Scripture reading: Deuteronomy 34:1-12.

Sermon text: Psalm 90.

Where do we turn in the trials of life? I remember a song from my youth: “Where Could I Go?” The song answered the question: “Where could I go but to the Lord?”

We’re not the first ones to ask this question. The psalm in the sermon text today, Psalm 90, gives Moses’ answer to the question. We don’t know exactly when Moses wrote this psalm, but he most likely penned this song during the time of the Exodus, the 40-year period from 1446 to 1406 B.C. when Moses led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. This makes Psalm 90 the oldest psalm in the book of Psalms. We can safely infer this timeline reminds us that people have long looked to God for comfort in life’s storms. Moses’ song, however, also reminds us of the character of the God in which we take comfort and refuge.

Moses opened the psalm with a statement of faith and confidence: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Moses reminded the Israelites that God had protected their nation since He had called Abraham from Ur more than 500 years before. God had told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse” (Genesis 12:3). God worked in Abraham’s life on several occasions to protect him from the pagans surrounding him. God had also protected Israel from extinction during the nation’s time in slavery in Egypt. When Israel considered its history, the Hebrews could see the protection of God at work in every major incident.

Moses then made a statement of God’s permanence. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” As Moses wrote the book of Genesis, he had written the story of the creation of the world. Unlike the pagans around them, the Hebrews believed their God created everything, including the objects to which the pagans attributed creation. The pagans, for instance, believed the sun, moon, and other celestial objects created the earth and everything around them. Moses declared that an eternal God, the God of the Hebrews, created everything. The God of the Hebrews preexisted everything in creation, and He will exist beyond everything that exists today.

In spite of His eternal existence and our brevity of life, God continues to care for us.  “You return man to dust and say, ‘Return, O children of man!’” God created Adam from the dust of Eden (Genesis 2:7), and when Adam fell, God promised him, “To dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.” We humans cannot compare with an eternal God, and our puny attempts to exalt ourselves to heaven will always fail miserably.

Moses realized that our rebellion and sin against God makes dwelling in Him as a refuge a rather difficult proposition. “For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.  You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” Moses witnessed God’s power against the Egyptians in His rescue of the Hebrews, but he also witnessed God’s wrath when the Hebrews sinned against God during their time in the wanderings. The Hebrews committed idolatry at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32), grumbled against God and Moses (Exodus 16, among others), refused to go into the Promised Land (Numbers 14), and revolted against Moses’ leadership (Numbers 16); each time, God responded with punishment against the Hebrews. A former professor of mine often told us, “It’s hard to be buddy-buddy with a consuming fire.” As Moses put it, “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.”

Sin’s effects on creation continue to mar our existence. Adam and Eve dwelled in a garden with the Tree of Life and could have chosen immortality. Instead, Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, resulting in only a short span for us. “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” Everyone experiences trouble in life, often caused by our own sin.

The wise understand the power of sin and its effects on our relationship with God. “Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” The wise also understand the power of our relationship with God, knowing that He desires our good in all situations. God will “return,” or “turn back,” to His people. We may often cry, “How long?” in our trials. Yet, we know that God will “have pity on” His “servants,” on those who trust Him. Moses could call on God to “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Over the course of their wanderings, the Hebrews had angered God more times than they wanted to remember. Moses called on God to “Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil;” Moses desired that God would “Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.” As the Hebrews went into the Promised Land, they would need God’s power as they needed it in Egypt. “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands.”

This psalm calls to us today, more than 3,500 years after Moses first composed it. Every believer has experienced the desire for God to work in our lives to bring good to His people.

First, we know that God has worked in a new way to become our “dwelling place” since Moses’ death as recorded in today’s Scripture reading. When humanity could not approach God’s dwelling place in heaven, the Son of God, Jesus, came to our dwelling place here on earth. Jesus lived a fully human life as one of the Jews, the physical and spiritual descendants of the Hebrews who followed Moses out of Egypt more than 1,500 years earlier. As with every human who has ever lived, Jesus experienced the brevity of our lifespan, dying far earlier than the “70 to 80” years Moses mentioned. Jesus saw firsthand the results of sin: In disease, in Roman oppression of His people, and inevitably in death. Even those who truly dwelled in God as their “dwelling place” found themselves subject to the effects of sin.

Here’s the difference between us and Jesus. Jesus did not rebel against God; instead, He surrendered for us, canceling our transgression against God and taking on Himself the penalty of our sins, both visible and “secret” as Moses mentioned. Jesus experienced death, “even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Jesus didn’t merely experience death; He rose again on Easter, 3 days after His crucifixion. With His resurrection, Jesus conquered sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:55-56).

Jesus made possible a new means of dwelling with God. The Hebrews “dwelled” with God in faith, but only as the chosen people of God Himself. Now, when we confess Jesus as Lord, believing in His resurrection, we “will be saved” (Romans 10:9-10). We receive the privilege of calling God “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15). St. Paul described our new relationship with God as one of a Father to a child: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16-17).

Our salvation brings us into a relationship with God, a relationship that begins our transformation. Yes, we will one day receive eternal life; however, the benefits of salvation begin at our conversion, not at death. The “consuming fire” of God begins transforming us in to the likeness of Jesus Himself. We find that life with Jesus not only gives us peace with God but also brings forgiveness for our sins. We no longer need fear the “anger and wrath” of God as did the Hebrews of old, for “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). As we live in this forgiveness, we find it easier to forgive others and introduce them to the peace we experience in our new relationship with God.

Jesus’ death and resurrection also makes it possible for us to overcome the brevity of our lives. When we believe in Jesus, we find that we inherit the promise of an eternal life ourselves (1 Corinthians 15). We will inherit this eternal life in a new Creation, untouched by sin (Revelation 21).

Everyone needs a “dwelling place” in life. Everyone needs an eternal home, not merely a home in this life. Everyone who come to God through Jesus will receive that eternal dwelling place. Jesus Himself said, “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places” (John 14:2, HCSB). If you feel spiritually homeless today, come to the eternal God who wishes to serve as your dwelling place; who sent His Son to make possible a relationship with an eternal God who created you for relationship; and who will one day eliminate every vestige of sin from His creation, giving us an eternal home in joy and peace.