[0:01] Good morning, a warm welcome to the service this morning. It's good to see all of you. It's good to see some visitors with us as well this morning and you're especially welcome.
[0:12] There's tea, there's coffee today, there's also Romanian pizzas at the end of the service. So if that's not an enticement to stay, I don't know what is. So please stay at the end of the service if you're able. We get to enjoy some fellowship together.
[0:27] Now, the notices are on the screen. The evening service is at six and that will be conducted by myself. At that service, we'll hear from Jane, who's there, Jane Ficella, from InterServe and also from Angus and Kirsty as they prepare to head out.
[0:47] The service tonight, the live stream will run for the first half an hour perhaps and then after the mini sermon. The live stream will go off. So just for those who are watching online, they'll be partly streamed, but just the second half will not be streamed just because it's more free and not to be able to give out some details.
[1:14] The ladies' fellowship tomorrow at 8pm as usual and Little Fishers on Tuesday in the morning, Road to Recovery in the evening.
[1:26] Prayer meeting on Wednesday and this week will be taken by Duncan McKellar. I'm going to be in Edinburgh and Glasgow for meetings for a couple of days. And then we have the communion weekend this coming weekend and on Friday 12 noon, you see the Gaelic service is taken by Paul Murray from Kinloch.
[1:45] And then Friday night, Professor Janangus MacLeod will be preaching and then there is an invitation to come with demands as usual. Saturday, services at 7pm as we've done in the last couple of times, we'll have a service come prayer meeting.
[2:01] So we'll have a message from Janangus and various people will be asked to pray in that meeting. And then on Sunday, the services at the usual time will celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the morning service.
[2:16] And both on the Saturday and the Sunday night after the service, there will be a congregational fellowship. Cleaning rota there, you can see the details of that.
[2:28] The other thing to say is that just for the fellowship on Saturday and Sunday, if you're able to help with tray bakes and tea and coffee and that kind of thing, there's a sheet out in the vestibule.
[2:43] And so please put your name there and indicate if you're able to help with that. This is an intimation to say Mackenzie, who is, she's not here today.
[2:54] She's in the car. Mackenzie is looking for a co-driver. Now, just to make this clear, Mackenzie can drive. She can drive in the United States of America, but they don't use a gear stick.
[3:07] Sorry, Mike. Not many. Some do. Not many use a gear stick. And so that's what she said to me anyway. So she is trying to pass her test in the UK with a manual drive.
[3:23] And she's able to drive, but she just needs to get a couple more lessons and set the test. She needs a co-driver to get some experience. So what she's looking for is somebody to sit beside her and be a co-driver once every two weeks, just to head to Stornoway and back.
[3:39] So if you're able to help with that, please speak to her. She's out in the car. Or Ian, who's sitting in the front row. So you can get a bit more details on that. Just do something.
[3:51] Men's Discipleship Book Group. You've got details of that there. If you want to speak a little bit more about that, speak to Stuart and he'll give you a chat about that one.
[4:02] Anything else? No. So these, I think, are all the intimations. The final thing is just to say that the session will open on Friday. And those who know the Lord, who trust the Lord, who've never yet come forward and professed faith in Jesus, please be encouraged to do so.
[4:22] Come and speak to myself. Come and speak to any of the elders. Or come forward as the opportunity, we pray, will come this coming weekend. So these, I think, are all the notices.
[4:34] So let's begin this time of worship. I should say as well, welcome to Mike. You might be wondering. There's a man sitting beside me just now. I was going to welcome you in a minute, but we'll just do it now.
[4:46] It's great to have Mike, Mike Fuchella, who's a minister down in Bigger and also the husband of Jane. So Mike will be preaching and speaking to the children today.
[4:57] And welcome to you and to you both. And it's great to have you as you bring God's word to us. We'll begin now this time of worship. We'll sing to God's praise.
[5:09] Mission Praise 51. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. For me, take you without me. Thank you.
[5:35] of my heart. Not me all else to me save that Thou art.
[5:47] Thou my best God by day or by night. Waking or sleeping Thy presence my light.
[6:05] Thou my wisdom, Thou my true word. I ever give it me, Thou with me, Lord.
[6:22] Thou my great Father, Thy, Thy true Son. Thou with me dwelling, and I will be one.
