Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 1. Let us set this truth before our minds: that which seems a long season to man seems a very brief season to God. (1) God has lived for ever. Farther back than our strongest thought can travel, farther back than our swiftest wing or fancy can fly, and there our God was. As a drop in the boundless ocean, so is a cycle of a thousand years in the view of Him who is alike without beginning of days and end of years. (2) If God estimates the years by the magnitude of His empire, by the multiplicity of His cares, by the wide sweep of His eternal purposes, then no wonder that with God a "thousand years are but as yesterday when it is past."(3) Our Father in Heaven has an unspeakable blessedness. He is infinitely wise, holy, and good. He is love. "His tender mercies are over all His works." He tastes for ever the perfect joy of creating bliss, and conferring it upon others. 2. I proceed to point out the practical uses of this truth. (1) It helps our deep awe and holy reverence. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as surely as love to God is the very summit of perfection. (2) One way of keeping the world in its proper subordinate place is to more frequently fasten our attention on these subjects, — the power and grandeur of God, the eternity of His being, the perfection of His character, the boundlessness of His empire. These things have power to lift our minds on high. (3) Lastly and chiefly: the practical use of this text is to strengthen our patience, and to cherish in us the assurance that, however long delayed, the purposes of God will be accomplished, the promises of God will be fulfilled. (C. Vince.) Parallel Verses KJV: For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. |
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