand what he is saying: God is eternal, and we are not. Moses considers God to be more permanent that a mountain while we humans are like grass which lasts only a short time. In fact, we are not just “not eternal;” we are sinful people who should find it quite understandable and reasonable that God might not want anything to do with us. It is reasonable that he leave us to die in our sins. Psalm 90 is rather depressing, actually, and I felt bad for reading it at this particular visit, although the truth of the psalm cannot be denied. Moses does end Psalm 90 on a more positive note, asking that God teach us to number our days and give us joy in the days we have on this earth. He prays that God’s favour rest on us so that the work we do is not in vain.
Psalm 90 does leave us with reason to reflect on the brevity of life especially when viewed in the light of God’s eternality. If we continue to read, however, we will find that Psalm 91 begins with some of the same concepts as Psalm 90. In Psalm 90 we read that God who is as eternal as the mountains is our dwelling place, and in Psalm 91, God is refuge and our fortress. But instead of calling us to compare ourselves to God as we see in Psalm 90, Psalm 91 moves us to put our trust in the Lord. God will save us from deadly pestilence and under his wings we will find refuge. If we make the Lord our refuge, Psalm 91 says, then no harm will overtake us. God will answer us when we call on him, the psalmist says, and he will show us his salvation. Psalm 91 has a very different tone than does Psalm 90.
There is an advantage to reading the two psalms together, and if we would continue to Psalm 92, we would find ourselves being led in a hymn of praise for God’s salvation. Whoever it was that compiled the psalms seems to have put some thought into it. Yes, we do need Psalm 90 because it is necessary that we be reminded of how insignificant we are in comparison to God (God is a mountain, and we are grass). Remembering who we are should move us to a sense of amazement that God even cares to know who we are. What mountain concerns itself with the grass that grows at its base? Psalm 90 humbles us, and it is good to be humbled from time to time.
Psalm 91, however, instead of humbling us before God’s majestic presence, teaches us that because God is majestic and powerful, we can turn to him, and he will provide for our every need, even to the point of saving our lives should they be threatened. Although we are like grass before our God who is greater and more eternal than the mountains, God does not discount us as being insignificant, but he promises to care for us. That we know, but the psalms don’t just teach us about God; rather, they teach us how to respond to God. As we recognize how humble we are, we are invited to seek God as our refuge. Psalm 90 humbles us so that Psalm 91 becomes wonderful news: God is there for us, and in him we can find security.
In the past couple of centuries, in the West we have been doing our best to make ourselves into mountains, refusing to recognize that we are grass. We believer that we can do anything if we put our minds to it. We are not a humble people here in the West. We tend to believe that we are self-sufficient and as immovable as a mountain. The problem with this kind of thinking is that we find no reason for turning to God to provide us with refuge. If we are mountains, then what can God really offer us that we can’t obtain for ourselves? This is a lie, of course, and the most harmful of lies, for when we are mountains in our own eyes, we will not seek our refuge in the Lord and we will not look to him for salvation. Psalm 91 does not make much sense to those who think themselves as rock solid as a mountain. Why would we need God to go before us if we can do it ourselves? Thus, by and large, we have rejected God and we don’t take him up on his offer to be our refuge.
I suspect that it won’t be long and we are going to feel the real impact of believing a lie. (When I say, “we,” I am referring to the average person in the West, not to those who trust in the Lord.) When we find Psalm 90 to be jarring and somewhat disturbing, it is likely that we have begun to think too highly of ourselves and it is equally likely that we will not find our refuge and strength in the Lord. Because of that, there is no salvation. Already we are seeing our culture change as people realize, to their dismay, that we are not mountains but are much more like grass. Sadly, because God who is greater than the mountains has been removed from our lives, we have no one to turn to. This leads to a sense of fatalism and hopelessness. If we are not humble, we will not seek help, and then there is nothing left.
Incidentally, the one I was visiting had no problem with Psalm 90. She was perfectly comfortable with being confronted with her humbleness, and, thus, I believe, was quite willing to seek the Lord for his help. I, on the other hand, was not particularly thrilled to hear how small I am compared to God, and, perhaps, I am less inclined to seek the Lord and his strength. It might be good to read Psalm 90 again, reflect on our humbleness, and then continue to read and know again that our majestic God has made himself available to us. If we know who we are, we will certainly turn to him, and we will be saved.
Pastor Gary
