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Bruce Creswell | Finishing Well
Sunday Evening, November 9, 2025
Given by Bruce Creswell | Pastor of Senior Adults
Christ Covenant Church
Finishing Well
Sermon Text: Psalm 90
Well, good evening, everyone. Let's look to the Lord in prayer.
Lord, what a joy it is to be here tonight, in the midst of your people. We thank you for the body of Christ. We are reminded of the precious blood that was shed on our behalf for the remissions of our sins, that tonight, as John declared, that we are now the children of God. And we thank you tonight for that privilege, for that position. And now, Lord, as we look into your word, indeed, we pray that you would open our eyes, that we may behold wondrous truths of thy word, that dear Lord, we think of the words of the songwriter – that as we open the word, that we would see thee beyond the sacred page. So, minister, we pray, and anoint thy servant both physically and spiritually tonight, that the message that goes forth would be that of the words of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Psalm 90 has become a favorite of mine within these last five years, and it is a blessed reminder to me of God's eternality, my frailty, and of God's mercy. All of us want to finish well, would it be our schooling, our marriages, our parenting, our jobs, and yes, running the race of life. I am now on the downside of 70. And I am thankful that the Lord has allowed me to reach this milestone. My father was 59, his father 55, his father 60, and my grandfather 56. So tonight, I'm very blessed to be here on the downside of 70. This year marks my 45th year of ordained gospel ministry, and next October I will begin my 25th year as pastor to the senior adults here at Christ Covenant Church. But I am still in the race of life, and I still have, in the words of Robert Frost, miles to go before I sleep. So I want to finish well, as I know you do. And no one in all the Bible can tell us how to finish well better than Moses, the man of God. Moses, the author of the Pentateuch, the leader of the Old Testament Exodus, the giver of the law, the man second only to Jesus Christ in the Bible.
John 1:17 says, "For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” And we have this beautiful picture of Moses and the Lord in Exodus 33:11. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. Not only is he the author of the Pentateuch, but he's also, as we see tonight, the author of the oldest psalm in the psalter, Psalm 90. And if you have your Bibles, please turn with me as we read Psalm 90. Psalm 90, a prayer of Moses, the man of God:
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth in the world.
From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You return man to dust.
And you say, return, O children of man, for a thousand years in your sight is but as yesterday when it is passed or as a watch in the night.
You sweep them away as with a flood.
They're 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 brought to an end by your anger. By your wrath we are dismayed.
You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
For all of our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh.
The years of our life are 70. Or even by reason of strength, 80.
Yet their span is but toil and trouble, and they're soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you?
So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Return, O Lord. How long? Have pity on your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us.
Yes, establish the work of our hands.”
If we're to connect this with any time in Moses’ life – Psalm 90 – the best suggestion is that it is described in Numbers chapter 20 that our brother Derek led us through in the reading. James Boyce says the historical setting is probably best understood by the incidents recorded in Numbers 20. And in Numbers 20, you have three big events. You begin in the first part with the death of Miriam. Miriam died in the first month of the 40th year. She was 126 years old. Then you go to the end of chapter 20, and you find the death of Aaron, Moses' brother. He died in the fifth month of the 40th year, age 123. And in the middle of those two deaths, we have this account of Moses’ sin. Mind you, Moses bore, under tremendous pressure, 40 years, a group of complaining, murmuring, rebellious Israelites. And you know, you can get weary after 40 years. And so, they were belly-aching because there was no water to drink. And so, Moses goes to the Lord, and the Lord tells Moses what to do. Take the rod. Go to the rock, and speak to it. So he goes to the rock with the rod, and he smites the rock twice. Moses sinned. He disobeyed God. And God said, "Moses, you're not going into the Promised Land."
