THE COURAGE OF FAITH PSALM 90 SEPT. 1, 1963

THE MINETIETH PSALM 1S ONE OF MY FAVORITE’ PASSACESTN-TRE—SHBLE. ['M USED IT
—————
BEFORE: I'VE READ {T AND THOUGHT ABOUT IT OVER AND OVER. FOR ME, THIS PSALM HAS BEEN
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SOMEWHAT OF A WATERSHED: EACH TIME | READ IT | FIND SOMETHING NEW=-EACH TIME | FIND

MY OWN THINKING PUSHED A LITTLE FURTHER AND A LITTLE DEEPER BY THESE WORDS WRITTEN

CENTURIES AGO. | | would venture the guess that there aren't MANY CHRISTIAN

FUNERALS THAT TAKE PLACE WITHOUT H@ERS SOME WORDS FROM THE 90TH SALI. THE FAMOUS

HYMN BY ISSAC WATTS © GOD OUR HELP_IN AGES PAST HAS PERMANENTLY ENGRAVED THE PSALM

IN THE TRADITION OF PROTESTANT worst iP. | PSALM 90 IS A PROTESTANT FAVORITE: WITHIN
Mee a eee

THE PSALTER IT MUST BE PLACED AMONG THE TEN MOST IMPORTANT AND MEANINGFUL.

BUT THE REASONS IT IS A FAVORITE AND POPULAR AND THE REASONS IT IS MY FAVORITE AND

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FOR WHICH | HAVE CHOSEN IT AS A TEXT THIS MORNING ARE NOT ONE AND THE SAME ‘ USUALLY

MOST COMMENTARY ON THE 90TH PSALM STOPS ABRUPTLY AT THE, SECOND vease: (oro, THOU HAST

BEEN OUR DWELLING PLACE IN ALL GENERATIONS, BEFORE THE) MOUNTAINS WERE BROUGHT FORTH ,

OR EVER THOU HADST FORMED THE EARTH AND THE WORLD, FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING

THOU ART 600.) A SOARING AFFIRMATION OF THE FAITH OF ISRAEL: A POETIC EXPRESSION OF

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GOD'S ETERNITY AND InFinity. \ aur, ALTHOUGH THE BOPULARTITY STOPS HERE, THE PSALM

DOES wor-| 1 THE VERY NEXT VERSE THE MOOD CHANGES AND THE PSALMIST ASKS SOME RATHER

SERIOUS QUESTIONS OF THE GOD WHO IS FROM EVERLASTING TO! EVERLASTING.

IN FACT, THE QUESTIONS ASKED BY THE PSALMIST HAVE LED 0.T. SCHOLARS TO CALL THIS

A COMMUNAL Laven. | IT WAS ONE OF A NUMBER OF PSALMS USED MIN THE TEMPLE BY THE COMMUNI TY

THE FAITHFUL WHEN TIMES GOT TOUGH. \ me SPECIFIC OCCASION FOR EMPLOYING THIS PSALM

COULD HAVE BEEN A MILITARY DEEEAT, OR A RM® FAMINE, OR A DISEASE THAT CAUSED THE DEATHOF

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MANY races. | IN ANY CASE THE SITUTATION IS NOT A ROSY ONE_AND THE PSALMIST GIVES
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VENT TO SOME VERY PROFOUND AND DIFFICULT QUESTIONS.

2.

