By Rev. Daniel Yaw
 
"Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom."  Psalm 90:12
 
Introduction
I have had news about friends in the ministry who had gone home to the Lord.  Recently, last month, a dear friend whom many of you know, Rev Clement Wong who was the speaker for our first family camp in 2009 and also at our first evangelist service held in SRJK © Kim Seng was called home to the Lord very suddenly.  Yes this weekend, another friend from the pastors’ fellowship, Rev Arul from Taiping was also called home to the Lord due to a heart attack.  In one of my interaction with a leader from Cambodia whom I spoke to a month ago, who shared his plans for evangelism and training for evangelism in his early forties was also called home very suddenly.
 
I cannot help but to reflect on the brevity of life.  It is very short.  I jokingly mentioned in the pulpit that pastors do not retire – they simply expire.  Suddenly this joke is no longer a laughing matter.
 
But what do I come out of that?  Psalm 90 speaks very clearly on this issue.  What matters is really about a life of purpose and peace we can find in God in the brevity of life on earth.
 
Life is Brief
Here in this psalm, the brevity of life is also filled with such harshness of life.  In Ps 90:10, it says that we are given 70 years and to some 80, and yet even the best years are filled with pain and trouble.  How then are we to face life with an upward trend?  The psalmist prays to God to , “teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.”
 
Finding a song of joy (14)
The prayer is that God will come to us and enable us to see His unfailing love so that we can sing with joy.

It is true that not many of our waking hours are filled with joy – instead they are filled with worries, challenges of the day, problems of yesterday piling over, and we wake up facing the day with tears in our hearts.

It is learning to find a song of joy each morning (Ps 90:14) which is found in knowing the unfailing love of God.  This will sustain us “to the end of our lives.”
 
Finding hope (15)
Again the prayer is to find hope in the Lord who replace evil years with good.  To see that while others meant evil, there is good behind them all.  Some call it, "a blessing in disguise".  Let us see hope in them.

He prays for “gladness in proportion to our former misery”.  It is about the hope we can have in Christ.  Yes, it is called a living hope – new and alive.  We have this certain hope that God will indeed cause all things to be good to those who love him.
 
Finding purpose (16)
Have I lost zeal?  Have I lost my passion?  Have I lost my purpose?  Perhaps so as I think of the challenges of today and the years that come with it.  Yet in every season of life, there is a purpose and I pray constantly that I may "see the work of God again and see His glory".

To live a life of purpose and peace is about the ability to “see God’s work” again and do it so that “others will see the glory of God” through them.  That is purpose.  It is about “seeing what God sees, and doing what God says!”
 
Finding pleasure/success (17)
Success and pleasure are in the hands of God and only God can bring the success of our effort and grant us his pleasure.  The final prayer is that God will show his approval or his pleasure and enable our efforts to be successful.  That is also the Aaronic blessing that we are all so familiar with and have become one of the greatest hit in Christian music, entitled, “Blessing”
 
Conclusion
“The Lord bless you and keep you.  The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.  The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”