A New Perspective

What essential priorities do you use to reset your perspective when you are afraid, confused, or indecisive?

Psalm 90 was written to shift our perspective, not just as individuals, but as a corporate body of believers.

1. God is our dwelling place (v. 1-2). This reality opens this psalm of wisdom. Coming as it does more than halfway through the psalter, its as if the psalm is speaking to a confused, displaced group of believers: Remember that the eternal God is your dwelling place, not a temple, a city, or a nation.

2. Time is short (v. 3-6). Our lives are brief. Even a thousand years, which is long to us, feels like yesterday to God. We devote whole classes to studying periods of history that are even a fraction of that time. To God, those years are like grass: “In the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.” With so little time available, focus on what matters.

3. God sees our sins (v. 7-11). God he sees both the public sins and the secret ones and is justly angered. If he were to exercise his righteous judgment on us for our sins, we would be “brought to an end by [his] anger.” Our turning point, the psalm tells us, is to consider the power of God’s wrath in light of the fear of him.

4. God wants to restore us (v. 12-17). God’s dwelling place is a refuge, a place where we can feel safe, not cower in fear. The fear of the Lord should lead us to this safe place where we call on him to teach us, make his presence known to us, satisfy us with his steadfast love (which he has made known through his son, Jesus), make us glad, and give us the ability to see his work and his power.

Focusing on these priorities helps me put situations and decisions into perspective. Time is short and my biggest problem is sin, so I need an eternal perspective if I’m to be in relationship with an eternal God.

Perspective

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