[6:41] Be Thou my battle, shield, sword, for the fight. Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
[6:56] Thou my soul, shelter, Thou my eyes are. Praise Thou, be heavenward, O power of my God.
[7:15] Thou, I need not, nor man's empty grace. Thou my inheritance, Thou and always.
[7:29] Thou and the holy, first in my heart.
[7:41] Thou and the holy, Thou and the holy, first in my heart. Thou, I need not, Thou my glory, Thou and the holy, Thou, I need not, Thou, I need not, May I reach heaven's joy so bright and sun Part of my own heart whatever we go Still be my vision, O ruler of all Let's unite our hearts in purity and let's pray Our heavenly father we thank you for this your day and we thank you for the opportunity and the call the invitation that we are given once more to come into your presence to lift our eyes from this world and to focus our eyes and to lift our hearts that we may see and hear and be ministered to by Jesus
[9:12] We thank you that we have the promise that where even two or three of us meet together in the name of Jesus that you will be here with us in the power of the Holy Spirit and so we thank you for the truth of that that is a fact that is true and we pray that we would know that in our experience we pray that you would touch our hearts and Lord that we would know that you are close to us that as the psalmist said that we would be still and know that you are God and that you are with us we pray Lord that you would help us even in that because this is something that we find hard we are so distracted by many of the things in this world we are so prone to wander from you in our thoughts and our words and our deeds we are those who are sinners and we stray from you our Lord and we confess that there is none righteous not even one but Lord we thank you that we don't have to pretend that we are righteous we thank you that our calling is to confess the truth that we know that we are not righteous and we thank you that we are called as we sang to lift our eyes to the one who is righteous the one who is worthy the one who is our saviour so we pray Lord for that forgiveness of sin even as we think back over the last few days since we were last here we pray that you would cleanse us Lord from our sin our sin is ever before us in terms of the things that we do and the things that we leave undone the things that we say and sometimes the silences that we should have broken
[11:08] Lord we pray that you would forgive us we pray that you would cleanse us in the blood of Jesus we pray that you would make us clean and Lord that you would make us your own we thank you that that's the invitation in the gospel we are called to come to Jesus we thank you that the call is a call to salvation we thank you Lord that we are promised that if we come to Jesus our sins are forgiven and we are accepted we are received in him we thank you for the life that we are given that begins here that we taste here for that life that goes on eternally and we thank you that all of this is a free gift it's all of grace nothing in our hands we bring but simply to thy cross we cling so we praise you for the cross that place that we come to week by week and even day by day we thank you that Jesus the one who was sinless became sin so that we might be righteous as we look in faith to him and Lord we pray that every one of us here would be found looking to Jesus and fixing our eyes upon Jesus we ask for any who are unsaved even in our company today those who may sit in the chairs those who may come along to church maybe willingly maybe reluctantly but who still are are not alive in their hearts and we ask that there might even be salvation conversion for someone here this morning that they may see their sin and see Christ as saviour and come and receive the salvation that is found only in him and Lord we pray for those who are
[13:02] Christians that you would help us we are those who are poor and needy we are always in need of your help we ask Lord that you would sanctify us that you would make us more like Jesus and less like our old sinful selves help us Lord we pray to live in a way that brings that brings no disgrace to the name of Jesus but points people to the glory and the goodness of Christ and we pray Lord for your help in all the changing scenes of life all the things that trouble us we are conscious this morning again of those who are struggling those who are ill we pray for those in hospital at this time we pray on for Shona in Glasgow as she receives treatment and as she continues with tests and some days she's up and some days she's down we ask Lord that you would minister to her that you would grant healing if that's your will and that she would know that you're close to her each day we pray on for Margaret as she's just very close to Shona there and we ask Lord that the treatment that she's getting would be effective we pray that the tests that she needs and the treatment that she needs would be scheduled and it would come quickly over these next few days we thank you for our faith we thank you
