Day 202 | Wednesday, 7 October 2020

Day 2020 - Audio Version

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Day 202  |  Wednesday, 7 October 2020 

See you at Noon

Psalm 90 from The Message

1 God, it seems you've been our home forever; 2 long before the mountains were born, Long before you brought earth itself to birth, from "once upon a time" to "kingdom come" - you are God. 3 So don't return us to mud, saying, "Back to where you came from!" 4 Patience! You've got all the time in the world - whether a thousand years or a day, it's all the same to you.

5 Are we no more to you than a wispy dream, no more than a blade of grass 6 That springs up gloriously with the rising sun and is cut down without a second thought? 7 Your anger is far and away too much for us; we're at the end of our rope. 8 You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed since we were children is entered in your books. 9 All we can remember is that frown on your face. Is that all we're ever going to get? 10 We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty), And what do we have to show for it? Trouble. Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard. 11 Who can make sense of such rage, such anger against the very ones who fear you? 12 Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well! 13 Come back, God - how long do we have to wait? - and treat your servants with kindness for a change.

14 Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long. 15 Make up for the bad times with some good times; we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime. 16 Let your servants see what you're best at - the ways you rule and bless your children. 17 And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!

Psalm 90 A prayer of Moses, the man of God. CEB
90 Lord, you have been our help, generation after generation.  2 Before the mountains were born, before you birthed the earth and the inhabited world— from forever in the past to forever in the future, you are God.  3 You return people to dust, saying, “Go back, humans,” 4because in your perspective a thousand years are like yesterday past, like a short period during the night watch.  5 You sweep humans away like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning.

6 True, in the morning it thrives, renewed, but come evening it withers, all dried up.  7 Yes, we are wasting away because of your wrath; we are paralyzed with fear on account of your rage.

8 You put our sins right in front of you, set our hidden faults in the light from your face.  9 Yes, all our days slip away because of your fury; we finish up our years with a whimper.  10 We live at best to be seventy years old, maybe eighty, if we’re strong.  But their duration brings hard work and trouble because they go by so quickly.  And then we fly off. 11 Who can comprehend the power of your anger?  The honor that is due you corresponds to your wrath.  12 Teach us to number our days so we can have a wise heart.  13 Come back to us, Lord!  Please, quick! Have some compassion for your servants! 14 Fill us full every morning with your faithful love so we can rejoice and celebrate our whole life long.  15 Make us happy for the same amount of time that you afflicted us— for the same number of years that we saw only trouble.  16 Let your acts be seen by your servants; let your glory be seen by their children.  17 Let the kindness of the Lord our God be over us.  Make the work of our hands last.  Make the work of our hands last!

We are tiny specks on the timeline of history.  Did you ever wonder – Do we matter?  The psalmist even reminds us that our days go by so quickly.  And that seems even more true as we age.  The brevity of life can worry us and make us think our time does not matter.  But we do. We matter because we’re deeply, eternally loved by God who made us. We matter because we matter to God.  One thing is for sure, we can leave a legacy of God’s love to others as we have come to make God’s love part of who we are.  We are also creatures of eternity.
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Holy God continue to fill us every morning so we can show your love to others.  Help us make the best of the days and years you have given us.  Cover us with your love.  Hear our prayer.