Partnering with the Sovereign God

Moses begins Psalm 90 saying he is at home with the eternal God who, knowing his secret faults, brings all he does to nothing. Seems fair; who am I before the Holy and Sovereign God? Moses however switches tack to make a series of appeals asking God to intervene with His love, joy and favour.

Moses knows the Lord’s searching gaze and welcomes the discovery that he is nothing. It is only when the Lord fills his life with love, joy, power and favour that it means anything. Knowing this, Moses asks the Lord to ‘establish the work of our hands.’ I wonder if the ‘our’ refers to the hands of Moses and the Lord. Then the second part of the psalm is an appeal for partnership with the Lord who will establish what they do together.

So, there is not a resigned acceptance that gets on with failure and difficulties, nor are we resigned to accepting that what we do will fade away.  If we live with the Lord in partnership He establishes what humanly should wither away. This process is not based on our giving more effort; it starts and ends with prayer. He is our home; He is the one who works in a person surrendered to Him in a partnership of prayer. Therefore we have hope.

Thoughts kicked off by Brueggemann ‘The message of the Psalms’