[14:30] Lord for how steady she is and we pray that you would continue to hold her and keep her and we pray for Kenny and for Finley and for Jonathan and ask that you would uphold them at this time also we pray Lord for the Latham family we think of Mary and we think of Connor especially and we ask Lord that you would help them as they wait for results of tests with that sense of anxiety we pray that you would give them that peace that comes from heaven and Lord that you would prepare them for whatever it is that is ahead and we pray for Nanny as well who was with us for so many years in this building and who week by week listens in and watches online as she's treated in hospital with struggles with our heart and our lungs we pray for her too that your hand of healing would be upon her and that you would continue to keep her bright and close to you pray for those who are grieving we are always conscious of those whose hearts are sore and we ask Lord that they would know the comfort of God with them we pray for those who struggle with addictions and as week by week they come together in this place and in different places we ask Lord for strength and for salvation we pray for those who are absent from us today and who are attending to different things we think especially of Natalie and James and Marian and as Natalie settles down and is left in Stirling for the first time today we pray that you would be near to her that you would give her courage that you would give her that sense of your presence we pray that you would bring her close to your people that your people would attend to her and be kind to her and encourage her as she goes to a different church today and for James and for Marian
[16:25] Lord that you would be near to them and that you would help them this time and all others who are going through the same experience we bring them to you as well there are many things Lord that we are conscious of that we need your help with there are many things that trouble us and that we find difficult in this world but we thank you that you have promised that we can cast all our cares upon you and we ask that you would help us to do that and we thank you for the promise that there is coming a day when Jesus will return and everything that's sad everything that we struggle with will be taken away and all those who are trusting in him will know the blessing of eternity in the new heavens in the new earth so come Lord Jesus and prepare us for that day and we ask all this in Jesus name and for his sake Amen Boys and girls would you like to come down to the front please as usual it's good to see you all today and it's good to have Mike who you've not met before and I've never well we were we were standing out at the side of the church just a minute or two ago and we were both looking at each other going I think we have met
[17:58] I'm not sure where we've met but I think we might have met in the past but the thing about being Christians the thing about being in God's family is we've got connections everywhere so when I said a few weeks ago that Mike was going to come and he was going to be preaching Duncan said oh I know him I 40 years ago was it 40 or was it 140 Duncan 40 years ago when I was a student Duncan said when he became a Christian he would have difficult questions and when he had a difficult question he would go to Mike's table in the canteen and say Mike I've got a question for you and nowadays when I have difficult questions I go to Duncan and I ask him these questions so we've got connections and that's a great thing Natalie I was speaking to her minister this morning the minister of the church that she's going to be in this morning who's from Dorney that I've met various places over the years and so when you're in Christ when you're trusting Jesus we have connections everywhere and that's a great thing it's a blessing and so
[19:08] Mike is somebody we haven't maybe met yet but we're connected with him because of faith in Jesus and I'm going to stop talking and let you speak yes I come from bigger they say that London is big but bigger is bigger a friend of ours was a minister in bigger and I think he's moved to Binbekula and he's a short guy and he would always say in any group of ministers he was always the bigger minister now I'm the bigger minister but do you know what this is you got one of these in your kitchen maybe yes what is it yes it's a sand timer that's a good way of describing it a minute glass or an hour if it was bigger it would be an hour glass you have the sand at the top
[20:09] I left mine at home so I borrowed this one from Angus the sand's at the top and it's slowly going through the thin bit there do you see that and once it's through the thin bit I think it's two minutes this is a two minute one just to time your soft boiled eggs correctly what else do you use to measure time what's this watch a watch a smart watch I got this for my birthday it does everything it doesn't just measure time but it can make phone calls too it's pretty amazing what else do you use so what else do you use to measure time anything grandfather clock anyone got a grandfather clock in the congregation you do your grandfather has a clock and that's grandfather's clock very good that's very good what is your relationship with time do you ever get frustrated with time when do you get frustrated with time yes when you're having fun say mom says you can spend an hour on the xbox and you're playing a game and an hour just doesn't seem long enough and you don't get through the game that you get frustrated with time because it doesn't ever seem long enough or it goes too quickly but sometimes sometimes we feel that that
[22:07] Duncan and I are feeling that time has gone too quickly 40 years can you believe that can you believe that 40 years other times you feel that time isn't moving fast enough so it's coming up to your birthday or it's coming up to Christmas and you're just counting the hours until time comes around I don't know about you but I sometimes my relationship with time I waste so much time do you find that you waste time on doing stuff that's not important do you waste time does your mom say you waste time she hasn't said that this week not this week you must be doing well she's away so she hasn't said it the bible because time is really important and using time correctly is important the bible speaks about time and today us adults are going to be looking at a psalm psalm 90 that speaks about time psalm 90 is actually a prayer by Moses you remember
