Psalm 90
From Theologica
Overview
Outline
I. God in Light of Man (4:1-6)
II. Man in Light of God (4:7-12)
III. Supplication (4:13-17)
Study
God in Light of Man (4:1-6)
Observation
- Written during the 40 year wandering of Israel (see v7)
Interpretation
Application
4:1 - God Our Dwelling Place
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Observation
- Moses is speaking, so it is safe to assume "our" refers to Israel, and "generations" refers to Israel's generations
- dwelling place, abode, domicile
- A place to seek shelter
- A place which gives shelter
- By calling up generations, Moses brings up history
- God has offered shelter throughout Israel's history.
- Israel has sought refuge in God throught their history
- Dwelling place offers up these thoughts
- Comfort, family, warmth, safety, peace, rest, security
- This verse links God's immortality with Israel seeking shelter in Him
- These are the two main themes in this psalm.
Interpretation
- God offers safety to His people
- God's people can seek comfort and security in Him
- with respect to the rest of the Psalm, this verse seems to offer a taste of what 13-17 are requesting
Application
4:2 - God Everlasting
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
Observation
- God Existed before the mountains
- God created the earth and the world (assuming the universe)
- God is everlasting (infinite, immortal)
- He alone is God
- Continues to expand on Verse 1. Not only has God lived as long as Israel has had generations, but He is everlasting.
Interpretation
- God is timeless
Application Note:
- Key verse:
- God's timelessness
- References creation
4:3 - God the Sovereign
You turn man back into dust
And say, "Return, O children of men."
Observation
- Does the first line mean that God literally takes the life of men, or does it refer to His outliving them?
- I can see things from both sides
- But I think verse five argues that God takes the lives of men.
- Man is created from dust, to dust he eventually returns
- The Hebrews apparently understood that dirt is made by the decaying of living things
- God holds the lives of men in His hands
- He holds ultimate power over us.
- The Psalmist recognized God's complete sovereignty over him and his people
- He is not bitter or angry; he just pleads
Interpretation
- God is sovereign
- God is the root of life
- God is the determiner of destiny
Application
4:4 - God's View of Time
For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or {as} a watch in the night.
Observation
- It seems that the Psalmist is beginning a comparison between God's and Man's perspectives of time
- He is doing this in order to begin pleading his people's case
- He is reminding God that even though man's life may be a blink in God's eye, to man it is a lifetime
Interpretation
- God's perspective is not man's perspective
- God does know the difference between the two
- God is timeless, so really, speaking about God's view of time is sort of silly.
Application
4:5 - Ephemeral Man
You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
Observation
- Compares man to the grass
- Man's life in God's eyes is much like grass's life to man's eyes
- Not really, but the Psalmist is trying to show perspective
- States that God is the cause for man's death
- Sweeping away like a flood:
- Is this reference to Noah?
- Is it a reference to an event during the exodus?
- Is it, rather, a reference to the breadth of God's
Interpretation
Application
4:6 - Man's Life
In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.
Observation
- Expanding on the idea of Grass being short lived from v5
- Describes man's life.
- In the morning of his life, he has energy and vigor
- As the "day" progresses, his life begins to fade and pass away
- Nevertheless, grass is alive, it has a life; so does man.
Interpretation
- The combination of this verse and v5 sets up the next set of verses.
- It is the psalmist reminding God a moment of anger for God can last generations for man
Application
4:7 - God's Continual Anger
For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have bee dismayed.
Observation
- the first verse is a bit of hyberbole. Israel was not litterally consumed
- The second versette, expands on the first stating that Israel was fearful because of God's wrath.
- When was Israel consumed by God's anger?
- Was this an instance of God's wrath such as at the golden calf?
- Or was this rather an ongoing wrath such as the forty years in the desert.
- Since the Psalmist continues to compare/contrast the eternality of God with the ephemerality of man, it is best to assume an ongoing wrath.
- If Moses is the author, then the forty year wanderings are the best time setting for this psalm.
Interpretation
Application
4:8 - God the Judge
You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret {sins} in the light of Your presence.
Observation
- the second versette expands upon the first
- God sees our sins
- Even the ones we think are secret
- The "lihgt of Your presence" implies the lack of sin or darkness in God
Interpretation
- God is sinless
- God is light
- God is judge
- God's sinlessness uniquely qualifies Him to be judge of creation
- we are accountable to God for our actions
Application
4:9 - Life's Futility
For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
Observation
- The days of the people of Israel were exhausted - the days passed away - because of God's anger with them.
- Their lives had little meaning other than to wander; to get the next generation to the promised land
- There is an undertone of futility here.
- The quality of life declined because of God's anger
- Why?
- Was it just situational?
- Did the Hebrews feel the weight of their sin? Did their guilt eat at them?
