mother bird

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230311

Photo by Tina Nord on Pexels.com

mother bird

Psalm 91:3-6 (JDV)

Psalm 91:3 He himself will rescue you from the bird trap, from the destructive thorn.
Psalm 91:4 He will cover you with His feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield.
Psalm 91:5 You will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day,
Psalm 91:6 the thorn that stalks in darkness, or the sting that ravages at noon.

mother bird

Philips shows that verses five and six “are parallel to one another” so that the terror of the night is the thorn that stalks in darkness and the arrow that flies by day provides the sting that ravages at noon (296-297).

The imagery the psalm portrays is that of a helpless bird, protected by the protective shield of its mother’s wing. The mother bird is God himself. His faithfulness will be a protective shield.

Thank you, LORD, for providing the protection we need, so that we do not need to fear.

Phillips, George. The Psalms in Hebrew. London, 1846

Posted in dependence upon God, fear, protection | Leave a comment

a temporary overnight stay

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230310

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

a temporary overnight stay

Psalm 91:1-2 (JDV)

Psalm 91:1 The one who stays under the protection of the Most High stays for the night in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:2 I will say concerning Yahveh, who is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust:

a temporary overnight stay

In the Bible, human life is described not as eternal unending life, but as a temporary overnight stay. The theologians can talk all day about how we have immortal souls that even God cannot destroy. But God’s word puts us in our place. If we are looking for permanent life, we need to look to Jesus. He offers that permanent life through the resurrection.

See also: https://www.afterlife.co.nz/2021/04/staying-the-night/

Posted in conditional immortality, mortality | Tagged | Leave a comment

turn and have compassion

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230309

Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com

turn and have compassion

Psalm 90:12-17 (JDV)

Psalm 90:12 Teach us to count our days so that we may develop a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:13 Yahveh – how long? Turn and have compassion for your servants.
Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your covenant faithfulness so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.
Psalm 90:15 Make us rejoice for as many days as you have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity.
Psalm 90:16 Let your work be seen by your servants, and your splendor by their children.
Psalm 90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us what our hands have made – establish what our hands have made!

turn and have compassion

This psalm began by recognizing the permanence of God, and the corresponding impermanence of humanity — mortal and under God’s wrath. It ends with an appeal for God to turn and have compassion. It pleads for God to have compassion for his nation and its children. It asks for blessing for as long as they had adversity.

It is wise to know that our fate is in God’s hands. His mercy is all we need.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

turn and have compassion

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230309

Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

turn and have compassion

Psalm 90:12-17 (JDV)

Psalm 90:12 Teach us to count our days so that we may develop a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:13 Yahveh – how long? Turn and have compassion for your servants.
Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your covenant faithfulness so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days.
Psalm 90:15 Make us rejoice for as many days as you have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity.
Psalm 90:16 Let your work be seen by your servants, and your splendor by their children.
Psalm 90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us what our hands have made – establish what our hands have made!

turn and have compassion

This psalm began by recognizing the permanence of God, and the corresponding impermanence of humanity — mortal and under God’s wrath. It ends with an appeal for God to turn and have compassion. It pleads for God to have compassion for his nation and its children. It asks for a blessing for as long as they had adversity.

It is wise to know that our fate is in God’s hands. His mercy is all we need.

Posted in dependence upon God, mercy | Tagged | Leave a comment

flying away

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230308

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

flying away

Psalm 90:9-11 (JDV)

Psalm 90:9 Yes, all our days ebb away under your wrath; we finish off our years like a sigh.
Psalm 90:10 Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. Even the best of them are struggle and trouble; indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.
Psalm 90:11 Who understands the power of your anger? Your wrath matches the fear that is due to you.

flying away

What does flying away (עוף) mean in this passage? Does it mean we go to our reward at death, flying up to heaven? It would be crazy to think that when we read the passage in context. The psalmist has been emphasizing our mortality compared to God’s permanence. Verse ten is sandwiched between two statements about God’s wrath leading to our death. How can death be caused by God’s wrath against sin and also his reward for faithfulness? No, the picture of flying away here is that of our lives leaving us, like a bird flys away.

Our hope is not death. It is resurrection.