[23:25] Moses and the red sea yeah it's a prayer written by Moses and Moses says this I think we're going to get it on the slide there we go teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom so it's a prayer by Moses asking God to teach us to use our time wisely to use our time wisely now one person in the bible used his time very wisely and that was Jesus if you look through the gospels you find that Jesus and his relationship with time is just perfect there was one time where his mom came to him and said look we had a wedding and we've run out of wine do something and Jesus said well my time's not right yet the time's not right yet then he turns around and he turns water into wine that miracle and another time a friend of his had died
[24:32] Lazarus had died and his disciples said to him you better hurry up and go see Lazarus well he was sick he was sick and the disciples said hurry up and go see Lazarus so you can heal him like you've healed all these other people and Jesus said the time isn't right yet to go see Lazarus Lazarus dies but then Jesus does another amazing miracle and raises Lazarus from the dead you see it's not important that we try to figure out when's the best time to do things what's important is that we obey father god and then everything will fall into place and that's just what Jesus did he obeyed his father and all his timing was perfect I wonder if we could say that same prayer that Moses prayed and learn from
[25:37] Jesus as we trust in Jesus that our that we would number our days so that we might gain a heart of wisdom shall we read that together that verse as our prayer let's do you see it up there on the screen and others have it here let's all say this prayer together teach us to number our days that we may gain our wisdom great thank you for listening to me you're going off to Sunday school we're going to sing thanks boys and girls you listen very well we're going to sing now and we're going to sing the hymn that's on the screen about the ancient of days though the nations rage we are trusting in the one who's the ancient of days so let's stand and sing to God's praise oh the nations rage kingdoms rise and fall there is still one king reign over all so I will not fear for this truth remains that my God is the ancient of days none above him nor before him all of time in his hands all his road it shall regain and never sound all the power all the glory
[27:36] I will trust in his name for my God is the ancient of days of the death of night overwhelms my soul he is here with me I am not alone for his love is sure and he knows my name for my God is the ancient of faith none above him but before him all of time in his hands all his throne it shall remain and ever stand all the power all the glory I will trust in his name for my
[28:40] God is the ancient of faith though I may not see what the future brings I can wait for the Savior be let my joy come read starting face to face in the presence of the ancient of faith none above him but before him all of time in his hands on his throne it shall remain and ever stand all the power all the glory I will trust in his name for my God is the ancient of days for my
[29:45] God is the ancient of days ofed house and to matter to Å› to herè«’ in So if you've got your Bibles, could you open them to Psalm 90?
[30:33] Turn on your phones if you've got your Bible there. And we're going to read the whole of the Psalm.
[30:46] Let's hear God's word. A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
[31:02] Before the mountains were born, or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
[31:13] You turn people back to dust, saying, return to dust, you mortals. A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
[31:31] Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death. They are like the new grass of the morning. In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.
[31:46] We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. You have set our iniquities before you.
[32:00] Our secret sins in the light of your presence. All our days pass away under your wrath. We finish our years with a moan.
[32:13] Our days may come to seventy years or eighty if our strength endures. Yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and we fly away.
[32:29] If only we knew the power of your anger. Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
[32:42] Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Relent, O Lord.
[32:53] How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
[33:13] Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
[33:31] May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us. Establish the work of our hands for us.
[33:42] Yes, establish the work of our hands. This is God's word. Amen.
[33:57] We'll sing now to God's praise. The first two stanzas of the Psalm, Psalm 90, that was read. We'll sing these words in Gaelic, and I'll read them in English.
[34:11] Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in generations all, before thou ever hadst brought forth the mountains great or small. Erever thou hast formed the earth and all the world abroad, even thou from everlasting art to everlasting God.
[34:29] We sing these two verses, we sing in Gaelic, and we remain seated to sing in Gaelic to God's praise. The Lord is singing in Gaelic. The Lord is singing in Gaelic. The Lord is singing in Gaelic.
[34:41] The Lord is singing in Gaelic. The Lord is singing in Gaelic. The Lord is singing in Gaelic. The Lord is singing in Gaelic.