So, we find here, in this particular chapter, those three events that set the stage for us of Numbers 20. How did Moses manage to finish well after 40 years in pagan Egypt that ended in failure? After 40 years in Midian as a humble shepherd? And for 40 more years leading a funeral march through the wilderness? Life was not easy for Moses, but he triumphed, and in Psalm 90 he shares his insight so that we might have strength for the journey and that we might finish well. Moses brings to our attention three basic concepts in verses 1 and 2. He says, “Remember.” Remember God is eternal, and God is your dwelling place. And then he said, number two, to recognize that man is mortal, and man is a sinner. And in light of God being eternal and man being temporal and a sinner, the third thing is, then, to rely on God's mercies. That's how you finish well.
So, let's look at Moses' first point in verses 1 and 2. Remember, God is eternal, and God is our refuge: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were brought forth. Wherever you formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” That needs to be underscored in our Bibles and grasped in our hearts tonight. From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Moses begins with a majestic affirmation of the awesomeness of our God. Elohim – master – the God of power, the God of creation. This psalm begins with the unfathomable truth that God existed in eternity past. And that's way before Genesis chapter 1. And as he existed in eternity past, he so now tonight, in 2025, and he will be way after we are gone. From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
He goes on to say, “You have been our dwelling place in all generations.” Think about it. Moses is looking back to Abraham, going through the line of history. And all through that, he says that God has guided them and has blessed them. Now, for 80 years, Moses lived a somewhat settled life in Egypt first, then second in Midian, but after that, he spent 40 years in the wilderness. And those 40 years in the wilderness, he led a group of former slaves, complaining, and they didn't want his leadership. If you look in Numbers 33, you'll find out in the 40 years the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they had encamped in over 42 different places. That's a lot of picking up and moving. But no matter where Moses lived, God was always his home. He says here in this verse, “Lord, you have been our dwelling place.” Well, this concept of making God your dwelling place, it implies a deep and personal relationship. It's a place of rest, refreshment, a home, and a haven – a dwelling place, a place that draws you back from the world – and you find rest and comfort for your soul. God was Moses’ dwelling place. You might say that Moses lived in the Lord.
Turn with me to Exodus 33. We find here a beautiful illustration of God being the dwelling place for Moses. In verse 7, it says, "Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the tent of meeting. And as Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses." And then get this, inside of the tent, the entrance way is covered by the cloud. The Lord and God are together, speaking face to face. Moses is speaking, and the Lord is speaking as a friend with a friend. Think of your closest friend. That may be your spouse. That be someone that you have established a relationship that you can feel comfortable and secure and to share what is the inmost thoughts of your heart. Well, that's the relationship, that's the dwelling place, that Moses enjoyed with God and is the dwelling place that we, as a people of God, so enjoy. It's the Old Testament equivalent of what the Lord Jesus said to his disciples in John 15 in verses 4-11. He says, "Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches.” To say that God is our dwelling place implies a trust in God's power and God's love. It implies surrendering to God ourselves and cultivating an intimate relationship with him. So, we must remember all through our days that God is eternal, and he is our dwelling place. What words of comfort for me as a pastor to say to one of our folks whose spouse has gone to heaven, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” Well, folks, tonight we right now by faith have that relationship of seeing our Savior and walking with him. But one day, as our Lord tells us in John 14, there will be sight.
Now we come to verses 3-12. And I want you to know that these verses don't make us feel good about ourselves. They don't fit well into a man's center theology that says you should seek life's best now. That's not what Moses is saying. Moses tells us in these verses, we're here today and gone tomorrow. Moses says in these verses, prepare for eternity. And as we're to remember that God is eternal and is our dwelling place, we are to recognize that man is temporal, and he is sinful. Look at verse 3. God is eternal, but man is not. Man is temporal. In verse 3, Moses says, "You return man to dust." Man has a destiny with death. Man has a destiny with dust. You remember Genesis 3:19? Remember what the Lord God said in his judgment? “From dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” God turns each of us back to dust. Indeed, he commands us in verse 3, "Return, O children of men.” Time for God and time for man is not the same. In fact, there's really no comparison between the two elements of time. From God's eternal perspective, a thousand years is like a single 24-hour period that passes quickly and is gone. But if you look in the next phrase after that, in that same verse, he says no. He says it's more like a watch in the night, which is a short three-hour period of time. You think you're going to live forever, and death will never come. Then suddenly, we're gone. We sleep the sleep of death.