Posted in mortality, resurrection, sleep of death | Tagged | Leave a comment

being finished off

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230307

Photo by Ellie Burgin on Pexels.com

being finished off

Psalm 90:7-8 (JDV)

Psalm 90:7 Yes, we are being finished off by your anger; we run terrified from your wrath.
Psalm 90:8 You have put our violations in front of you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

being finished off

Plumer says that verse 7 “reveals the awful secret, not before announced in this prayer, that death is penal.” He also points out that we all “deserve worse than ever befalls us in this world” from God’s wrath. (841). We may hide our sins from others, but they are never hidden from God. The wages of sin will be paid.

Our mortality is a constant reminder that we inherit death because of sin. The psalmist describes all of human life as a battle in which God fights against us, eventually finishing us all off. We spend our lives running from our fate and hiding the reasons that our fate is just.

There is no good news in these verses, but it is good news that the psalm is not over.

Plumer, William S. Psalms: A Critical and Expository Commentary with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks. Carlisle, Pa: Banner of Truth Trust, 1990

Posted in mortality, wrath of God | Tagged | Leave a comment

like grass

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230306

Photo by Matthias Cooper on Pexels.com

like grass

Psalm 90:5-6 (JDV)

Psalm 90:5 You stop their lives; they sleep. They are like grass that grows in the morning –
Psalm 90:6 in the morning it sprouts and grows; by evening it withers and dries up.

like grass

McEachern says that in this psalm “faith deals with the brevity of human life.” In the psalm, the “brevity of human life is compared to a flood, a dream, and (in the text above to) grass, which are short-lived” (113).

We need to keep our similarity to grass in mind because if we are not careful, we can waste time on inconsequential things. We don’t have the time to waste. The evening is coming when our lives will wither and dry up. We need to make hay while the sun shines.

McEachern, Alton H. Psalms. Nashville, Tenn: Broadman Press, 1981.

Posted in mortality | Tagged | Leave a comment

he bestows and withdraws

Posted on March 5, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230305

Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

he bestows and withdraws

Psalm 90:3-4 (JDV)

Psalm 90:3 You return mortal humankind to the dust, saying, “Return, children of Adam.”
Psalm 90:4 Yes, in your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a watch of the night.

he bestows and withdraws

Rogerson & McKay comment on verse 3: “God both bestows and withdraws the life-force which makes man a living person as opposed to lifeless matter” (200).

He decides how much time each of us has, and he does not pass that information along. It, therefore, behooves us to use the time we have in the best possible way. Each day is a gift from him, and we do not know how many such gifts we will have.

Rogerson, J W, and J W. McKay. Psalms 101-150. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.

Posted in time | Tagged | Leave a comment

from age to age

Posted on March 4, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230304

Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

from age to age

Psalm 90:1-2 (JDV)

Psalm 90:1 Lord, you have been where we live generation after generation.
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the land and the world, from age to age, you are God.

from age to age

Mays points out that the theme of time “is woven through the whole (of the psalm) in a way that identifies time as the problem of faith with which the psalm’s theology is concerned (vv. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15)” (290).

It does us all good to stop and realize that God has preceded us in time, and will still be here long after we are sleeping in the dust. He is the permanent one. We are temporary — at least we are now. Those who put their faith in Christ are promised a permanent resurrection life, but we are not there yet. He is the only one who is from age to age.

Mays, James L. Psalms. Louisville: John Knox Press, 2011.

Posted in time | Tagged | Leave a comment

best effort

Posted on March 3, 2023 by Jefferson Vann

20230303

Photo by Orest Sv on Pexels.com

best effort

Titus 3:12-15 (JDV)

Titus 3:12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, put forth your best effort to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to spend the winter there.
Titus 3:13 Put forth your best effort to support and send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos; so that neither of them lacks the resources to join me.
Titus 3:14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good achievements, so they can bring relief in these urgent cases, and not be unproductive.
Titus 3:15 The ones who are with me send greetings to you. Greet our friends in the faith. Favor be with you all.

best effort

We can’t always do all the things we want to do, but we can put forth our best effort. May God give us the courage and commitment to always do so.

Posted in commitment | Tagged | Leave a comment