Psalm 90

This Psalm deals with the reality of our lives, that they are comparatively short.  And the shortness of life brings with it certain issues and great cause to seek the Lord daily.  It is the only Psalm attributed to Moses and is interesting given that the length and strength of his life was exceptional at 120 years (Deut. 34:7).

·         90:1-2: God is eternal.  His existence spans all our generations.  He existed before creation, meaning He is from everlasting to everlasting because before creation there was no time.  He was not far removed from His creation but has been our dwelling place (Heb. ma’own, a place to live in peace, a refuge).

·         90:3-6: On the other hand, man is temporal.  Very temporal!  God has commanded man to “return” to the dust of the earth from which he was made.  The length of our lives is insignificant compared to God’s existence (v4). [Sidebar: this verse does not present an equation that one of our days equals 1000 years of God’s time.  Notice it also says 1000 years of God’s time are like a watch in the night.  God has no beginning nor end.  The point is simply to show how finite and limited we are compared to our Creator.]

·         90:7-11:  Additionally we must also say that our lives seem long to us because they are so full of sorrow.  That sorrow is our own fault; it is not because of some defect involved in our creation by God.  He is angry with mankind because of their sins.  The comfortable life in the Garden of Eden was lost when Man sinned.  The resulting curse brought labor and sorrow and the result was a life generally of 70 to 80 years.

·         90:12-17:  What can we, what should we, do?  We should cry out to the One who has been our dwelling place in all generations!  Thus Moses does this.

ü  Teach us to number our days, v12.  What a great prayer.  Given our short life there is no time to waste.  We must be redeeming the time (Eph. 5:16).

ü  Have compassion on Your servants, v13.  Given our frailties and God’s righteous anger we should plead for His compassion.  Moses uses the same word “return” as in v3: since we are returning to dust He prays God will return to us in compassion rather than turning His face from us.

ü  Satisfy us early with your mercy, v14.  Again, this is so perfect.  Our lives are short and deservedly difficult.  So we need God’s mercy, and as soon as He is willing, that we might rejoice in Him for more of our lives.

ü  Make us glad according to our days and years, v15.  He prays that God will be our sufficiency every day of every year. 

ü  Let Your work, Your glory and Your beauty be on us, v16-17a.  He desires God to be involved in his life so that he, the man, will be honoring to God.

ü  Only then does he pray: establish the work of our hands, v17b.  Our lives will end.  We will not have accomplished all that we desired for His glory.  We will soon be forgotten.  So he asks God to give him a legacy.

Here is a prayer to be prayed frequently by God’s people: for themselves and in intercession for their family members, their friends, their acquaintances.