With poetic beauty the Psalmist sake “thot |S THE MBANING OF LIFE IN TERMS OF

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{TS BREVITY?" } HIS SERIES OF METAPHORS IS BREATH TAKING.* LIFE IS LIKE DUST, THAT IS

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TA! :
HERE ONE MOMENT AND THE NEXT |S BLOWN any. \ SETTLES: TEMPORARILY BUT THEN [S LIFTED

BY A GUST OF WIND AND SWIRLS OUT OF sigit.\ LIFE {5 LIKE A BLADE OF GRASS THAT [5S

[precy

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FRESH AND NEW, GLISTENING IN THE WETNESS OF JHE MORN ING. \eur IN THE BLISTERING HEAT

OF MIDDAY |T FADES AND DRIES AND BY EVENING [T HAS WI THERED anny. | LIFE 1S LIKE A DREAM
o~ : ;

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——,

THE FLEETING, NEBULOUS WORLD OF SLEEP THAT ELUDES US AFTER WE HAVE WAKENED. | AT BEST

LIFE LASTS SEVENTY OR EIGHTY YEARS: THIS BRIEF SPAN MUBT BE SEEN IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY.

SKFLLFULLY THE PSALMISTS POINSS OUT THAT IN TERMS OF ETERNITY A THOUSAND YEARS ARE

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LIKE YESTERDAY WHEN IT 1S PAST. | IN TERMS OF THE TIMLEBSNESS OF ETERNITY A THOUSAND

YEARS ARE LIKE A WATCH IN THE NIGHT: THE THREE 8RIEF HOURS OF SLEEP ALOTTED A MAN WHILE

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WATCHING OVER A HERD OF suecr.\ A THOUSAND YERRS ARE LIKE YESTERDAY OR LIKE THE

UNS IBNEFICANT HOURS OF BRX DARKNESS: AND AT BEST MAN CAN HOPE TO LIVE SEVENTY OR EIGHTY

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YEARS. | rose WHO LIKE THEIR RELIGION SOFT AND EASY: WHO WISH TO BE COMFORTED AND

LULLED BY SUNDAY PIETY, R@ALLY OUGHT NOT TO READ THIS; PSALM. FOR HERE {5 A SOBERING

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REFLECTION OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE ~~A TAUT, BLUNT QUESTION THROWN IN THE FACE OF GOD:

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"SINCE THIS IS TRUE*SINCE WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN SO LITTLE. TIME, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF

LIFE-WHAT —S [TS PURPOSE?"

i —

} a The psaimists' SECOND LAMENT JS EVEN MORE SERIOUS THATN TRE FIRST.1U "THE YEARS
4 . . .

OF OUR LIFE ARE THREE SCORE AND TEN, OR EVEN BY REASON, OF STRENGTH, FOUR SCORE: YET

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THEIR SPAN 1S BUT TOIL AND TROUBLE." | AS FF IT 1SN"T BAD ENOUGH TO LIVE ONLY 70 YRARS,

IN THE LONG RUN THOSE YEARS SEEM@ TO PRODUCE ONLY STRIFE AND HATRED: TO!L AND TROUBLE.

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MAN IS GIVEN TO LIVE SO BRIEFLY AND WITH HIS PRECIOUS TIME HE [S evi. | “HOW LONG, 0

LORD? " CRIES THE psaunist. fanart CAN ALL THIS MEAN?E [S THERE ANY MEANING TO THES

SUFFERING*THESE INSIGNIFICANT SEVENTY YEARS THAT AT BEST ONLY GIVE US TOIL AND TROUBLE?

-~

THE PSALMIST [S ASKING THE AGE OLD QUESTION OF EVIL: THE QUESTION THAT HAS OCCUPIED

THE MINDS OF PHILSOPHERS AND RELIGIOUS THINKERS FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE PRESENT.

IF THERE JS A GOOD GOD, IF CREATION IS GOOD, IF THE GOOD GOD RULES OVER HIS GOCD

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CREATION HOW CAN We EXPLAIN THE PRESENCEOF EVIL TiN HUNAN Lirey FEW MEN HAVE DARED TO
? $ nooo

