Trivia:
Well Webster's word of this year 2024 has been Polarization. The definition being "division into two sharply distinct opposites." I personally must admit this seems very true in our day.
For. those "Gone with the Wind" enthusiasts; What was Scarlet's surname in the movie? Cooper; Gatsby; Caulfield; O'Hara. Make your guess.
Challenge:
Psalm 90:13-17 "O Lord, come back to us! How long will you delay? Take pity on your servants! 14 Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good. 16 Let us, your servants, see you work again, let our children see your glory. 17 And may the Lord our God show us His approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful!"
It is important for us to remember several things; one of which is that the writer here is Moses.
He wrote this chapter in four sections:
An affirmation of the security of a life lived close to the Lord (verse 1,2)
A complaint about the brevity of life (verse 3-6)
A complaint about God's judgement on His people (verse 7-12)
A prayer for restoration (verse 13-17)
Moses in these last verses emphasises the desires of God for our lives.
In Verse 13 Moses requests that God would return, forgive their disobedience and come back to His people, for they desired His will and working in their lives. They had in the past iognored His presence and guidance, but no longer were wanting to live outside of His will.
Next in verse 14 he was assuring God that they were desirous of experiencing true, lasting, joyous, satisfaction. Unlike the success that the world offers, His satisfaction is fulfilling to the extent that an inner joy would return to the nation.
Verses 15 reminds us of the desires that God has for us of joy, fullness, success, and overflowing blessings. The world and the devil promise success, but they fail to warn us of the loss that comes from following in their ways. Evil, hardship, struggle, hurt, conflict, etc. etc. at the sacrifice of God's many blessings which He enriches and pours over our lives.
Finally, Moses cries out to God in verse 16 for His children and their grandchildren to witness the continuing goodness of God as we partner together in our lives with Him. The outcome being bountiful blessings, as well as, our joying in His glory and being uplifted and proclaimed as worthy of honor through His successes in our lives.
SO GO WITH GOD my dear one, for then His works will declare His glory and honor and your blessing, and inner joy. We must be cautious to ignore the world and its master Satan, for he makes many promises, success, power, influence, financial gain, etc. etc, but they are empty and bring a lack of real lasting satisfaction in the end. If we are looking about our world we see lives that illustrate many of these examples of this trade off in the news today.
Moses requests in his last phrase, "Yes, make our efforts successful." He states for us that the ultimate reminder, our success isn't based only on our efforts, but most importantly on our surrender and His workings. We must never forget that we have a role in this, but that He is the primary provider that we call out to for blessing.
O'Hara