Psalm 090

Introduction

Today’s psalm is the first one in the fourth book of Psalms. And, according to the title, it’s a prayer of Moses, the man of God.

This is the only psalm which is attributed to Moses and the commentators discuss whether it was indeed written by Moses or whether it was written by someone else in the style of Moses. And they say it’s in the style of Moses, because there are some references in the psalm to the first five books of the Bible, which we believe were written by Moses. For instance, the words ‘Return to dust’ in verse 3 recall what we read in Genesis 2 where it says that God formed the man from the dust of the ground. And it also recalls what we read in Genesis 3 where God said to Adam after the fall:

By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.

And there are other connections.

In the course of the psalm, the psalmist says that they are consumed by God’s anger and their secret sins are before the Lord and all their days pass under God’s wrath. Some of the commentators think he’s describing the exile. So, God was angry with his people for their persistent unbelief and rebellion and he sent them away into exile: first to Assyria and then to Babylon. If that’s the case, then it can’t have been written by Moses, because he lived long before the exile. However, if the psalm was written by Moses, then the psalm could be describing the time when the Israelites were in the wilderness. So, remember how some of the Israelites explored the Promised Land and brought back a good report about it. However, even though the Lord promised to give it to them, the people doubted his word. They thought the inhabitants in the land would be too strong for them and they wouldn’t be able to take over the land. Instead of going into the land and taking it by faith, they wanted to return to Egypt. And the Lord was angry with them because of their unbelief. And he said to them in Numbers 14 that they will suffer for their sins for forty years. That is, they will suffer for their sins for one year for each of the forty days they explored the Promised Land. And the Lord swore that they would meet their end in the desert. He said to them that here, in the desert, they will die.

And that fits with what we read in this psalm, where it says that all their days passed away under God’s wrath and they finished their years with a moan. That whole generation died in the desert, because God was angry with them. While their children were allowed to enter the Promised Land, all those who escaped from Egypt and who doubted God’s word perished. And so, it’s possible that the psalm is describing what happened to them in the wilderness.

Verses 1 and 2

The psalm begins with a hymn of praise to the Lord who has been their dwelling-place throughout all generations. By calling God their dwelling-place, he means that God has been their refuge. He’s been their strong tower. He’s the one who has provided them with protection and who has kept them safe. When we go into our homes, where we live, we feel safe, don’t we? And God’s people were safe because the Lord was surrounding them.

And he surrounded them from one generation to the next. He has always been their refuge and strength. The Lord was with his people throughout the life of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And during the time of the famine in the days of Jacob, he brought them to Egypt to keep them safe. And when the Egyptians turned against them, he brought them out of Egypt. When the Amalekites attacked them immediately after they left Egypt, the Lord was with them to protect them. Throughout the generations, he was their safe and secure dwelling-place.

And the psalmist goes on to praise the Lord, because he is the eternal God. So, he existed before the world was made. And he is from everlasting to everlasting. He has always been God. There was never a time when he did not exist. And by referring to God as Lord, the psalmist is reminding us that he is sovereign. He rules over all.

Verses 3 to 11

God is from everlasting to everlasting. He is eternal. And he rules over all. But we are very different. That’s what verses 3 to 11 are about.

When he says in verse 3 that we are to return to dust, he’s saying that we are not eternal. We had a beginning and we have an end. We came from dust in the beginning, when God made us. And we will return to dust, when each one of us dies. So, God is eternal, but we are not.

And since God is eternal, then a thousand years are nothing to him. A thousand years to him is like a day to us. A day is nothing to us. It comes and it goes. And that’s what a thousand years is like to God. It comes and it goes. In fact, a thousand years to God is like a watch in the night to us. The Israelites divided the night into different parts or watches, each lasting four hours. And so, a watch is not the whole of the night. It’s only part of the night. It doesn’t last long. It’s short. It’s brief. That’s what a thousand year is like to God. It’s over in a flash.

And during each thousand year, God sweeps us away in the sleep of death. He brings our lives to an end. And so, each human life is like the grass, which springs up in the morning. In the morning, the grass is new and fresh. But by the time evening comes, it’s dry and withered. And someone sweeps it away, because it’s done. And we are born. We’re new and fresh. Our life is full of possibilities. But soon our life is over. And God sweeps us away. The Lord is eternal; and we are not. He is from everlasting to everlasting, but our life in this world is brief; and it’s over in a flash.

And from verse 7 he refers to God’s anger. He says that they are consumed by his anger and the Lord terrifies them with his indignation. And he’s anger with them because of their sins which are before his face. He even sees their secret sins, the sins which no one else can see. And so, all their days pass away under his wrath.

