Psalm 90 reflects Moses’ lifetime of both dark and sweet movements as he followed the Lord. “All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (verses 9,12,14).
Agony and joy. Regret and longing.
Moses knew God. He had spent weeks alone with the Lord. He had seen God after God had passed in front of him. God called Moses his friend. Moses had a role in the incredible parting of the Red Sea. But Moses had also observed families swallowed alive by the ground and snakebitten people crying for help. Moses himself would not enter the Promised Land of Canaan.
These seeming contradictions can be hard to hold in our hearts.
When we allow Jesus to tell us about God, we see God’s love shining as it burns away everything that holds us back from the life he longs to give. Remember Jesus’ familiar explanation to Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. … For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16,17).
Similarly, the apostle John’s confident words: “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
Lord, life is hard. Help us trust your workings and follow your way of love. Amen.