ASK JHE QUESTION IN STARK HONESTY: THOSE WHO HAVE HAD JHE COURAGE TO ASK [IT HAVE

EITHER BEEN GREAT MEN OF FAITH OR GREAT OPPONENTS OF THE FAITH. AGAIN® THOSE_ WHO

WANT A RELIGION THAT HAS ANSWERS RATHER THAN QUESTIONS A RELIGION THAT CLOSES AND SEALS

THE MIND RATHER THAN EXPOSING !T TO THE RIS,K OF FREE THOUGHT, OUGHT NOT TO REAGB THIS

PSALM. | FOR HERE, IN THEMIDDLE OF THE PSALTER THE BOOK (OF INSPIRING POETRY, WE HEAR
— 4 : ed

aman being brutally honest --A MAN WHO SEES EVIL IN LiFe AND WANTS TO KNOW WHY IT IS

SO.
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You KNOW HISTORY CHANGES CULTURES AND WAYS OF LIVING: TIMER ALTERS MORES AND

a.

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VALUES: THE YEARS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: BUT THE MAIN CHARACTER [N THE DRAMA OF

HISTORY REMAINS PRETTY MUCH THE sane. \ MAN HAS NOT CHANGED: [IN QUR ENLIGHTENED BAY HE

1S STILL SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS HE WAS ASK ENG THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

THIS HAS BEEN CALLED THE AGE OF ANXIETY: AND YET f BEL tEVE MANTS ANQIETIES ARE ESSENTIAL

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the same in this age as they always have been. | they have taken new shapes AND FORMS:

WE HAVE SINGLED THEM OUT AND GIVEN THEM Lwanes:\ ut STILL THE ROOT OF MAN'S RESTLESSNESS

AND ANXIETY [S THIS MATTER OF DEATH. \ THE IRONY OF DEATH STILL CATCHES US BY THE

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THROAT PERIODICALLY: THE INEVITABILITY OF OUR OWN DEATH STILL MAKES US WONDER AND

—,

QUESTION: DEATH STILL SEEMS TO LAUGH IN THE FACE OF ALL OUR VAUNTED AND BELOVED ACHIEVE_

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MENTS * WE STILL ASK, WH ?

UPON HEARING OF THE QUEEN'S DEATH IN SHAKESPEARES (GREATEST DRAMA, MCBETH HAS THE

FOLLOWING TO SAY:
“TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW,
CREEPS IN THIS PETTY PACE FROM DAY TO DAY
TO THE LAST SYLLABLE GF RECORDED TIME,
AND ALL OUR YESTERDAYS HAVE LIGHTED FOOLS
THE WAY TO DUSTY DEATH. OUT, OUT, BRIEF CNADLE.
LIFE'S BUT A WALKING SHADGW, A POOR PLAYER
THAT STRUTS AND FRETS HIS HOUR UPON THE STAGE
AND THEN 1S HEARD NO fAORE: [T 1S A TALE
TOLD BY AN IDIOT, FULL OF SOUND AND FURY
SIGNEFYRNG NOTHING,"

4.

HERE, ANOTHER LAMENT: THIS ONE WRITHEN A FEW HUNDRED YEARS AGO: THIS ONE, HOWE VE
HAS AN ANSWE! 1TH THE PSALMIST, SHAKESPEARE LAMENT LIFE"S BREVITY, LIFE! s
SN

WALKING SHADOW, LIKE A PATHETIC ACTOR DOING HIS SHORT PART ON THE STAGE OF HISTORY.
— a te
BUT SHAKESPEARE HAS AN ANSWRR TOO —-("LIFE"S A TALE TOLD BY AN IDIOT, FULL OF SOUND
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AND FURY, SIGNIFYING NOTHING. Pies CAN BE NO QUEST iON WHERE HE STANDS~—L1| FE

SIGNIFIES NOTHING-—THERE |S NO MEANING @R PURPOSE TO BE! Fowno.| IN OUR DAY MANY HAVE

TAKEN UP THIS GOSPEL OF ceseai.\ me PHILOSOPHY. _OF wits OR NOTHINGNESS 1S VERY

MUCH IN VOGUE : TO BE STN" ONE OUGHT TO BE A DEVOTEE OF ALBERT CAMUS- AND FRANZ KAFKA

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WHO CYNICALLY INTERPRETED LIFE AS SHALLOW, oor, ws ke & not “m i peed
isis eee esr re uae

