Psalm 90:1-14

Pastor David Taylor

It’s 2016. The door on this year is about to close. The New Year is about to open. It’s a time to reflect back, and a time to look forward. To think of what is to come in the new year. What we shall make of it, and what might it make of us. Our psalm today starts with that theme of reflection in the words, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Here the word “generations” does not mean only ancestors and descendants – father, son, grandson. Rather it refers to periods of times. One could say, “in all the ages,” or stages of life. The chapters of life, as it were.

With the New Year, we start a new chapter of our life. Our psalmist – not David but Moses – yes, Moses – knew about the chapters of life. His life started with the chapter as a boy growing up in Pharaoh’ s house. Then a chapter as prince of Egypt. There was the chapter as outlaw and exhile, and the chapter of the plagues and the Exodus. His time with God on Mt. Sinai was a chapter of its own. Wandering in the wilderness was a long chapter of forty years. And then that final chapter, where the children of Israel entered into the Promised Land without him.