A Seasoned Prayer

  • Rev. Jerry Lepasana
  • Sep 7, 2008

Psalms 90 :1-17 (NIV)

1Lord you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2Before the  mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.  3You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."  4For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.  5You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like a new grass of the morning--6though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.  7We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.  8You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.  9All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.  10The length of our days is sevent years --or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.  11Who knows the power of your anger?  For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.  12Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.  13Relent, O Lord!  How long will it be?  Have compassion on your servants.  14Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.  15Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.  16May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.  17May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us -- yes, establish the work of our hands.

   Being able to pray, and draw ourselves in the presence of the Almighty God is one of our highest privileges as believers of jesus.  It is literally through prayers that we are able to experience great blessings like:     (1.)  Develop an intimate relationship with God.  (2.)  Discover God's power for our needs and burdens.  (3.)  Discern God's directions for our earthly journey.  (4.)  Display a Christ-like character before the world.

   I'm sure we can still come up with other significant reasons why it is vital for us to pray.  I believe it isw not enough  for us to understand why we need to pray, we must make sure that we have utilized prayers in our lives.

   Sometimes we have the tendency to treat prayers in the same way we treat physical exercise.  How many of us know that physical exercise is good for our over-all health?  But, how many of you would actually exercise?  Now, let me ask you, how many of you know prayer is truly essential in your Christian life?  But, how many of you really pray as much as you could?  I trust we would be able to establish praying as a habit because I know it could bring into our lives tremendous benefits.  One verse that should encourage us to regularly pray is:

   Ephesians 3:20 - "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, accordeing to His power that is at work within us."

   Remember, we have a God who is ab le to do immeasurably more than all we ask."  We need to believe that prayer works.  And I'm sure God will not fail to amaze us when we go to Him in prayers.

   As we spend time praying, God can also deepen our prayers.  Many parents have listened to their children pray.  You would definitely notice their prayers move from simple "Lord, bless me prayers" to prayers with deeper substance where they begin to really convey their understanding of God.  In the same way, for many of you who have been believers for many years now, your prayers are much more exciting, much deeper because of all the answers you have experienced with God.  It is more appropriately called as seasoned prayers.

   The text we have for this morning falls on the same category.  If you read the text straight from your Bibles, you would find the assigned title as: "The Prayer of Moses the man of God".

   Many Bible scholars believe that Moses wrote this almost at the end of his earthly life during the wilderness wanderings while leading the nation of Israel to the Promised Land.  I thought this text would be very appropriate for today's celebration since many of our grandparents can identify with some of the contents of Moses' amazing prayer.  He spends time expressingHis assurances and longings to God, which I believe can bless all of us.  So Let's examine this prayer together and find out three important elements of a seasond prayer:

I.  THE APPRECIATION FOR BEING HIS SHELTER:

   Every great prayer in the Bible begins with a time of adoration whereby the petioner expresses appreciation for who God is and what He has done.  This is what you see here in verses 1 and 2.  There are two significant expressions:

     -"Our dwelling place throughout all generations" -- Being in the wilderness, Moses recognized that his dwelling is not in the place where he was, but in the person of God.

   This is an interesting way to refer to God.  Being his dwelling place or home, Jehovah is introduced as a place of rest and a place of refuge or defense.

     -"Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God" -- This highlights the fact that God is eternal and self-sufficient.  Even before anything was made, God was already there.  He is a powerful God who is never depends on anyone or anything for Him to exist.

   Throughout the different generations of life, Moses was able to rest in the protection of the Lord.  He knew that Jehovah will always be the same no matter what was happening around him.

   It is critical for us to recognize that Moses prayed to a God he knew and had realtions with.  He knw God's sufficiency by experience through many years of dwelling in Him.  In the same manner, we too can dwell in the Lord.  The New Testament counterpart for this is:

1John 3:24 (NIV) - "Those who obey His commands live in Him, and He in them.  And this is how we know that He lives in us:  We know it by the Spirit He gave us."

   Being a believer does not automatically mean you are living in the Lord because not everyone is living a life of obedience.  Only when we live in Him by obedience can we find tru rest and protection in life.

