Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Tuesday, 11 November 2014 - Scripture: Psalm 90:1-8, 12

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States - Lutheran Seminary's God Pause "Moved by the Promise" for Tuesday, 11 November 2014 - Scripture: Psalm 90: A Prayer of Moses, Man of God
1-2 God, it seems you’ve been our home forever;
    long before the mountains were born,
Long before you brought earth itself to birth,
    from “once upon a time” to “kingdom come”—you are God.
3-11 So don’t return us to mud, saying,
    “Back to where you came from!”
Patience! You’ve got all the time in the world—whether
    a thousand years or a day, it’s all the same to you.
Are we no more to you than a wispy dream,
    no more than a blade of grass
That springs up gloriously with the rising sun
    and is cut down without a second thought?
Your anger is far and away too much for us;
    we’re at the end of our rope.
You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed
    since we were children is entered in your books.
All we can remember is that frown on your face.
    Is that all we’re ever going to get?
We live for seventy years or so
    (with luck we might make it to eighty),
And what do we have to show for it? Trouble.
    Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard.
Who can make sense of such rage,
    such anger against the very ones who fear you?
12-17 Oh! Teach us to live well!
    Teach us to live wisely and well!
Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?—
    and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
Surprise us with love at daybreak;
    then we’ll skip and dance all the day long.
Make up for the bad times with some good times;
    we’ve seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
Let your servants see what you’re best at—
    the ways you rule and bless your children.
And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us,
    confirming the work that we do.
    Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!(The Message)
Towering mountains, 
firm, dependable, unwavering in grace, 
no shifting shadow, no turning away.
How small am I? How fragile, how finite?
My good moments and my bad, a roller coaster by the hour; 
just when I've got it, your perfection sheds light on something else.
But what really matters? 
My failure? My sin? 
For even my evil will fade back to dust.
Yet your mercy: 
firm, dependable, unwavering in grace, 
no shifting shadow, no turning away.
Keep my eyes on you, O God. You are constant even when I am a mess. Remind me what is important and give me life that is abundant in your love, shown to me in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Amanda Kempthorne
Pastor, Lord of Life Lutheran Church
North Pole, Alaska 
Master of Divinity , 2009
Psalm 90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn us back to dust, and say, "Turn back, you mortals."
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.(New Revised Standard Version)
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