GRANTED NOT MANY PEOPLE READ CAMUS AND KAFKA ELY sot aasncaner

Tor Meo wantion|

SHAKESPEARE -AND THE BIBLE E! THER, (BuT EVERYONE OF US—-READERS OR NON READERY: THINKER

OR NON TH INKERG HAS SOME ANSWER TO THE QUESTION POSED BY DEATH. | THERE IS A DELIGHTFUL
- WeeWen sehdaun, nee

GERMAN WORD THAT CAN'T BE TRANSLATED ACCURATELY INTO ENGLISH: NELTANSHANEY 4—ROUGHLY

ye SEN Suade N
WORLD-VIEW OR OUTLOOK ON LIFE.> WE ALL HAVE A War FENSHAYE : WE ALL LOOK AT LIFE
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IN A CERTAIN WAY THAT {IS PART OF US: AND THAT WAY OF LOOKING AT LIFE REFLECTS OUR ANSWER

TO THE QUESTION OF THE PSALIMIST.
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IN THESE TERMS 1T WOULD caer THAT MOST OF US WOULD ACCEPT SHAK ESPEARES VERD ICTS FOR®

DON'T WE LIVE AND ACT AS IF LIFE SIGNIFIES NOTHING! DON"'T WE Be THE TIME ALLOTED TO

US AWAY ON TRIVIA: DON'T WE LIVE DAY BY DAY NEVER GIVING A THOUGHT TO THE MEANING OF
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OUR LIVES? WHEN WE MUST CONFRONT DEATH—-DON"T WE SHUDDER AND GIVE_ VENT ®0 FEARS

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THAT IN TURN PROVE THAT FOR US THERE IS NO REAL MEANING |TO LIFE. THAT WE STILL ARE
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GROPING FOR THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS ASKED BY THE PSALMIST. Soll

THE QUESTION OF EVIL HAS NEVER LESSENED IN PROFUND I TY cine. | AT VARIOUS TIMES

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IN THE HISTORY OF THOUGHT MEN HAVE BEBSN OUT AND OUT oprinists. | THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES
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when men denied the existence of evil in life and in man. tnd — THERE ARE STILL

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THOSE WHO REFUSE TO ADMIT THE RBALITY OF eut.| TODAY, HOWEVER, THERE SEEMS TO BE NO

—__

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EXCUSE FOR NOT SEEING EVIL. \ MODERN MEDIA OF MASS SOWAUN | CATION ALLOW US TO BE EYE

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WITNESSES TO TRAGEDY AND WAR AND DEATH AND INJUSTICE, | ONE CAN HARDLY READ THE FRONT
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PAGE OF A NEWSPAPER AND FEEL THAT LIFE 1S A BED OF roses, | TO THE CONTRARY THE QUESTION

OF EVIL STILL BURNS IN OUR THROATS AND STILL WE ASK IT. IN OUR DAY THE CUMULATIVE EVIL

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of the generations seems to have come to its zenith in ‘man's NEWLY DISCOVERED POWER OF

"

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OBL ITERAT} ON. UNDER THE SHADOW OF A MUSHROOM CLOUD HE GFILL ASK, HOW LONG O Lowos tear MEA
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AND PURPOSE CAN THERE BE EF THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE DONE? |

WE HAVE SEEN THEN THAT THIS PSALM DOES NOT OFFER easy ANSWERS | TO LIFE's QUESTE NS.

IT ASKS THE SAME QUESTIONS THAT MEN HAVE ALWAYS ASKED UT IT 15 NOT GUILTY OF GIVING

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A SUPERFICIAL, STOCK ANSSER. \ para fT FS SATISFIED ONLY FO ASK—-LEAVING OPEN THE

POSSIBILITY THAT THERE ARE NO ANSWERS. \ mits 15 THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF [NTE GRETY AND
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COURAGE. | THE PSALMIST HAS THE INTEGRITY TO CALL A SPADE A SPADE, AND THE COURAGE TO ASK

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QUESTIONS, TO WHICH THERE MAY BE NO ansver. \ NOT MANY OF US CAN SAY THE SAME.

