Teach Us to Number Our Days Psalm 90

Introduction

Psalm 90

Since Moses was the author of this psalm, it makes it the oldest of all the psalms. It was probably written in connection with Israel’s failure at Kadesh-barnea (Num. 13–14). The people (except for Joshua and Caleb) refused to follow Moses and to trust God. Instead of entering the land by faith, they turned back in unbelief, and God judged them. He made the nation wander for forty years in the wilderness until all the people who had been over twenty years of age at Kadesh-barnea died. Keep this in mind as you read Ps. 90 (especially vv. 7–11), and it will take on new meaning. This psalm is Moses’ personal reaction to the crisis; he turned to God in prayer and sought an eternal abiding place in the Lord. Years later he would say to Israel, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27). It was this kind of faith that sustained Moses during those trying years in the wilderness. Isaac Watts used Ps. 90 as the basis for his majestic hymn, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.” Read through the hymn with this psalm in mind.

I. God is Eternal But Man is Frail (90:1–6).

What a contrast we see here. The eternal God exists far above history. Generations come and go, but God is still the same. “For I am the Lord, I change not” (Mal. 3:6). “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). There is a difference between being immortal and being eternal. Man is immortal—that is, his soul will never die, but God is eternal—He has neither beginning nor ending. God existed before the mountains (the most durable thing known in Moses’ day); in fact, He gave birth to the mountains. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we become a part of eternity and possess eternal life.

The illustrations of the frailty of man are these: dust (v. 3); a watch in the night, about three hours long (v. 4); a brief flood after a shower that soon dries up (v. 5); a sleep that seems but a few minutes long (v. 5); the grass that suddenly shoots up, but before the evening has been cut down (vv. 5–6). For other pictures of the brevity of life, see Job 7–9. Verse 3 takes us back to Gen. 3:19; see also Ecc. 12:7. It has well been said that humans are part dust and part divinity. We are made in the image of God, yet we are made of dust. Were it not for sin, there would be no death or decay in our world.

These verses explain why human beings need an eternal refuge. We are frail, we are dust, we are creatures of time; unless we are rightly related to the eternal God, we are nothing. Only through faith in Christ can we know God and share His eternal life.

II. God is Holy But Man is Sinful (90:7–12).

Israel’s rebellion at Kadesh-barnea brought forth the wrath of God. See Num. 14:11–25. God offered to strike the nation with disease and disinherit them, but Moses pled with Him on the basis of His own promises and covenants. Moses asked God to pardon their sins, but the Lord still judged Israel by causing the older generation to die in the wilderness during the next forty years. It was the world’s longest funeral march. “The wages of sin is death.”

Sinful humans live under the wrath of God. “He who does not believe is condemned already,” announces John 3:18. God sees the secret sins (v. 8; Heb. 4:13) as well as the open ones. Human days “decline like a sunset” (v. 9), from light to darkness. Our days are “as a sigh” (not a “tale”), they are so brief and empty and pass by so quickly. How long do humans live? Well, that generation in Moses’ day (from twenty years up, Num. 14:29) would live but forty more years. Add twenty to forty and you get sixty years. Moses speaks of seventy years as the limit, unless God grants an extra ten years. The older people in Israel at that time would not live to reach their eightieth birthday because of their sins. Note that believing Caleb was forty years old at Kadesh-barnea and was allowed to enter Canaan at the age of eighty-five (Josh. 14:6–15).

Verses 11–12 draw a practical conclusion: number your days and make your life count. Who really understands the power of God’s anger? If we did understand it, we would not waste our lives as we do in useless endeavors. We must fear the Lord and honor Him, and use our brief lives for His glory. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Since we are frail, and we are sinners, we need a Savior; and the only Savior is Jesus Christ.

III. God Blesses and Man Yearns (90:13–17).

This final section contains a series of prayers that God will bless His people and crown their lives with glory. Man is not just an animal that lives and dies. He is made in the image of God, and he yearns to have his life accomplish something and mean something. Multitudes of people today are caught in a meaningless existence without purpose or challenge. How they need to yield to Jesus Christ and say with Paul, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

Moses prays for God’s favor (v. 13). Of course, God does not “repent” as man does, for God never sins. When God repents, He changes His dealings with His people. See Ex. 32:12 and Deut. 32:36. God had just judged Israel; now Moses prays that He will forgive Israel and restore them to the place of favor and blessing.

He prays for joy (vv. 14–15). Imagine facing forty years of constant wandering and death. Imagine having to bury hundreds of people day after day. How could there be any joy or gladness in such a situation? Only through the Lord. Verse 14 can carry the meaning, “Satisfy us in the morning with Your mercy.” What were the Jews to do every morning? Go out early and gather the heavenly manna. See Ex. 16. Moses is saying, “Meet us each morning, Lord, as we awaken to the new day. Feed us on Your Word. Give us joy in Your presence.” It is just as important for the NT Christian today to start the day with the Lord, reading the Word and praying. In v. 15 Moses asks for gladness in proportion to the sorrows they have tasted. As Christians, we have an even greater promise in 2 Cor. 4:16–18. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (v. 17, nkjv). See also Paul’s statement in Rom. 8:18.

Moses prays for God’s work to be done (v. 16). He longs to see God’s power work on behalf of the people. Historically, of course, this referred to Israel’s possession of the land of promise; see Moses’ argument with God in Num. 14:13–19. It was certainly no glory to God while Israel wandered in the wilderness; however, it was to His glory when Israel crossed the Jordan and claimed her inheritance in power. Note that Moses in v. 16 is more concerned with God’s glory than his own enjoyment.

He prays for God’s blessing on man’s work (v. 17). There is a wonderful connection between vv. 16 and 17: “Your work—the work of our hands”; “Your glory—the beauty of the Lord our God upon us.” The word “beauty” means “God’s grace and kindness.” In Ps. 27:4, we behold the beauty of the Lord, but here we share the beauty of the Lord. “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:1–2). What does Moses mean when he prays about the work of our hands? Simply this: that our lives might not be wasted, but that God would guide us and bless us so that what we do will last for eternity. “He who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17). As Moses watches the Jews wander in the wilderness, their lives seem so wasted and useless. Being a man of God, he does not want his life to be wasted; he wants it to count for God’s glory. Therefore, he prays that God would establish his works in and through His people. Jesus had the same idea in mind in the Parable of the Two Builders (Matt. 7:21–29).

Conclusion

Apart from Jesus Christ, life would be unbearable. Why endure the trials of life if there is no God and no glory? Then we would be like the sinners who say, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). But life is not a burden, a sigh, a sleep in the night. With Jesus Christ in control, life is an adventure, a challenge, and an investment for eternity.

“Teach us to number our days, Lord, and help us to live every day for Jesus Christ with Your wisdom!”