09152024 Favor of God

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of the God of strength. Our strength is oftentimes so little, but His is infinite. What we cannot dream of being able to do, God accomplishes with ease.

Moses understood this. He begins Psalm 90 by acknowledging God’s everlasting existence. He compares this with the frail brevity of man. The final five verses are packed with petitions based on the human/divine contrast.

V. 13 – “Return” and “let it repent thee.” Moses asks God to renew His attention to His children. Was this written when Moses was a shepherd in the wilderness? Or more likely, after Moses had reached the “eighty years” that he had recently referred to? If so, this would be during the wilderness wanderings. Perhaps Moses is calling for a reprieve from the extra decades of wandering. In essence, he is asking for God to take away the punishment and again show His favor.

V. 14 – “Satisfy.” Moses asks God show His mercy (lovingkindness) in such an abundant way that the people would again have joy and gladness, perhaps even bursting forth in song. I don’t think there was much of that during those forty years of desert, deprivation, and death. What a blessed change for singing to return!

V. 15 – “Make us glad.” Moses asks God to trade the years of suffering for years of blessing. In Egypt, that suffering had been in terms of centuries. In the wilderness, it was in terms of decades. So much suffering. Oh, to have it now be replaced with gladness. What the anticipated glories were of the land of milk and honey.

V. 16 – “Let thy work appear.” I think both the 400 years in Egypt and the 40 in the wilderness were largely years of divine silence. The people did not see great displays by God during those times. The new generations had only stories they had heard, but not first-hand observations. Moses requests a renewal or a reintroduction of obvious divine activity to be displayed toward Israel. He wanted God to give new first-hand experiences.

V. 17 – “Let the beauty (favor)” and “establish (confirm) thou the work.” Now Moses is asking for divine blessing to facilitate and legitimize the people’s labors as they move forward. The full verse is a clear recognition that, as hard as the people work, they will not be successful unless God gives His stamp of approval. “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” The request for God to confirm the work they will do is repeated.

Man sometimes has ideas and ambitions about what to do. Assuming that the ideas and ambitions are actually guidance and direction from God, man still cannot accomplish the objectives unless God blesses the work. Man’s best strength is too weak and his best wisdom is too foolish. This is particularly true when the objectives are within the realm of the supernatural. God is doing a divine work in the world, and He must enable and establish the part of that work that He intends to be done through human instruments.

You are involved in that divine work and those eternal objectives. God has designed it. God has placed you into it. But you can’t do it in your own strength and wisdom. God’s work uses human fuel, but human fuel is insufficient. So my prayer for you is this: “Father, establish the work of their hands. Take their earnest and sacrificial labors for You, and put Your stamp of approval on them. Put Your power and wisdom into them. Bring the work to fruition. Establish it so that it yields success.”

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA

Archived letters: www.dearmissionarylady.blogspot.com.