   Do you know God is enough to fully entrust your life in Him?  Do you know the God you are praying to?  Someone has appropriately said,  "You can tell the size of you God by looking at the size of your worry list.  The longer your list, the smaller your God."  Obviously, praying and not worrying shows you're dwelling in the Lord.

II.  THE ADMISSION OF HIS SHORTCOMINGS:

   For the second section of the text, Moses moves to describe the sharp contrast of man from God.  While he referred to God as eternal and self-sufficient in the second verse, he gebins to show from verses 3 to 11, how mortal and limited humans are.  There are two big themes he emphasized:

     A.  Our Shortness of life (vs. 306, 10)

   -"You turn men back to dust" (v. 3)-- God has resolved man whom He created from dust to return to dust.  We're made of dust, a material not meant to last.  We're decaying.

   -"A thousand years in your sight are likfe a day that has just gone by" (v. 4)-- Even if you live like Methuselah reaching 969 years old (Genesis 5:27), it is just a day for God.

   -"Though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered" (v. 6)-- From verse 5 wherein life is compared to grass, man easily dries up and withers.

   -"The length of our days is seventy years -- or eighty" (v. 10)-- These are the average lifespan.  Yet, even when you have live to the full, it is filled with trouble and they are quickly consumed.

     B.  The Sinfulness of Man (vs. 7-9, 11)

   The shortness of life is due to the sinfulness of man, so Moses takes some time acknowledging it:

   -"Our secret sins in the light of your presence" -- There is no such thing as secret sins with the omniscient God.

   -"All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan" -- Because of our sins, we are the object of God's anger.  And as a result, life is full of troubles.

   Having been with God's people in the wilderness, Moses could possibly remember occasions wherein God was provoked to anger because of their sins.  Remember the incident in Numbers 13-14, The Lord allowed them to send 12 men one from each tribe to explore the Promised Land.  When they returned, 10 of the men gave a bad reprot saying the land was full of giants and there was no way they can conquer the land, while Caleb and Joshua said they can trust the Lord.  Notice the response of the people, which provoked God to anger:

   Numbers 14 1-3, 10-12 (NIV)-- 1That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.  2All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!  3Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword?  Our wives and children will be taken as plunder.  Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"  10But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.  Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.  11The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt?  How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?  12I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger then they."

   So, verses 1-3 record God's people demonstrating unbelief because of the report they heard.  Then, verses 10-12 shows us  how God felt.  The reality is: today we are not better off.  Just like the Israelites, we often have the tendency to undermine the abilities of God to provide and protect us.  We are also guilty of unbelief. 

   Now, because of these limitations-- the shortness of man and our sinfulness, we need to look to someone much greater and bigger than we are.  We need God in our lives.  This leads us our last point:

III.  THE APPEALS FOR HIS SUPPORT:

   Moses' prayer culminates with some specific petitions.  In his realizations of who God is (v. 1-3), and who He is (v. 3-11), he prays for the following:

     A.  Full life till the end (v. 12) - Since he knows that life is short, He petitions God for wisdom so he can used his remaining years productively.

     B.  Joy in life (vs. 13-15) - Moses asks for compassion from the Lord, so he can experience the joy of the Lord.  This compassion is often demonstrated by God in his willingness to forgive sins.  Through forgiveness, there is joy.  This truth reminds us of David's prayer after his adulterous sin with Bathsheba.

Psalms 51:12 (NIV) - "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

     C.  Legacy (vs. 16-17) - Legacy is often defined as what you leave behind after you are gone.  I believe this is what Moses meant when he prayed, "May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us--yes, establish the work of our hands."

   The petitions of Moses reflect his theology.  He expresses that God must be involved in lfie in order to live to the fullest, and have joy and legacy.  I believe most of us would want the same blessings.  Therefore, we need to go back from the very beginning.  Dwell in God.  Make sure you consciously, and deliberately depend upon Him.  Jesus said the same concept these words:

John 15:4-5 (NIV) - Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  "I am the vine, you are the branche.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."