A Word in Season: Satisfied with Mercy (Psalm 90:14)

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Psalm 90 is written by Moses, the man of God, and it's written as a man who realises his mortality.

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It may have in mind the whole wilderness generation who sinned against God and who therefore perished in the wilderness without seeing the promised land, but it's shot through with an awareness of the fact that God is

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God and that we are mere mortal creatures and we are sinners against God that the wages of sin is death and that God is the only one who can deliver us both from sin and its fearful consequences.

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And so as Moses develops his theme, he cries out in verse 14

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O satisfy us early with your mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

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Where does this man look for satisfaction? Where does he turn in order to obtain blessings that cannot be found in this world?

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What is the craving of his soul? Satisfy us early with your mercy.

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It is distinctly the mercy of God Most High upon which he relies, the eternal mercies of the eternal

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God. It's mercy too. It's the crying out for God to give to Moses and his people what they do not and cannot deserve, but what

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God in his goodness is pleased to bestow. And you'll notice that Moses desires it early.

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And that's a good lesson for us. We are very frail creatures and we are often in desperate need.

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So to cry out for us, satisfy us early with your mercy would be early in our lives.

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It's good for us to turn to God while we're still young, to come to him before we've gone far in the way of wickedness.

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Good for us in our earliest years to learn the goodness and the mercy of the Lord God.

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We need to be satisfied early with mercy because our lives do not last very long.

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We are, according to the scriptures, we're given about 70 years.

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If we have more than that, then even then the boast is labour and sorrow.

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And so we need early to be satisfied with mercy so that we might enjoy what

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God has in store for us. And then I think we could also say early with regard to particular and pressing needs.

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When trouble comes upon us, when our weakness is underscored, when our sinfulness is exposed, to cry out to God for an early mercy, for the

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Lord not to delay in doing us good, but rather to draw near swiftly and graciously and to bestow his kindness upon us.

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And in each case, you'll notice that this would satisfy us. This would fill our hearts.

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This would meet entirely the need of our souls. And the consequence then is not that we can just say, oh, that was nice.

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Glad we're out of that trouble and we can now kick back and relax, but that we might rejoice and be glad all our days.

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Mercies received should prompt thanksgivings offered.

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When God satisfies us with his mercy, we should rejoice in him and be glad all our days.

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It's the mercies of God that take the edge off the pains and the sorrows of this life that tempers the distresses of the fallen world in which we live.

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It's the mercy of God that can put a smile upon our faces, even in the midst of sorrows and distresses.

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It's the great kindnesses of the Most High that keep our heads above water when the floods and the waves are sweeping around us.

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Yes, there are afflictions. Yes, there are distresses. Yes, there are sorrows in this fallen world.

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And because of our sinful hearts and our wayward lives, we are mortal.

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We are sinful. But there is an eternal and a merciful God in heaven to whom we can turn.

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And so it ought to be the cry of my soul and yours. Oh, God, satisfy us early with your mercy.

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Come swiftly, come quickly and kindly and bless us in the ways that we so desperately need.

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And then we shall rejoice and be glad in you and because of you all our days.