THE PRAYER OF MOSES - PART 9

14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! 

15 Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil....Psalm 90:14-15

The great hymn of the Faith “Great is Thy Faithfulness” is based on a short passage from the Book of Lamentations. This book of tears and regret over the Babylonian destruction of the once great city of Jerusalem had driven the great prophet Jeremiah to weeping and sadness over the condition of  his people.  This event had happened in the 6^th century BC after the people of Jerusalem ignore and then persecuted the prophet of the Lord – Jeremiah – for preaching Truth. 

In Lamentations chapter 3,  Jeremiah spoke in graphic detail how God had punished the rebels in Jerusalem who had not just spurned Him, but worshipped pagan idols in the Temple itself. This descriptive passage goes on for 20 verses of Chapter 3, but then Jeremiah immediately switches to record the mercy of God, after He judges. He writes:

22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I hope in Him!” (Lamentations 3:22-24)

This is such an awesome illustration of our Great and Gracious Heavenly Father. Moses prayed in Psalm 90:14 and 15 above and Jeremiah shows magnificently what it looks like in real time. This is a great encouragement for us today, who sometimes feel under the gun. It is not secret God has, is and will continue to judge this world for sin and disobedience. We see it in the many natural disasters which claim many lives. The rain falls both in the righteous and unrighteous so many believers lose their lives in natural disasters. They are, however, ready to meet their Maker by virtue of their Faith.

However, here is a shocker- life is tough....and it is going to get even tougher as the years go by. Whether the report be medical, physical or financial, all people - regardless of Faith of Financial status -will be afflicted with the storms of life. This is where Moses is headed with the portion of the prayer in these verses. However he (Moses) is praying for the silver lining in these moments of Life when we find ourselves in the Valley of Despair.

Fortunately for us, God already thought of this when He gave us the entire Scripture! We are given the Oracles of God, the Manual for Daily Living (MDL) to get us through all of our days. Job, the Servant of God, who lived before or around the time of Abraham gives us the perfect response for those Times of Affliction here in Job 19:25-27:
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
27 Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

So here it is right here- directly from God Himself, via His Word, the Bible:
1. From Psalm 90:14-15, we know life is going to through us some heavy stuff, that is some curve balls we will get hit with, where it hurts.
2. We know life is lived, for the most part in the valley. God gives us those mountaintop experiences so we can be reassured of His Presence and His Peace.
3. We know we, who are His through Salvation, can approach Him, in our affliction and cry out for Grace, Mercy and Compassion.
4. We know that even if the answer is no, to live is Christ and to die is gain- we are with Him forever, anyway.
5. We know we can turn to the Bible, His Inspired and Holy Word and say with confidence as Job did:
15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.
16 He also shall be my salvation,
For a hypocrite could not come before Him. (Job 13:15-16)

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