Humility and Favour

Psalm 90     Psaume 90

Exodus 4.1-23    Hebrews 10.1- 18    John 10.11- 21
Exode 4.1- 23     Hébreux 10. 1-18    John  10.11- 21

On reading this psalm I am struck by the contradictions. It is magnificent in its use of phrase and form but the power that infuses the language points us towards humility and ends with an amazing request.

Encircling everything is God, who wraps her arms like a parenthesis around our lives. Fleeting our lives may be:

3 You return man to dust
 and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
 are but as yesterday when it is past,
 or as a watch in the night.

But the psalmist ends with an audacious request.

16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
 and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
 and establish the work of our hands upon us;
 yes, establish the work of our hands!

The psalm balances our need to practice humility with acknowledging our true value.

I am drawn to reflect on the following questions:
o What do I understand about humility?
o Can I pray the prayer ‘to let God’s favour to be upon me?’
o How is God’s power showing itself in the work of my hands?

Ruth Faber