Psalm 90:14  
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. (NIV)

Surprise us with love at daybreak;
then we’ll sing and dance all the day long.
(The Message)

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Moses tells us, “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night,” (Psalm 90:4). In this same song and in the third stanza (verse 12), he says to God, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

This psalm tells a story of the brevity of life. It also tells a story of the meaning of life. Life is a pilgrimage, a journey, a path. Paths have beginnings. Journeys have destinations. Pilgrimage leads to transformation. Who we are at the end of the story is vastly different from who we are at the beginning.

The first part of Moses’ journey lands him in the lap of luxury as a prince of Egypt. The second part lands him in the wilderness as a fugitive from justice. The third part ends with one last mountain to climb and one amazing sight to see. 

Are you on a path, a journey, or a pilgrimage today?

It’s Sunday morning as I write these words. Psalm 90:14 is entirely appropriate no matter if we are on a path, a journey, or a pilgrimage. Today is the day the LORD has made. Let’s enjoy it. Let’s sing his praises.  

Someone recently commented on this verse and emphasized the reality this is the only day we have. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow never comes. Today, this day, is our only space to live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). This is a day of worship and rest. It is a day of re:Creation. 

This morning’s responsibility leads me to stand in for a pastor whose father is in poor health. Gazing at their individual and collective pilgrimages from a distance reminds us of the privilege of praise. It reminds to make the most of this opportunity in the land called Today. We mark out our path. We step into this part of the journey. We discover transformation as time and eternity reveal how intertwined they truly are. 

Verse 14 in the NIV begins with the word, Satisfy. The Message uses the word, Surpise. Here is how I am praying for you and for me: May God surprise us with songs that make us sing and dance in praise of his glory. May he satisfy us with love that never ends and new delights day by day.

Our Father, surprise us with songs that make us sing and dance in our worship today. Satisfy us with love that never ends and new delights this day, this time and space, this geography of reality. Lead us into increasing measures of transformation in this pilgrimage. Amen.