[35:18] The Lord is singing in Gaelic.
[35:48] The Lord is singing in Gaelic.
[36:18] The Lord is singing in Gaelic. The Lord is singing in Gaelic. The Lord is singing in Gaelic. Satsang with Mooji Thank you.
[37:23] Thank you.
[37:53] Thank you.
[38:23] Thank you.
[38:53] Thank you. Thank you.
[39:25] Thank you. Thank you. That comes from where your spirit is active in us and amongst us. And we pray that as he speaks that we would hear the voice of Jesus and see the glory of Christ.
[39:44] And we pray for the other congregations that are represented here as well. We thank you for visitors with us. We pray for your blessing upon the places that they have come from. And we pray, Lord, for the children.
[39:57] We thank you for them and for how ready they are to listen. We pray that they would hear and that they would believe the gospel in the early years and that they would walk with you through all the days of their lives.
[40:11] So hear our prayers and help us, we ask. We pray for Stuart as well as he prepares to preach your word and leave our brother this morning. Bless him and speak through him also, we ask.
[40:23] And we ask all these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. I'll hand over. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. Folks, how do you feel about the passing of time?
[40:40] Here are some quotes from some famous people about time. And some of these quotes I agree with and others, I think, illustrate the problems that we all have with time.
[40:53] First, a Chinese proverb, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think. And from the Roman poet Ovid, time is the devourer of everything.
[41:12] Martin Luther King Jr., that famous civil rights activist in the U.S., the time is always right to do what is right.
[41:22] Mahatma Gandhi, truth alone will endure. All the rest will be swept away before the tide of time.
[41:34] Benjamin Franklin, ever the pragmatist, time is money. William Shakespeare, better three hours too soon than a minute too late.
[41:47] Terry Pratchett, who wrote many comical novels. Time is a drug. Too much of it kills you.
[41:59] Albert Einstein, a great physicist. Time is an illusion. And Douglas Adams on the back of Einstein. Time is an illusion.
[42:10] Lunchtime doubly so. And then finally, I think this one merits us putting it on the screen, from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
[42:25] Time to us is sarcasm. Slick, treacherous monster. With a jaw like a furnace.
[42:36] Incinerating every moment of our lives. A bit sobering, that one. Psalm 90 has time as its main subject.
[42:52] It is, at least, at first glance, a pretty depressing psalm. I shared it in a care home last week. I don't know what possessed me to read Psalm 90.
[43:05] But as I read it and our elderly folk were sitting there, I thought, maybe this is an instance where I should have edited the psalm for God.
[43:17] But no, I read the whole psalm and then we explained it. And they did understand. In the end, I hope, God's word has that power. To give us encouragement, even from words that seem, at first, discouraging.
[43:36] It is a depressing psalm, but I believe it offers us hope. Hope to us who feel like Rabbi Heschel. That time is a monster.
[43:47] That time is often laughing at us. So let's dive into this psalm to receive God's encouragement from it.
[43:58] This is the only psalm that is attributed to Moses. The heading in our Bibles, in this instance, at least, is from the original text.
[44:10] In verse 1, it says that this psalm is a prayer of Moses. Looking at the details of the psalm, you can see how it reflects the context of Moses and the people of God during the Exodus.
[44:26] They're wandering in the wilderness with the ups and downs of their relationship with God who led them through those years. This context, as we shall see, is an important background to understanding the psalm.
[44:42] This psalm can be divided into two parts. The first part is verses 1 to 11. And the second part is from verse 12 to the end.
[44:55] And in the first part of the psalm, we're given two contrasting pictures. The first is God's relationship with time.
[45:06] And the second picture is our relationship with time. What of that first picture? What is God's relationship with time?
[45:19] Well, God is the creator. He is the author of time. God stands outside of time and space. God is not a thing within time and space.
[45:34] In verse 2, it says of God, Before the mountains were born, or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
[45:48] In verse 4, it says, Addressing God a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.
[46:00] Time is God's creation. Time for God, at least, is not a monster. Time for God is something like all God's creatures that is good.
[46:18] And God created time with a good purpose. But what of the second picture? What does the psalm say about humanity's relationship with time?
[46:32] What does it say about our relationship with time? This, indeed, is a much bleaker picture. Because of time, in verse 3, we are turned back to dust.
