Dear friends in Christ,
Ash Wednesday has its roots in the early Church’s careful efforts to receive those penitents who had lapsed from the faith and faithful living and had been excommunicated by the Church. The rite of worship that eventually developed for Ash Wednesday focused on contrition and faith, on absolution and renewal. The lessons, prayers, and psalms, enabled penitents to confess their sins and to receive the Savior’s absolution through the Church’s called ministers. A part of this worship involved the minister putting ash on the foreheads of the penitent - to remind them how fragile they were - that they would return to dust some day - just as Adam came from dust.
The Psalm that we are going to look at in consideration of this is Psalm 90. It was a prayer of Moses - the only Psalm written by him. Moses was someone who was very familiar with how fragile life could be. He had witnessed hundreds of Egyptians get swept away in the Red Sea. He’d seen a whole generation of Israelites die in the desert. His whole life had been one of transition - having to flee from Egypt, then coming back, and then going into the desert for 40 years. At the end of his journey, Moses himself would also face death before ever getting to enter the Promised Land. This Psalm addresses that very topic of how fragile life is, and what we can do about it.
Psalm 90
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
If someone were to call you “ancient”, you probably wouldn’t regard that as a compliment. We don’t like being called “old”, because old in our eyes is associated with sickness, forgetfulness, and inability. Moses wasn’t afraid to call the Lord old - eternal even - because it was a positive thing to him. Why? Because the Lord was someone that he could always turn to as a “dwelling place.” That word for “dwelling” also means to pile things up at, or to go in a circle. The best I would compare it to would be a parents house for a teenager. Even though they are always on the run, they always have a place to go back to - to call home.
There’s something nice about that. The first time I returned to New London after my grandma died, it just didn’t seem the same. I had spent the first twenty years of my life going in and out of her house, but then when I drove by, I couldn’t go into the house. I couldn’t smell the goulash or play baseball on the side of the house. It was like one of my anchors had been pulled up and I was forced to drift off to sea.
On the contrary, the Lord will never leave. He is a dwelling place for all generations. He had been there for Adam and Eve. He had protected Noah through the flood, and kept Abraham and the Israelites alive through a famine. Noah knew that God would always be there. His door was always open. It gave him comfort. His doors are always open for you too.
3 You turn men back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men." 4 For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. 5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning— 6 though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.
7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. 10 The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
Since God is eternal - immortal - all powerful - then God is not only responsible for life - but also for death. Just as His Word brought life into this world, so with His Word he says, “return to dust, O sons of men.” With one Word God is able to take a young boy or an old woman and turn them from being full of life to a breathless death. Moses compared it to being “swept away” - the same word used for the flood. Just as God swept away thousands to millions of people at the flood, God is still the one who sweeps away life today.
Moses said that man’s life is 70 or 80 if he has the strength. During Luther’s time it was only 40 or 50 years he said. Even if we lived to 969 years as Methuselah did, it would still be considered brief when compared to the eternity of God. They quickly pass, and we fly away. This is a harsh reality. And that’s a part of Ash Wednesday - to remember that we are but dust - and to dust we will return.
The other day I was talking to my son about dying and going to heaven, and he told me “I don’t want to die, dad. I’m afraid of it.” He was being honest with me. People don’t like to think about death or talk about death. Wouldn’t you rather plan for and talk about life? Isn’t it amazing to think about how many hours we talk with financial planners - making careful plans to how we’ll will spend the last five to ten years of their lives? What’s five to ten years in comparison with eternity? Yet we do our best to stay in shape and stay out of dangerous situations just to prolong our lives an extra five to fifty years. Luther said, “I believed that everyone’s heart was as disturbed and as fearful of the perils of death as my own. But when I carefully investigated the situation, it became evident to me that among ten thousand persons there are hardly ten who give thought to this important matter. The vast mass of humanity lives out its life as though there were no death and, for that matter, no God.” Luther’s works, vol. 13 : Selected Psalms II
Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit - Moses didn’t beat around the bush. With a very frank and open prayer he talks to God about what death is - a judgment of God. We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. 9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. To Moses, death was a judgment for sin - as God said to Adam - you will surely die. It consumed him - utterly wore him out - to think about how holy and angry God was over sin. He had seen God wipe out hundreds of people in an instant. But he wondered, Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. The real problem to Moses was that nobody really KNEW how angry God was over sin - how afraid they should be over dying. If any of us were to see just one second of hell - experience one second of such punishment, I would venture to bet that we would never get a good nights sleep again. Night after night we would be tormented with dreams and visions over what a terrible suffering place it is. Moses said - God should be feared because of this wrath. Death and hell need to be looked at. Out of all the sins in the world - isn’t this one of the worst - that we don’t think about how truly sinful we are. Moses was praying that people would see death for what it is - a judgment of God. That we would see God’s wrath and be terrified of it. The ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us - we are returning to dust because we have sinned.
After reading the second section, it may seem that this is a hopeless and depressing Psalm, especially when Moses talks about death being a judgment of God. But remember, Moses started out this Psalm from the premise that God is a dwelling place - like a refuge. Our God is not a God of death. If you dwell somewhere - you are still alive. Therefore, there must be refuge from the condemnation of death. That’s what he ends his prayer with.
12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 13 Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. 16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children. 17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.
It’s hard to count something that doesn’t have a set number. Moses isn’t telling us to count how many days we have, but to remember that they ARE NUMBERED. Since they are numbered, they have a beginning and an end. The wisdom from God would be to first of all remember that God will bring our days to an end - and that many will end up under God’s eternal wrath. This is something to fear. As Solomon said, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
But that’s not where wisdom ends. True wisdom is made complete in the next two verses of Moses’ prayer - Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. Moses is praying for a remedy against original sin and its punishments. He says: “From these evils we pray to be delivered, and we ask for an eternally valid remission of sins, not for a remission prescribed and limited by law.” True wisdom remembers that God is not only a God of wrath, but also a God of compassion who has an unfailing love. In our misery of sin, we need more than drop of love and mercy - that would not suffice, but rather a deluge and an ocean of mercy which completely satisfies our feverish thirst.
That wisdom is made complete only in Christ. Paul said, We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18) The cross of Christ is wisdom, for God says that Christ too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Heb 2:14_16). Only at the cross do we see God’s wrath satisfied. Only in Christ do we see God’s law completed. Wisdom is made complete only in Christ. That’s why we look at the cross of Christ every year. Without it, we would be foolish.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. These words are spoken at most graveside services. This is God’s judgment on sin. God was serious when he said, “you will surely die.” It made Moses terrified and afraid. But God’s mercy and love is greater than His wrath. God was also serious when He said He would send an offspring of Eve. God sent that offspring in Christ. God’s wrath has been fulfilled in Christ. So Isaiah says - The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. So we pray with Moses, teach us to number our days aright - so that we may gain a heart of wisdom - knowing that we deserve God’s wrath, but trusting that Jesus took that wrath on Himself at the cross. Amen.