And notice here in verse 6 how he uses three images of nature to show us how quickly death descends on us. He uses “death is like a sudden flood.” You know, in Israel one of the most dangerous threats to life is when the wadis – the rivers – overflow their banks and just consumes everything around, and life is taken, many times without preparation. Moses says that life is like a dream. While we're sleeping, our dreams seem so real. We find ourselves deeply engaged in our dreams until we suddenly wake up to find that our dreams have vanished, and we can't go back and recapture the dream where we left off. In verse 6, he says, "Death is like the morning grass.” It grows quickly. It looks so vibrant and so green. But by evening time, it's cut down, it's withered, and it's gone forever without memory or second thought. The older we get, the better we understand this, that life is brief and moves past us very fast. In these verses dealing with death, we're reminded that we have a date with death, that we have a limited time of life.
Why is there death? Well, I think here Moses unfolds to us two reasons. One is our sin and number two is God's judgment. Look at verse 7 and 8. God judges our sin: “For we are brought to an end by your anger. By your wrath, we are dismayed. You set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” Now, folks, the Israelites received a firsthand experience of God's just judgment in the wilderness. Mind you, an entire generation was buried in the desert sand because of their sin, because of their rebellion, because of their immorality, because of their murmuring. The Lord would not allow them to forget it. Every day, 40 years, people were dying. Their circumstance was a daily reminder to everyone else around them of God's judgment for what they had done.
Not only does he judge our sins, but he numbers our days: “For all of our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The ends of our life are 70, or even by reason of strength, 80. And yet their span is but toil and trouble. They're soon gone, and we fly away.” Folks, our days are short. Moses wrote that normal life can be measured about 70, an expanded life of about 80. And if you're extra blessed, you get to live to be 102, which one of our seniors is tonight. The emphasis here in those verses, though, is not on the length of life, but on the shortness of life. We have enough strength in us to work for a few years, and then we become old. And if you get there, if you get to be old, you discover that sin has brought you trouble, sorrows, hard work, and disappointments. And then comes death, as we are cut off, it says, and then we fly away, never to be seen again. Well, that doesn't sound very good to enter the week with, does it? Wow. What should be our response to this brevity of life? Well, our response should be that of Moses. Moses cries out to God in prayer in verses 12-17. It's a prayer for the Lord's mercy, his hesed, his unfailing love, his covenant faithfulness. Remembering that God is eternal and God is our dwelling place – to recognize that man is temporal, and he sins.
Folks, we must rely on God's mercies. And notice here that his prayer is filled with four strong and passionate requests of Yahweh: teach us, satisfy us, make us, establish us. Verse 12, teach us. So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. To number our days is to acknowledge our finiteness, our mortality, and our frailty. In the flash of a moment, it can be all over and come to an end. In a second, I can be ushered into eternity and into the presence of God. If that happens, will I look back upon my years with joy or sadness, gladness or grief? Oh, folks, as Moses, how we need a heart of wisdom to finish well. So, we pray for God to teach us wisdom. Pray for God to show you how to live your lives daily. J.R.R. Tolkien said, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” Praying for wisdom is to pray for understanding how to make our day count, precisely because we don't know how many days we have left on this earth. The good doctor Martyn Lloyd-Jones said in his biography, he said, "My whole outlook upon everything that happens to me should be governed by three things. Number one: my realization of who I am. Number two: my consciousness of where I'm going. And number three: my knowledge of what awaits me when I get there.” Learning to seek a heart of wisdom enables us to see beyond the futility of this life and see that this fallen world is not our final home. This life is but a preparation for the home to come. And yes, I've quoted it many times, but the old gospel song comes to mind: “This world is not my home. I'm just a-passing through.”