[46:49] Because of time, decay is inevitable. Human life lies like a dream, in verse 5.
[47:00] We are like weeds that sprout in the morning, that grow and burst into bloom, then dry up and die in the evening. And then in verse 9 and 10, perhaps the most depressing picture of all.
[47:19] We finish our years with a moan. Our days may come to 70 years or even 80 if our strength endures. Yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass away and we fly away.
[47:40] So there is the bleak picture. Life is cruel and life is short. Time always gets the better of us.
[47:54] And that would be bad enough, but for the psalmist, the main actor in the decay and demise of humanity is not time itself, but it is God using time, his creature, in judgment on his human creatures.
[48:15] Remember, the psalmist is addressing God in the second person. In the psalm, in the psalm it says, you turn people back to dust.
[48:32] You sweep people away in the sleep of death. We are consumed by your anger, terrified by your indignation.
[48:46] And in verse 11, Moses asks in despair, knowing the answer full well, who has felt the power of your anger? Who knows what fear your fury can bring?
[48:59] The answer is, of course, we have felt the full power of God's anger because of time. We know only too well what fear his fury can bring because of the brevity and the cruelty of time.
[49:23] Sobering fact is that God does judge us in this way by using time. You only need to look at the story that is the background to the psalm, the story of the people of God in the wilderness to see God's righteous judgments.
[49:45] God works miracles for his people and he leads them out of Egypt with a mighty arm and he continues to work miracles that save them from hunger and thirst and from enemy attack but they grumble and they complain against God and against Moses, his servant.
[50:08] They want to go their own way, do their own thing and they suffer because of it. This prayer of Moses here in Psalm 90 makes us remember another prayer of Moses, that prayer that he prayed interceding for God's wayward people as he stood on Mount Sinai in Exodus 32.
[50:33] You remember that. Moses had come down from the mountain with the tablets of stone into the sight and the sounds of the people worshiping that image of the golden calf.
[50:46] God is furious and Moses makes a petition and Moses makes a petition for mercy on behalf of the people. In the second half of this psalm beginning in verse 12, we also have a petitionary prayer on the part of Moses.
[51:08] In the psalm, we're not only reminded of Moses' prayer on Mount Sinai, but we're also reminded once again of that story in the first three chapters of the Bible that show us God's original plan and how it was so messed up by human disobedience and willfulness against a loving God.
[51:36] You'll remember there that God created time on the fourth day when he created the sun and the moon and the stars.
[51:48] But time there was not cruel. Adam and Eve would not have moaned as the psalmist does about the brutality of life.
[52:01] Time in Eden like everything else was good. And time like everything else in the creation narrative is summed up.
[52:11] It is completed on the seventh day. Notice, if you will, in your reading of the creation story that every day except the seventh has an ending.
[52:27] Every day except the seventh you have that refrain. Evening passed and morning came. That was the first day. Evening passed and morning came.
[52:38] That was the second day. Evening passed and morning came. The third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth. And you don't get that after the seventh day.
[52:51] On the seventh day when creation was complete and the man and the woman were placed in the garden, their joy was to be in intimate relationship with God and with all of his creation in a never-ending day of bliss.
[53:14] The man and the woman worked. The seventh day at this point was not about ceasing work. Their role was to tend the garden but it was joyful work.
[53:27] It was joyful work that bore everlasting fruit. Now compare this picture of the seventh day in Eden with what comes after.
[53:41] Adam and Eve disobey God. They strike out to define good and evil for themselves. They try to make their own Eden and it has been so ever since with every subsequent generation.
[54:01] Chapters following the fall are a litany of the descent of the ancestors of Adam and Eve into shorter and shorter and more and more brutal lives.
[54:17] And all this the Bible tells us is a result of rebellion. All this is God's judgment on human sin. Read the sobering curses of God's judgment near the end of Genesis chapter 3 and compare them with the psalmist complaint here in our reading.
[54:41] There in Genesis 3 God says to Adam cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life it will produce thorns and thistles for you and you will eat the plants of the field.
[55:02] By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken for dust you are and to dust you will return.
[55:17] does that last line not resonate with verse 3 in Psalm 90 you turn people back to dust saying return to dust you mortals.
