Time

by Andy Frost

Read

Psalm 90

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God (v2).

Reflect

“The days are long but the years are short” is a phrase that was often quoted as I began the adventure of parenthood. And it’s so true! There were those moments at 3am, with my eyes so heavy with tiredness, trying to gently rock my newborn to sleep, that seemed to last an eternity. And yet, when I look back at those first few months, they seemed to go in an instant.

Time is a strange thing. This psalm speaks about the timelessness of God and compares it to the brevity of our lives, maybe 70 or 80 years (v10). It also hints at the holiness of God and the sinfulness of our lives. The psalm reminds us that death was never part of the plan but is a consequence of our selfishness and pride in the presence of holy God.

Life is short

With this hefty reminder of how short life is, this psalm is a challenge to how we will live our lives. In our sanitised society we can often ignore the reality of death, that one day we will return to dust (v3). The psalmist offers us a wake-up call to that reality and gives us two pieces of wisdom.

The first is that God can be “our dwelling place” (v1). Though we are finite and fallen, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we can have a relationship with this eternal God. This is what gives our life meaning.

The second is that we ask God to bless us (vs13-17) because his blessings satisfy more than anything the world has to offer. The psalmist suggests we ask God to “establish the work of our hands” (v17). There is an acknowledgement here that when the eternal God is our dwelling place, that all of life becomes sacred. What we do matters.

Investment

When we are making a financial investment in car or a home, we often do the necessary thinking to make a wise investment. With time being such a more precious commodity, how will we invest our time wisely?

Respond

Take 15 minutes of your time today and think about how you could use it to invest in your family.

Catch up on the rest of Be Refreshed on the blog.