Learning to seek a heart of wisdom enables me to grasp the greatness of the Lord and the wonders that await me in heaven, where the Lord is my dwelling place. Oh, Lord, teach us to have a heart of wisdom. And then he says in verse 13 and 14, to satisfy us. “Return, O Lord, how long? Have pity on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Satisfy us in the morning. You know, Moses may have been referring to the manna that fell each morning, six days a week, to feed the people of Israel. Manna is a picture of Jesus Christ, the bread of life. And when we begin the day with the Lord and feed on his word, then we walk with him throughout the day and enjoy his blessing and communion. The nourishment of the word enables all of us to be faithful pilgrims and learners. Moses here prays that we as the people of God may rejoice in the knowledge of God's love towards us and that we may be glad all of our days of that love and his word.
Verse 15 and 16, he prays, "Make us glad for as many days as you've afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil, let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children.” Moses prays here that may the joys of knowing the love of God balance the reality of our sin and frailty. May our trials and sufferings be balanced by the joys of life. May the funerals and the sickness and the sufferings and the bad news be balanced with the sweetness of birth and marriages and graduations and anniversaries. In verse 16, Moses requests, "Let your people see your saving work on their behalf. Let our children see your glorious power." The confidence that Moses has here in this request reveals to us that he had an awareness that God always keeps his covenant promises. And so that's why he boldly prays this request here in verse 15 and 16. Even though Moses had not seen the coming of Jesus Christ, he saw God deliver his people from the Egyptians and take them to the very edge of the Promised Land of Canaan. His prayer is, "Let your people see your saving work on their behalf. Let their children see your glorious power." That's a prayer request that I know that we all pray so that our children will see the greatness of our God and see his power and pursue holiness in their lives.
And here's his final request in verse 17: “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us. Establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.” Moses’ appeal here is to the grace of God to make what he had been trying to do for God worthwhile in the time he had left. James Boyce says, "If God has put us in this life to do something for him, then it's important that we do it, and we do it well.” Establish our work. And so, he prays that: Lord, establish your work. William Taylor, from England, said, "So long as we're here, we're required by him to do something for him." Let us, therefore, find out what that is and do it. And while we do it, let us pray that God may establish, so that it may remain to bless prosperity.”
Moses did what God called him to do. And God did establish his works. You think about the ongoing history of Israel. You think of the first five books of the Old Testament and even at this psalm that we are looking at tonight. His work has been established. And tonight, we are still receiving out of that the love of this man who wanted to serve the Lord and finish well. Ask God to make us a productive parent, an employee, a grandparent, a servant of Jesus Christ. Tonight, we may learn to number our days, gain an eternal perspective when the daily struggles that we have each day in our life. But the fact is our days will come to an end. But you know what? Knowing that, what gives us hope tonight, what gives us joy tonight, what gives us gladness in the face of this is the knowledge of God's favor towards us in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ death takes away the fear of God's wrath, and his resurrection gives us hope that the sovereign and eternal God is my dwelling place and your dwelling place. Everything that I do, everything that you do, has meaning and purpose. Lord, teach us to number our days. Lord, make us glad. Show your favor to us and establish the work of our hands, for you are our dwelling place. Let's pray.
Oh Lord, tonight you are indeed everlasting to everlasting. You are God alone. Oh Lord, we rejoice tonight that our dwelling place is in you. We rejoice tonight that even though we are temporal, that we are finite, Lord, that we are still the object of your love and your care. And we ask, oh Lord, in the days that you have allotted us, that we may be profitable servants, that you would teach us wisdom, that you would establish our work, that you would satisfy us daily, feasting on the word of God, so that it may dwell richly within us and make us more like you. Oh Lord, we thank you tonight that you are our dwelling place. And we ask, oh Lord, that we might go forward in the days given to us, even this week, to realize that you've given us purpose to do what you have called us to do and to finish well in that purpose in Jesus’ name. Amen.