finite humanity – Rev. Tim Ehrhardt

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,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn us back to dust
    and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
For a thousand years in your sight
    are like yesterday when it is past
    or like a watch in the night.

You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are consumed by your anger;
by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    our years come to an end like a sigh.
The days of our life are seventy years
    or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Who considers the power of your anger?
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
So teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.

Turn, O Lord! How long?
    Have compassion on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us
    and as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be manifest to your servants
    and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us
    and prosper for us the work of our hands—
    O prosper the work of our hands! (New Revised Standard Version)

All of the psalms are prayers. Most of them are prayers of David. Today’s psalm is a prayer of Moses.

Moses acknowledged and affirmed that God is eternal, and we humans are not. We are frail and in need of God. We are dependent upon God for health, hope, and happiness in life.

There are observations to notice in today’s Psalm lesson, that are then followed by prayerful petitions which arise from those observations.

First Observation: God Is Eternal

God is immortal. God has always been, and will always be. Therefore, the Lord’s rule and reign existed way before this world was ever created, and shall extend way beyond the lifespan of creation. God’s dwelling place is without beginning or end – which means that God isn’t going anywhere. That is a great comfort to me.

Second Observation: Humans Are Finite

Whereas God is immortal, we humans are mortal beings. We are creatures with limited time on this earth. We all eventually die. Everyone returns to the dust from which they came – which isn’t even a blink of an eye when compared to God’s eternal existence.

This isn’t meant to be a downer for us, but rather to help us. It is necessary to work within our limitations while living in this world. To live as if we are immortal has grave consequences (pun intended).

Third Observation: The World Is Broken

Our world is fundamentally messed up. Another way of saying this is that everything in creation is under a curse. Things are not as they should be. And that’s on us, not God. Because of our own human proclivity to sin, our world is beset with a great deal of suffering and toil.

Hopefully, in the best scenario, people learn to understand the brevity of life, and gain wisdom on how to live a humble, just, and good life with one another, and with their God.

Now notice the petitions which Moses offered to God, based upon the observations of God’s nature, human nature, and the world’s situation.

First Petition: Turn, O Lord!

Moses was pleading with God to turn away from divine judgment and wrath, which was more than deserved for a group of people who were chronically complaining and disobedient. Moses was well aware of all Israel’s sins, and was counting on the Lord’s mercy for God’s covenant people.

Second Petition: How long, O Lord?

Moses was asking one of those questions that we ask, knowing that he wasn’t really going to get an answer. Yet, in the asking, there is an understanding that human misery won’t go on forever. Our suffering is temporary.

In this petition of Moses, he was also calling for a change, for God to deal with the people in a different way. Moses wanted gladness to replace affliction, and the sufferings of this life to give way to the joy of living in a good world.

Third Petition: Prosper the work of our hands

This wasn’t a petition for God to simply make everyone healthy and wealthy. It was a focused prayer that God’s work and our human work would be one seamless activity. That is, this is a prayerful longing for what we do in our lives to completely synchronize with God’s law in this world we all inhabit together.

Whenever we sin, we cause damage, not prosperity. Yet, with a divine/human cooperative in which we acknowledge and affirm God’s sovereignty over our lives, and take up our own human responsibility, then humanity thrives and flourishes in the goodness we were meant to enjoy as God’s creatures.

Christian Observations

In Christianity, the immortal and invisible God comes to us in the mortal and visible life of Jesus. In Christ, the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of humanity is not only synchronized; it is perfectly united and harmonized so that there is deliverance from the power of evil and from God’s judgment.

God’s steadfast love is brought to us with skin on.

For the Christian, Jesus is the answer to the prayers and petitions of Moses. Christ is the prophet foretold by Moses who was to come:

I [Yahweh]will raise up for them [the Israelites] a prophet like you [Moses] from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. (Deuteronomy 18:18, NRSV)

The incarnation, life, ministry, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of Jesus Christ has dealt with the weeds and overgrowth of guilt and shame that has taken over the garden of this world.

In Christ, we can begin to hack through all the stuff, in order to see the beauty underneath all of the spiritual neglect which has occurred for so long.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the steadfast love of God the Father, and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit be with you, now and forever. Amen.

God of Zion, to you even silence is praise.
    Promises made to you are kept—
    you listen to prayer—
    and all living things come to you.
When wrongdoings become too much for me,
    you forgive our sins.
How happy is the one you choose to bring close,
    the one who lives in your courtyards!
We are filled full by the goodness of your house,
    by the holiness of your temple.

