For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 90        

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling-place
    throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
    or you brought forth the whole world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn people back to dust,
    saying, ‘Return to dust, you mortals.’
4 A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.
5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death –
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.

7 We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.
10 Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
12 Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
    Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    your splendour to their children.

17 May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us –
    yes, establish the work of our hands.

A. Find Out:

1. How long had the Lord been what? v.1,2
2. What does the lord do, for what are men like? v.3,5,6
3. What is their state? v.7-10
4. Of what is he aware, so what does he ask? v.11,12
5. What further 3 things does he ask? v.13-15
6. What finally does he ask of the Lord? v.17

B. Think:

1. What characteristics of the Lord are seen here?
2. What about time is Moses aware?
3. What about themselves is he aware? 

C. Comment: 

 The central sense is of God who is everlasting (v.1,2) and that time, our time, is like a drop in the bucket (v.4,10). But He is also a holy God who sees everything (v.8) and judges. The secondary sense is about the frailty of man who returns to dust (v.3), who are like grass that comes and goes so quickly (v.5,6). Moses is aware of their need of the Lord’s help to make the most of the fleeting days that they have (v.12)

Also coming through strongly is that sense that God is currently angry with them (v.7) and has afflicted them (v.15) and so Moses wonders how long this will go on (v.13). His plea is that the Lord will look upon them with compassion (v.13) and that by the next day His love will be expressed and known by His people (v.14) so that joy will be theirs again (v.14,15). He asks that they may see the deeds of the Lord again (v.16), for wherever God is close to His people, he acts and odes things for them. They had known this in the past and he wants them to know it again – this wonderful moving of God in them, around them and for them. His final request is that God’s favour or blessing will be upon them, God’s decree of good for them, for when it is, then the things they do will be established. So often time or the enemy sweeps away the fruit of our activities, but Moses knows that when the lord blesses them, what they do will be established and will remain.

D. Application:

1. With God’s blessing comes a sense of fulfilment & achievement.
2. Life may be short, but it can be significant!