Text: Psalm 90
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man to destruction, And say, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night. You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers. For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, And the years in which we have seen evil. Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Devotion
It is sad that our days disappear so quickly. O how soon the flowers of our youth fade and die! But the most serious thing, the hardest and most difficult thing, is that sin is the cause. It would benefit us little at the end of the year to devote ourselves to sad thoughts about the passing of time and the quickly changing years. But this: to consider our life and the recognize our sin, that is very worthwhile. The knowledge of sin is the keynote of this compelling song of Moses. “For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. … The days of our lives are … only labor and sorrow” (Psa 90:7.8.10). Bow down like Moses in sincere humility before the Lord, and pray sincerely for grace. Settle your account at the end of the year, otherwise year after year you add on unknown, unforgiven sins, and it will be terrible for you at the last. For the day of reckoning is coming.
This year again you will need a thousand blessings from the Lord. Everything that He did for you was intended for the best. But for your part, how did you consider it? How did you receive the manifold mercy, and how did you live these many days of grace? Acknowledge and confess it! Perhaps you walked without God and served sin? Perhaps, as old as you are, you still are not truly converted and the Lord does not yet own your heart? Perhaps you spend your days enjoying the pleasures of the world or amassing fleeting honor and riches? Yet, let me assume that you are a converted and believing soul: how you could use your days much more faithfully and diligently than you have done! How much thanks you could have brought to the Lord, how much a blessing you could have been for mankind! How much you transgressed, and how much you neglected! O then, consider it seriously, acknowledge it with sorrow, and throw yourself down at the Lord’s feet with sincere prayer for mercy.
See, then He spreads His hands out over you and forgives you and blesses you. Your weakness in anything He takes away, but your work He crowns. You take no sinful guilt with you into the new year, but only grace and good will from God in Christ. Praise to the Lord who satisfies us early with His mercy, that we who deserved to sit silent in eternal sadness can sing and rejoice all our days! The beauty of our God is upon us, and He will establish the work of our hands. We close the year as we began it: In Jesus’ name.
Closing Prayer
Receive our humble offering of praise, blessed God, Most High! Thanks for everything this year. “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21)! Amen.
Hymn
Time is hasting, Time is wasting,
Time flies ever quickly forth,
Now be wary In your danger
For your time is now so short!
You can ne’er be comprehending
How your death can lie in wait;
To eternity be tending,
Longing for your home so sweet.
Be now ready, Pure and steady,
Worthy of the wedding feast;
There in glory, Blessed story,
Jesus’ bride and heaven’s guest!
God invites you; come, repentant;
Stand before the great I Am;
Wash your sin-bespotted garment
In the blood of Christ, the Lamb.
Stub: Tiden svinder, Tiden rinder L 170 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: O Durchbrecher (ELH 484); alternate hymn: In Jesus’ name ELH 4:2-3 or O God, our Help in ages past ELH 160