We can imagine the Israelites in the wilderness saying something like that, can’t we? All our days in the desert pass away under his wrath. They’re just waiting to die. And they finished their years with a moan.

The length of their days is seventy or perhaps eighty if they have the strength. In one sense, this applies to all of us. But it applied to the Israelites in the wilderness, who were already adults when they left Egypt. And then they lived on for another forty years. And the whole of their life was one of trouble and sorrow, because they had all the trouble and sorrow of their life in Egypt; and then they had all the trouble and sorrow of their life in the wilderness.

Of course, if they had believed God’s word, they could have entered the Promised Land, which was that Eden-like land where they would have had all that they needed. But because of their unbelief and their sinful rebellion, they died in the wilderness. And so, their life passed quickly. Their life flew away and they were gone.

And this part of the psalm concludes with the psalmist asking:

Who knows the power of your anger?
For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you.

Do people really understand God’s wrath? People generally think that they’re good. From time to time they might do something wrong and they might make mistakes. But basically they’re good. That’s what people generally think about themselves. And if God exists, then they assume that they deserve to receive good things from him. After all, why would God be angry with them when they are basically good? But the Bible makes clear that all of us are sinners and we sin against God continually. And therefore we are by nature objects of his wrath. All of us by nature are under God’s wrath and curse and we are liable to all miseries in this life and in the life to come. And when the Israelites doubted God’s word and refused to obey his command to go into the Promised Land, they provoked his wrath. And so, he declared to them that they would suffer for their sins and they would know what it is like to have God against them. What a terrifying thing to hear from the mouth of God.

Verses 12 to 17

But then, in verses 12 to 17, the psalmist turns to God in prayer and asks for several things. He asks God to help them to number their days so that they may gain a heart of wisdom. In order words, help us to know how brief our life is so that we will use whatever time we have left wisely. And living wisely means knowing and doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord.

And then he asks the Lord to relent and to have compassion on them. And he asks the Lord to satisfy them in the morning with his steadfast love so that they will sing for joy and be glad all their days. And in a sense, the Lord did satisfy them in the morning with his steadfast love, because every morning he graciously and freely provided them with manna to satisfy their hunger.

He also asked the Lord to make them glad for as many days as he afflicted them and for as many years as they have seen trouble. And may they and their children see God’s deeds. He wants God to act on their behalf.

And he concludes the psalm by asking for God’s favour, or God’s grace, to rest upon them and to establish the work of their hands. So, God’s wrath was on them. But the psalmist now asks for God’s favour to rest on them. Take away your wrath and treat us according to your grace and mercy and kindness.

Conclusion

Is this psalm about the Israelites when they were in the wilderness? It certainly fits with what happened to them. But, as I said when I preached on Numbers 14, the result of Moses’s mediation on their behalf was limited. At that time, the Lord was ready to destroy the Israelites immediately. Because of their sinful, unbelieving hearts, God was ready to wipe them out in an instant. But Moses pleaded with the Lord to have mercy on them. And so, instead of destroying them immediately, the Lord let them go on living for another forty years. But those forty years were spent in the wilderness. And though the Lord was with them to protect them and to provide for them, life in the wilderness was still hard. And, of course, none of them, apart from their children, were allowed to enter the Promised Land.

And so, the result of Moses’s mediation on their behalf was limited. But now, with the death of Christ our Mediator, there is — for those who believe — full forgiveness. Whereas God’s anger burned against the Israelites for forty years, God now promises to remember our sins no more. He promises to remove them from us as far as the east is from the west. He promises to blot them out and to cover them over and not to hold them against us. And so, though we sin and do wrong, as the Israelites did, though we doubt God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, he promises not to hold our sins against us. Instead his grace and favour rests upon us because of Christ, who bore our punishment on the cross and who lives forever to intercede for us. And because of Christ, God now has compassion on us. And he pardons us.

And though sometimes he has to discipline us when we continue to sin against him without turning from it or confessing it, nevertheless he disciplines us because he loves us and not because he’s angry with us. And he does it to bring us to repentance. And the moment we confess our sins and turn from them, he removes his discipline from us.

And he has also promised us a new and better life in the new and better world to come. And so, when the resurrection morning comes, we’ll be satisfied with God’s unfailing love; and he’ll make us glad, not just for as many days as we’ve been afflicted, but he’ll make us glad forever and forever.

And while we wait for the resurrection, we should do as the psalmist did and ask the Lord to teach us to number our days, so that we will use them wisely by doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord and by honouring him in all we do and say.