Psalm 90:1

Psalm 90:1

A prayer of Moses

Psalm 90 is another prayer to the Lord God to show compassion to His people and to withdraw His anger from them. The good news is that Psalm 90 and 91 form a couplet, and the later song is a celebration of what it means to be close to the Lord and protected and guided by Him.

Psalm 90 is attributed to Moses and thus it is the oldest of all the Psalm. There were certainly occasions when he tried to deflect the wrath of the Lord from the Israelites and he also experienced that wrath first hand, not least when a plague of venomous snakes threatened to run riot amongst the community. Perhaps, as we journey through this Psalm, we will get some clues about specific events but for now, it is enough to know that the great servants of old, like Moses and David and others, all experienced the anger of the eternal God as well as His love and compassion. 

 

V1        The first thing that strikes anyone reading this verse is that it clearly states that the Lord does more than just provide a dwelling place for His people. He IS their dwelling place! The camps and tents of the nomadic tribes and families of Israel were built by human hands. The later Temple building and the dwelling places in Jerusalem were of human origin too. No doubt God helped to provide the materials at the right time and place, I’m sure He guided the skills of the various craftsmen who built all these things, but He was not the builder. So, what does it mean to have the Lord as a dwelling place throughout all generations?

It's hard to provide human analogies because there are none! To those who believe in the living God there comes a growing awareness that He is in us and all around us. The earth was made by Him and the heavens declare His glory. The living creatures around us sing His praises and the very air that we breathe gives us life. The ground beneath our feet teems with abundant energy and goodness and so creation allows us to dwell in Him. However, there is a deeper explanation; we are covered by His wings, we are guided by His word, we are protected by His battlements when He becomes our refuge. To make the Lord our dwelling place means to surrender ourselves entirely to Him and to rest in His provision and care, it means that we are forever close to Him and in communication with Him, and we allow Him to guide, protect and provide for us at all times. We are to be like babies, safe in their mother’s womb, as we nestle within the dwelling place of our God. Hallelujah! 

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