Psalms 90-95

Psalms 90-95

            What a great collection of psalms! Psalm 90, the only psalm attributed to Moses, is a lament about old age and the fear of dying. But it ends with wisdom—“Teach us to number our days,” to use our days well and profitably, not to waste the precious time given to us—and with the prayer that the Lord would establish the work of our hands.

            Psalm 91 has been made well-known among us because it is the basis for the well-loved song, “On Eagle’s Wings,” even though the psalm never mentions an eagle… Still, it’s a loving psalm about the Lord’s loving care and protection. Of course, we have to understand it at least partially in an eschatological kind of way: nothing will ultimately hurt us. Maybe we can understand Psalm 91 a little better if we hold it against Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It’s not that the Christian life will be trouble free; it’s that the love of God will see us through.

            Psalm 92 continues the theme with its promise that the righteous will thrive like a tree, bearing fruit even into old age. Pastor and author Eugene Peterson redeems and a phrase from the atheist philosopher Frederick Nietzsche, describing our Christian life as “a long obedience in the same direction.” There is a blessedness to following the Lord through all of life’s trials and on into a blessed death and an even more blessed future.

            Psalm 95 is familiar to generations of church goers because it forms the basis for the Venite, one of the main canticles of the order of Matins. (My current congregation doesn’t use the order of Matins, and it’s one more case where I wonder what we’ve lost. As I observed when we started reading the psalms, I do wish we used the psalms more often in public worship, as the church has for most of its existence.) Psalm 95 is a beautiful expression of praise and of the confidence of God’s people, “We are the people of His pasture and the flock under His care.” I do find it interesting that the first part of the psalm is so well-known but that the concluding portion—the warning—is all but unknown. It’s as if the psalmist were saying, “Yes, we are the Lord’s flock, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fall into devastating sin. Let’s not be presumptuous.”