Psalm 90
A Prayer of Moses the man of God.1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-placeIn all generations.2 Before the mountains were brought forth,Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world,Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.3 Thou turnest man to destruction,And sayest, Return, ye children of men.4 For a thousand years in thy sightAre but as yesterday when it is past,And as a watch in the night.5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep:In the morning they are like grass which groweth up.6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up;In the evening it is cut down, and withereth.7 For we are consumed in thine anger,And in thy wrath are we troubled.8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee,Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath:We bring our years to an end as a sigh.10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten,Or even by reason of strength fourscore years;Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow;For it is soon gone, and we fly away.11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger,And thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee?12 So teach us to number our days,That we may get us a heart of wisdom.13 Return, O Jehovah; how long?And let it repent thee concerning thy servants.14 Oh satisfy us in the morning with thy lovingkindness,That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us,And the years wherein we have seen evil.16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants,And thy glory upon their children.17 And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;And establish thou the work of our hands upon us;Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Moses wrote Psalm 90 at the end of the forty years of Wilderness Wanderings. It was when the Exodus Generation had passed away as judgment for their sin at Kadesh Barnea.
The application of this psalm for believers today is fourfold. Firstly, we need to recognise that no matter how long we live, from a divine perspective, life is very short. Secondly, not all of our years are going to be productive, and we could be further side-lined through tragedy, illness, and sickness, thus becoming even less productive. Thirdly, we must be very conscious of how much time we have left in this world. And fourthly, we must plan our lives in such a way to be most fruitful for the Lord, doing His work.
Believers often use many sayings and clichés, including some that are not even biblically valid, such as “Let go, let God.” However, based upon this particular psalm, there is one cliché that is truly biblical, and we should make its message real in our lives:
“Only one life ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”
You can download Ariel Ministries’ full exposition of Psalm 90 from this link: http://www.arielm.org/dcs/pdf/mbs184m.pdf.