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ANALYSSS OF OUR CULTURE FOR SOWE TIME NOW, HAVE BEMOANED THE LACKOF INTEGRITY.
BEGINNING WITH SINCLAIR LEWIS, NOVELISTS, WHO ARE BY NATURE THE PULSE BEAT OF A

CULTURE, HAVE LAMPOONED AND SATIRIZED THE HYPOCRISY AND DISHONESTY OF MODERN MAN,

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LEWIS'S BABBIT, IS PROBABLY THE BIGGEST HYPOCRIT iN HODERN LITERATURE, JUST EDGING OUT

ELMER corey. | THE WHOLE SCHOOLGF THOUGHT THAT GREW our OF THE SUBURBAN MOVEMENT." THE

MAN IN THE GREY FLANBSEL SUIT, THE ORGANIZATION MAN, WH FTE COLLAR, THE STATUS SEEKERS
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ALL POINT TO MODERN MAN'S GLARING Steerer SUPERFICTALITYSHIS OUTRIGHT S&HEAL TO BE HONEST

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ABOUT LIFE. | THESE NOVELISTS, AND SURVEYORS OF OUR LIFE ARE HITTING THE NATL ON THE HEAD

FOR MOST OF US DON'T LIVE IN DEPTH: MOST OF US DON'T ALLOW THE SERIOUS AND PROFOUND

QUESTIONS TO ENTER OUR sins. | INSTEAD WE LIVE IN A STATE OF ANESTHESIA, OUR RUESTION >

DULLED BY OUR OCCUPATION IW OTHER MORE [PORTANT MATTERS.

THE PSALMIST HAC INTEGRITY: BUT HAVING RAISED A SERIOUS QUESTION HE DID NOT

BACK AWAY FRO IT: RATHER THAN ACCEPT A SLIP-SHOD ANSWER HE WAS WILLING TO LEAVE HIS

QUEST FONS UNANSWERED . | HoW MANY OF US HAVE THIS cournce®” DON'T WE RATHER WANT AND
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gr WbEnAND ANSWRS. 1 DOESN"T THE GREATEST PART OF OUR POPULATION WANT SIMPLE ANSERS TO THE

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Nes QUESTIONS OF LIFE AND DEATH, GOOD AND evit| DON'T PEOPLE NATURALLY GRAVITATE TOWARDS

, A RELIGION THAT PROVIDES EASY ANSWRS) A SORT OF PREFABRICATED SECURITY THAT TELLS THEM

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if they live right and obey the rules they'LL GO TO HEAVEN!

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THE BEAUTY OF THE 90TH PSALM IS), THE COURAGE OF THE PSALMIST IN NOT YEELDING

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TO THE TEMPTATION TO ANSWER HIS OWN QUESTIONS. | THE IMPORTANCE IT HAS FOR US IS THAT

it invites us to be perfectly honest with ourselves--AND WITH GOD.) IT INVITES US, IN

THE PRESENCE OF GOD, TO USE OUR MINDS TO THE FULLEST, QUESTIONING AND DOUBTING

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NEVER HESITATING OR wTaoRAWNG. | IF WE COULD LEARN Teas THIS ABSOLUTE HONESTY, WE, OUR

FAMILIES, OUR CHURCH, OUR COMMUNITY AND OUR NATION, WOULD BE MUCH THE BETHER.

THIS BRINS ME TO A FINAL OBSERVATION ABOUT THE PSALM. \ THE PSALM IS BRUTALLY HONEST

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IT DRAGES US FACE TO FACE WITH THE UNPLESSANT FACTS OF LIFE AND DEATH: IT INVITES US TO

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EMERSE sail IN THE SEARCH FOR MEANING AND PURPOSE # IT INVITES US Lbs DEPAIR AND
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REMEMBER THAT THE PSALM BEGINS NOT WITH

LAMENT BUT iT DOES NOT DO — IN A VACUUM.

