Lent 5 + Midweek

Psalm 90

We don’t enjoy it, but the whole season of Lent forces us to contemplate our sins and the life hereafter.

This is the cause of the Psalmist’s lament in the middle of this evening’s Psalm,

            For we are brought to an end by your anger;

                        by your wrath we are dismayed.

            You have set our iniquities before you,

                        our secret sins in the light of your presence. (Psalm 90:7-8)

The Psalmist admits that we cannot hide our faults from God. He is omniscient, meaning all-knowing. He sees and knows your heart.

But this doesn’t dissuade you from trying to conceal your trespasses, like a child who tries to superglue the family heirloom back together after they knocked it off the end table, hoping their mother and father won’t notice the cracks.

As we know, this doesn’t always work; you can’t always piece back together what was broken. So, then the confrontation and interrogation come, and how do you respond, “It wasn’t me?” Or, “I didn’t do it.”

In the end, maybe you outrun your parents’ anger and wrath; perhaps, as they look into your eyes, they don’t see the guilt in your heart.

However, what this has all done is laid a foundation for trying to conceal your sins, your most secret and personal sins, from your youth.

St. Jerome, an early translator of the Holy Scriptures wrote,

Our life hurries on at a great pace, and when we least expect it, it slips away, and we die. These very words we speak are of death, and we do not take thought. “We have spent our years like a spider…” In the same way that the spider produces, as it were, a thread and runs to and fro, back and forth, and weaves the whole day long, and his labor, indeed, is great but the result is nil; so, too, human life runs about hither and thither. We search for possessions, and we accumulate wealth; we procreate children; we labor and toil; we rise in power and authority; we do everything; and do not realize that we are spiders weaving a web.

What is the web that you have weaved throughout this life?

Contemplate this question with me tonight, for the Psalmist wrote regarding the Lord,

            You return man to dust

                        and say, “Return, O children of man!”

            For a thousand years in your sight

                        are but as yesterday when it is past,

                        or as a watch in the night.

            You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,

                        like grass that is renewed in the morning:

            in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;

                        in the evening it fades and withers. (Psalm 90:3-6)

These are frightening words—words that remind us how fleeting this life is. Not only is our time dwindling, but it is a moment compared to God’s timing; the frailty of our mortal life is like a dream that is quickly forgotten, like a flower that withers and dies in the heat of the day, returning to the dust of the earth.

And yet, this is where our lives also lead, returning to the dust of the earth, the consequence of sin and disobedience.

As the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

This is where our lives ought to lead us “to eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So we pray and petition God to,

            Teach us to number our days

                        that we may get a heart of wisdom.

We pray that God grants us the Holy Spirit so that we can understand the frailty of this life and its fleeting days, that we would learn to confess our sins, all of them, due to the number of days we have… because through this confession, we exercise faith, which in turn, leads us into the way of wisdom.

And in return, the Lord hears your pleas; He returns and has pity upon you. He grants you the forgiveness of His Son, Jesus Christ, won for you upon Calvary’s cross – He undoes the web of your sin so that you may arise tomorrow, seeing each new morning as a reminder of His steadfast love for you that’s what each new day is.

If you should take nothing else from this evening’s Psalm, realize how short this life truly is. While the flowers will soon bloom in these days of spring, their demise is not far, as they will fade away in mere months. This, too, is a picture of our lives, and as we enter these final weeks of Lent, they serve as preparation for life’s end – do not delay confessing the sins of your heart so that the Savior may draw you close to Him and bring you into His eternal presence. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church