Psalm 90: Teach Us to Number Our Days — A Prayer of Moses

Psalm 90 is a community lament during a time of unspecified disaster — but you can feel that it is also the lament of an old man. It is the only psalm attributed to Moses, and it opens Book 4 of the Psalter. Andrew reads it with Moses at the end of his life in view, and finds his way to the gospel hymn "I'll Fly Away" and the 1966 film Alfie along the road. Verses 1–2 — The eternal God. The Lord has been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, before the earth and the world were formed, from everlasting to everlasting he is God. He does not change. Verses 3–6 — The fleeting man. Set against that, man's life is nothing. You return man to dust. A thousand years in God's sight are a yesterday already past, a watch in the night. We are a flood, a dream, grass that flourishes in the morning and withers by evening. Verses 7–11 — The weight. We are brought to an end by your wrath, our secret sins set in the light of your presence. The years of our life are seventy, or eighty by reason of strength, and their span is toil and trouble. They are soon gone, and we fly away. Verses 12–17 — The turn. So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love. Give us glad days for as many years as we have seen evil. Show your work to your servants and your glorious power to their children. And then the request everything has been building toward: establish the work of our hands. Andrew reads that last line as the real question of the psalm. If everything we do returns to dust, what makes any of it endure? The answer he points to is the judgment seat of Christ — where the works that survive the fire are the ones done for God, and everything else is hay and stubble. Season 2 of Biblical Reflections — a week-by-week walk through the Psalms to shape our prayer and our praise. — Biblical Reflections is a Christ-centered Bible teaching podcast from Cogworks Media, hosted by Andrew. 🔗 More shows and ways to give: cogworksmedia.org Cogworks Media is a 501(c)(3) public charity — gifts are tax-deductible. Music: The Inspiration by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/