THE QUESTIONS BUT WITH mncoabins AFFIRMATION ("LORD, THOU HAST BEEN OUR DWELLING PLACE

IN ALL GENERATIONS." | THE PSALMIST BEGINS Witt AN i FAITH IN THE GOD WHO [S

FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING. THIS SAYS A LOT ABOUT OUR RELIGION) OUR REL1G1OUS FAITE

AND practice. | IT SAYS A LOT TO A RELIGION THAT IDENTIFIES DOUBT AND QUESTION WI

ueresy. | IT SPEAKS RATHER SHARLPLY TO US WHEN WE EXPECT OUR RELIGION TO PROVIDE US

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WITH PAT anus. | IT DRAWS US BSCK WHEN WE FEEL THAT BEING A CHRISTIAN MEANS HAVING

ANSWERS TO EVERY QUESTION LIEE MIGHT PROMPT.

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IT, IN FACT, PINPOINTS THE TRUE SEARCHER: THE TRUE DOUBTER AS THE MAN OF TRUE FAITH

—_oOCOCOC

1T TELLS US THAT THE PERSON WHO CLOSES HIS MIND TO THE QUESTIONS oF LIFE AND DEATH

IN THE NAVE OF ti 1S ACTUALLY DNEYING THE STRENGTH OF THAT FAITH. | SUCH A_PERSON

IS REALLY SAYIN PLEASE, DON'T NWAKE ME THINK, MY FAITH WILL NOT SURVIVE 1% Jr

FAITH, ON THE OTHER HAGD IS PERFECTLY COMPATIBLE WITH SOUND QUESTIONING_AND DOUBTING.
Tet Fei Preceelt ao: —
TRUE FAITH ALLOWS THE BELIEVER TO OBSBRVE THE PARADOXES OF LIFE~-AND OUTLIVES DOUBT.

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THIS IS THE ULTIMATE MESSAGE OF THE PSALM AS WE READ IT ropay. \ IT 1S A CHALLENGE

Saeed

TO BE A DOUBTER ,TO BE HONEST, ial |S FRBN AN INVITATION TO DO THIS WITH COURAGEOUS

——

FAITH: IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THOU HAST BEEN OUR DWELLING PLACE IN ALL GENERATIONS

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BEFORE EVEN THE MOUNTAINS WERE BROUGHT FORTH FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTIN THOU
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ART GOD." )

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0 Almighty bod Lord aw | Feltur wk aur ek a ~

Sustaicer of Adl meu , how we com before Mee. ih Soe a ‘
woe speak be us oF efbrucl Utinge dhird o “aeeaell ber
Prcsoun ok Lu Spiret ; ppm ove whe te " sel re +i wt
Her ayn teas oF ant; Weak seaming Sr papi

Year our Lord :
ayer” ord y paul us wisdew a Cour et
ove we ugh gaia Ketel cadidarer of fost.
Ya sim ple ward YW ever aly vou a ori be Jere uk our ew wx
curd “ladies steal e\louws vs ~bo delke Yee clevartks of My ea
ard Yoo. Yoo Vasu a iigilt mins ot cowhary). Us ror k ‘or
Yur aloi\ Le werk wel, \e bor : - ven Hank haem Fee ae ae
rae lh ete: hentia wits Jo hard heed werk) ont “er Wes
ol Jodo \aloor yu 4 sads elries pom. Sebo:
Yel Adio ue 0 Goede Yoo Ave v be aalled &. x
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\e ~ wy By aalle 4 \o perfor ee elo |

Maas of We pe |
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coler gud pique tive - Leo Yuu \uart sow | c= outa Haak

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ye us, Waycoyoge, oS Bete > Au ao lel aig: Oa fle Kemer of hs