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Songs of Greatness is a sermon series on the greatness of God from the Psalms. From Everlasting to Everlasting — There are two painful truths of life in this world: Life is short, and life can be incredibly hard. How do we respond to the brevity and difficulty of life without falling into hopelessness or despair? We can trust in God who is both eternal and gracious. Recorded on Aug 15, 2021, on Psalm 90, by Pastor David Parks. Sermon Transcript For the next year, in our preaching ministry, we’re focusing on The Greatness of God. After all the turmoil of 2020, it was obvious to me that way too many Christians have way too small of a view of who God is. So we started this annual theme with a sermon series from the Psalms in the Bible called, Songs of Greatness. And the Psalms are a collection of songs/poems that the people of God have used in the worship of God for 1000’s of years. They cover the whole range of human experience, but a number of the psalms are all about the greatness of God. Today, we’ll consider Psalm 90, which, out of 150 psalms, is the only psalm written by Moses, the great leader of the people of God during the time of the exodus from Egypt. And Psalm 90 touches on some deep themes that many people spend much of their lives (frankly) avoiding: the brevity/shortness of life, and the pain/difficulty of life. Life is short, and life can be incredibly hard. And for some of us who are younger, but for all of us who have lived a little longer in life, we know this to be true. But what do we do with this information? How do we respond to the reality that life is short and life can be incredibly hard? Well, over the millennia, human beings have found several ways to deal with this truth — but many of these philosophies or coping mechanisms are ultimately unhelpful/unhealthy. What are we to do? I believe Psalm 90 offers us a fascinating case study for dealing with the brevity and the difficulty of life in this broken world without falling into hopelessness or despair or delusion. Please open your Bible/app to Psalm 90. Now, because this is a longer psalm, we’re going to unpack it in three parts, 1. we’ll consider the brevity of life, 2. the difficulty of life, and finally, 3. the response, how we might live in light of this reality. So first, the brevity of life: Psalm 90:1-6, “1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3 You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.” 4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. 5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death — they are like the new grass of the morning: 6 In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.” Let’s pause here. So first, we’re considering the brevity or the shortness of life. Time is such a weird thing. Our perception of time shifts and changes, doesn’t it? Sometimes time seems to move very slowly, when we’re watching the clock, when we’re waiting for something to happen, and especially when we’re young. Minutes can seem like days, days can seem like a lifetime. But then, when you look back over time, years can seem like they came and went very quickly, in the blink of an eye. Decades are filled with memories and experiences, but even decades seem to shorten as we age. According to the Bible, as creatures of this world, we are bound within time. But our experience of time is one of the ways we are fundamentally different than God, our Creator. You see, time is part of God’s creation, therefore, he is not bound by it or surprised by it. God’s perception of time is different than ours. He is standing on the riverbank while we are in the stream. He is the Lord over it while we have no say in the matter. In v. 2, Moses writes, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world,