In righteousness you answer us,
    by your awesome deeds,
    God of our salvation—
    you, who are the security
        of all the far edges of the earth,
        even the distant seas.
    You establish the mountains by your strength;
    you are dressed in raw power.
    You calm the roaring seas;
        calm the roaring waves,
        calm the noise of the nations.
Those who dwell on the far edges
        stand in awe of your acts.
    You make the gateways
        of morning and evening sing for joy.
You visit the earth and make it abundant,
    enriching it greatly
        by God’s stream, full of water.
You provide people with grain
    because that is what you’ve decided.
Drenching the earth’s furrows,
        leveling its ridges,
    you soften it with rain showers;
        you bless its growth.
You crown the year with your goodness;
    your paths overflow with rich food.
Even the desert pastures drip with it,
    and the hills are dressed in pure joy.
The meadowlands are covered with flocks,
    the valleys decked out in grain—
        they shout for joy;
        they break out in song! (Common English Bible)

The biblical psalms present God as sovereign over all creation. Today’s psalm extols the Lord of the universe as God of both temple and terra, of people and the earth.

God of the temple

Praise is the appropriate offering to God – because it is the Lord who listens, forgives, and chooses to fill persons with the holiness and goodness of God’s presence, exemplified in the temple.

Infinite righteousness cannot be fulfilled by finite beings. In other words, we need God.

The nineteenth century philosopher and theologian, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) insisted that the humans did not established themselves; therefore, no one can simply exercise their will toward better and brighter circumstances.

Kierkegaard argued that humanity, at its core, is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, the temporal and the eternal. A finite human is not a self; only when connected and aware of the infinite is someone a self. (The Sickness Unto Death)

Creatures can never lift themselves above anxiety, worry, distress, or hardship with only finite resources; we need infinite supplies and divine capital, to tap into the image of God within us, to realize that our true identity is inextricably dependent upon our Creator.

We are more than bodies and brain synapses; we are also souls. And as souls, we shall never realize our true selves through the temporary means of possessions, prestige, and power. A person cannot construct a self, by themselves, to bear the weight of who we really are. That’s because our real identity is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

Just as the temple in Jerusalem was much more than a physical structure, so we, as the people of God, are so much more than tangible beings.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16, NRSV)

Praise, prayer, and worship are practices designed to connect with the infinite God. Indeed, the kingdom of God is much nearer than we know.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” (Luke 17:20-21, NRSV)

God of terra

We walk upon and inhabit this present terra firma, this earth. The earth, and all that is in it, belongs to the Lord. God is something of a cosmic farmer, taking care of the earth, watching over it, tending to its needs.

All that takes place on this celestial ball we live upon is under the gracious and loving eye of God. It is the Lord who brings the seasons and the rains, calming the storms of the seas, as well as the storms of our lives.

One of the reasons we find ourselves in such an impending climate debacle on this earth, is that we continue to utilize all the finite resources we can muster and fail to acknowledge and become aware of the grand infinite wherewithal we have with our Creator and Sustainer.

“I am the Lord, your savior;
I am the one who created you.
I am the Lord, the Creator of all things.
I alone stretched out the heavens;
when I made the earth, no one helped me. (Isaiah 44:24, GNT)

The earth is beautiful. Yet, in our insistence upon merely using the temporal and physical, ugliness has come upon the earth, obscuring the true nature of God’s good creation. Distancing ourselves from the Creator only builds bigger obstacles to solving the earth’s most significant issues.

Self-imposed and ensconced impediments need to be cleared away. The weeds have overtaken the garden; we can no longer see the good plants that are supposed to grow and produce a harvest. And yet, as any farmer or gardener knows, you cannot simply yank such weeds from the ground without also pulling up what you are trying to preserve.

The Lord will provide – but if we keep to our stubborn independence from God, the process of weeding the garden will take much longer to accomplish. Yet, God is patient, not wanting any to perish but all to come around to the infinite. (2 Peter 3:9)

Conclusion

Let us come to God in our neediness and failure. We must see ourselves as infinite souls with finite solutions who can cry out to the God who hears and forgives. We need to connect with the Lord who hears our prayers. It is imperative that we rely upon the infinite Creator who is concerned to cultivate justice and righteousness upon an earth which is full of plenty for everyone.

Praise, pray, give thanks, and be connected to the infinite One whom we need for life and godliness in this present, evil, and finite age.

Stay joined to me and I will stay joined to you. No branch can produce fruit alone. It must stay connected to the vine. It is the same with you. You cannot produce fruit alone. You must stay joined to me. (John 15:4, ERV)

Blessed God and Father of all, yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. To you belongs the heavens and the earth. It is you who made all that is – sun, moon, stars, rivers, forests, minerals, birds, animals, fish, and us – and pronounced it all “good.” We seek your divine mercy and help so that our work and our worship may curb the sin that so easily entangles and bring your intended shalom to the earth. Amen.

Rev. Tim Ehrhardt

Tag: finite humanity