- Was it the magnitutde of what they were forced to bear because of their transgression?
- Why?
- The idea of finishing life as just a sigh just seems so futile.
- This versette is brilliant because of the this imagery
- Fury and sigh seem to be contrasted a bit here.
Interpretation
Application
4:10 - Life's Brevity
As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Observation
- The average lifespan of the Hebrew was seventy years.
- Those who were "strong", eighty
- The best or strongest of those years was just "labor and sorrow"
- Why?
- Is it because it is so short?
- Is it because of what is shouldered in that time?
- Is it the guilt?
- Or is it the wrath being born by them?
- Why?
Interpretation
- The majority of my life is spent working, but I wouldn't say it is sorrowful work.
- At times it has been
Application
4:11 - Ignorance of God's Anger
Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
Observation
- The question is asked, but it is rhetorical. It is assumed that no one understands God's anger. How could we?
- The second versette is a continuation and a bit of expansion upon the first.
- We do not properly fear God
- Probably because we do not fully believe His word or His existence.
Interpretation
- Why can we not understand God's anger?
- It is righteous
- It is true and perfectly accurate
- It is holy
- We do not understand fully that our sins are against God alone
- Why do we not fear God?
- we rationalize His judgments and actions away.
- Understanding God's anger more fully will allow us to fear Him more fully.
Application
- Meditate and study why God would be angry.
- God is not angry at the believer; Jesus is our propitiation.
4:12 - Life's Stewardship
So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Observation
- v. 11 argues that we do not understand the "power of [God's] anger", nor do we properly fear Him
- v 12 then is asking God to teach "us"
- "to number our days" has been argued, in more places than one, to mean account for the time alotted to us.
- Why should we account for our time on earth?
- So "that we may present to [God] a heart of wisdom"
- Proverbs 9:10 instructs us that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom"
- So "that we may present to [God] a heart of wisdom"
- Why should we account for our time on earth?
- We will have to present our heart to God
- that is, our thoughts and intentions along with our actions will be on display before God.
Interpretation
- Fearing the Lord properly will encourage us to make the most of our time on earth
- Making the most of our time will enable us to present to God "a heart of wisdom."
- We will be held accountable for our time on earth as alluded to in v7
Application
- Make the most of the time alotted to you
- Live in such a way as to not have to be ashamed when it is "your time"
- Am I?
Questions
- Am I making the most of my time?
- Where is the balance? Is there a balance?
- How then do you live to God?
- Whether then you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (Romans 11:36
Thoughts
- I Corinthians 6:19-20 says I am not my own and I am to glorify God with my body
- If this is so - and it is - I must conclude that every second is to be lived to God
- I can have free time without guilt, if my thoughts and actions reflect a heart to honor God in that time.
- Is this right?
4:13 - Moses' Plea
Do return, O LORD; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
Observation
- Marks a change of direction for the Psalm. Here it moves to a supplication to God to turn from His anger and judgment of the people and begin to heal them.
- The Psalmist asks how long it will be for God "to return"
- The second versette is an expansion upon the first. Perhaps they would be considered equal.
- Recognizes the Israelites as God's servants
- Even Moses - or whoever the Psalmist was - worried about God's apparent lack of involvement at times
- It appears to everyone at times that God has left them
Interpretation
- The psalmist understands God is with him and the people, but there is still a desire to see Him work
Application
4:14 -
O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Observation
- the word "morning" calls to mind vv 5 & 6
- So morning here may refer to the youth of one's life.
- If this is true then Moses is asking God that his people would be satisfied in God from an early age.
- Why? this is continued in v15
- So that we may be happy for all of our lives and not merely finding solace in God later in life.
- Man is happiest when he is most satisfied in God
- Why would the Israelites sing for joy and be glad all their days?
- They know they are saved.
Interpretation
- Satisfaction in God leads to lifelong joy.
Application
4:15 -
Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.
4:16 -
Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
4:17 -
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.
Psalm 90, the majestic prayer written by Moses toward the end of his life, contains a beautiful summary of God's power and provision for Israel throughout the ages. The overwhelming theme concerns the brevity of our lives, and the urgency to finish the work the Lord has given us. Moses wrote that "all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told |literally, a brief sigh|" (v. 9). And because life is so short, Moses asks the Lord to "teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" (v. 12).
The word "teach" here literally means to acknowledge or recognize. And in order to do this, we first must know how many days have passed since birth, and then roughly estimate how many days may remain to us. Anticipating a normal lifespan of 70 to 80 years (v. 10), this exercise forces us to consider "the work of our hands" (v. 17) to determine if we have applied "our hearts unto wisdom" (v. 12). This New Year, take time to consider your "number of days" and how you can effectively use the remainder for His glory!