[55:33] So there reflecting on the origin story in Genesis and the story of God's people in the desert we we see clearly why time and tide are so cruel to us they are God's righteous judgments on a rebellious world but what is to be done?
[55:59] Are we just left in this predicament to be swept away like a flood for the things that we toil to achieve to just crumble into dust?
[56:13] We're told that God is loving. Where here in this picture is the love? Where here is the hope?
[56:28] Oh it is certainly there. It is what Moses grabs onto in his prayer in the second half of our psalm.
[56:40] And what does Moses pray? He prays teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Relent, oh Lord, how long will it be?
[56:55] Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
[57:09] Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.
[57:26] May the favor of the Lord God rest on us, establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.
[57:41] What Moses asked for is for God to turn the clock back. Relent, oh Lord, take us back.
[57:52] Take us back to Eden. Take us back to the bliss of the seventh day when you completed creation.
[58:03] Before our sinfulness, so corrupted things. Take us back, oh Lord. In verse 14, the Hebrew verb translated to fill us, fill us, shaban enu, comes from the word that means seven, shabba.
[58:29] So fill us with your constant love. Give us the seventh, Lord. Give us that complete number. Satisfy us.
[58:43] You see, counterintuitively, the answer to all the futility and brutality of life under the curse of time is not for us to strive harder.
[58:58] It's not for you and me to take a time management course. but the answer to the futility and brutality of life is to stop, is to stop, to pause, to rest, to practice Sabbath, to be still and know and know that God is God.
[59:31] The answer to the futility and brutality of life is to realize that our striving does not make us who we are to be.
[59:46] The answer is to realize that our toil does not ultimately ensure our survival. It is only God who can do that.
[60:01] The answer to the futility of time and decay is to realize what the psalmist declares in the first verse of the psalm, which we so easily gloss over.
[60:15] Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Lord, you have always been our home.
[60:28] What God desires and has desired from the beginning of time is for us to realize and remind ourselves daily and constantly that God is our home.
[60:43] God is our dwelling place. and if we dwell in the eternal God, if we walk with him, listen to him, open our hearts to him, let him change us, then our frailty and our weakness, our limits will be enfolded in his glory.
[61:10] When we are found in him, then our relationship with time becomes his relationship with time, or his relationship with time becomes ours.
[61:29] For us, then, too, a thousand years will be like a day, and a day will be like a thousand years. And how is Moses' prayer answered?
[61:43] how are we, unholy men and women, to dwell in a holy God? Only by God entering time and space, only by God coming alongside us, only by God forgiving our sin, taking our punishment, and rising to new life.
[62:14] And of course, that is exactly what God has done in Christ Jesus. And it is in trusting Jesus, dwelling in him, that we dwell in the eternal God.
[62:32] It is by abiding in him, as he says in John 14, that we are able to bear much fruit, fruit that will last.
[62:49] In the words of the psalmist, this is how the works of our hands are established, by in effect, the works of our hands being the works of Christ in and through us.
[63:05] grace. And when we dwell in Christ, we receive a promise that the seventh day bliss will be restored, not just for a Sunday, but for every day.
[63:23] And when we dwell in him, we get a taste of it now. But one day, one day, a new Eden will come down out of heaven, and we will have a place in it when we dwell in Christ.
[63:41] And time will once again be a friend and not an enemy. Amen.
[63:54] May God bless to us our reflections on this, his holy word. And we're going to sing our praise, Psalm 90 verses 13 to 17.
[64:07] This is the metrical Psalter. Amen. Turn yet again to us, O Lord, the Lord, how long the shall it be.
[64:33] Let it repent thee now for those that servants are to thee.
[64:49] O with thy tender mercies, Lord, us early satisfy, so we rejoice, shall all our rest, and still be glad in thee.
[65:24] According us, the days have been wherein we grip apart, and years swear it, we ill have seen, so do thou make us glad.
[65:57] O let thy work on power appear, like seven spins before, and show unto their children dear, thy glory evermore.
[66:29] Let the beauty the beauty of the Lord, a God be us upon, our happy words, his star rich love, his star rich land, his one.
[67:08] Let's receive God's blessing. Brothers and sisters, go from here, trusting in Christ, obeying God the Father, let time be your friend.
[67:25] And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now, and evermore.
[67:36] Amen.