Psalm 90
Growing Old, Growing Wise
Sermon: Robin Boisvert
Solid Rock Church
November 30, 2008

Four Affirmations to help us grow in grace and faith:

1. God is eternal (verses 1-2)

• Verse 2—“From everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”  God is above time.  He sees the beginning the middle and the end all at once.

2. We are mortal (verses 3-6)

• We have a beginning and we end in death.  If we live long enough, the run up to death is called “aging.”
• Life is fleeting
• Verse 4—a four-hour watch in the night
• Verse 5—the life span of grass
• Verse 5—like a dream
• The fleeting nature of life can lead people to conclude that it is meaningless.  Shakespeare’s Macbeth—
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
• Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 captures the vanity of growing old apart from grace and faith in God.  A wise youth remembers his creator so that when he grows old he will not be overtaken by the despair that can come from aging apart from God.

3. God is angry with us because of our sin (verses 7-11)

• Our biggest problem isn’t aging and death.  God is not mocked.  We reap what we sow.  If we sow to rejecting God’s authority, we will reap his judgment.
• Verse 8—God sees all our sins, even those we think are secret.
• The world would tell you to believe: “I am the master of my soul.”
• Paraphrasing DA Carson—Death is God’s determination to show we are not God.  Death limits our arrogance.
• Aging should humble us so we don’t trust ourselves and live life dependent on God.

4. God is faithful to his covenant promises (verses 12-17)

• The key to understanding this psalm is found in verse 12—If we understand the span of our lives according to God’s perspective, we ca live wisely and not fall into the despair of those who have no hope.
• Verse 13—He cries to “the LORD”—this psalm is written by Moses who encountered the LORD (Hebrew YHWH) at the burning bush in Exodus 3 and on the mountain in Exodus 34: 
o “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…” (Ex 34:6-7)
o The LORD does not overlook sin, but he does provide a way to escape its penalties.  During the period of the Old Testament, he provided the shadow of substituting an animal sacrifice for the death a sinner deserves.  But the final and permanent deliverance from God’s wrath comes through the death of Jesus.
o We can look death in the eye and see the cross.
• And so we can age with hope.

Application:  Those aging should look in two directions

Look back to the generations that follow you. 

• Young people are watching.  Does your faith make a difference to you as you face the trials of old age?
• The perspective of age helps you to focus on what is really important.  Have you achieved this perspective so you can show the younger generation what really counts?
• You have a choice: to serve or to be lazy; to be cheerful or to complain; to be encouraging or to be critical.

Look forward.

• Our hope is with God in heaven.  Not a place of harps and clouds, which is nonsense, but a place of joy and fellowship with God and his people.
• Jonathan Edwards: Our “hearts should be in heaven.”
• We will meet with God if we trust in the gospel.
• Paul: “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” (Philippians 1:2