Psalm 90 is the only song of Moses in the psalter, but other Scriptures give us two others that belong to him. The first is in Exodus 15, and it is a celebration of the defeat of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. The second is in Deuteronomy 32, and it is a song to testify against Israel “when many evils and troubles have come upon them” (Deut. 31:21) for their sins.
This is a psalm well-suited to the years of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness. It has two parts. The first part (vv. 1–11) begins with a powerful confession of the eternity of God and his covenantal dwelling with his people, but quickly turns to mourning. “You turn man to destruction… You carry them away like a flood… They are like grass… We have been consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath we are terrified… You have set our iniquities before you… All our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh… Who knows the power of Your anger?” The second part (vv. 12–17) is petitionary. In it there are seven petitions, and these begin simply but rise step by step to greater heights and loftier purposes.
The petitions are
Teach us to number our days
Return and have compassion
Satisfy us early with your mercy
Make us glad
Let your work appear
Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us
Establish the work of our hands
These petitions form a ladder of prayer that leads to the greatest petition of all, made twice: “Establish the work of our hands.”
The first petition follows hard on the heels of the confession, “The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly way.” It is wholly consistent with Psalm 39:4–5: “LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You. Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.” This is essential knowledge for all of us. Thinking that we will live forever, or even for a very long time, is fatal to Christian living. Knowing that our lives are frail and short teaches us wisdom, which other Scriptures define as fear of the Lord and keeping his commandments.
The second petition carries us one step farther up the ladder. Because of sin we are oppressed, groaning and dying creatures, seemingly abandoned by the Lord in the wilderness of this life. That is why our lives are frail and short. So we ask him to return and have compassion on us in our misery. Look and take pity. You are more than a God of wrath and justice, aren’t you?
The second petition implies only a frame of mind towards us. In the third we ask for compassion to be demonstrated in mercy (or lovingkindness: the Hebrew is chesed). Do not pity us from a distance and leave us in our misery, but show your kindness and your love. More than that, satisfy us with it, and do it soon, “in the morning.” We pray for his lovingkindness to drive away the darkness of our night and bring for us the dawning of day, the rising of the sun of righteousness and of the day star.
That lovingkindness makes possible rejoicing and gladness, but there is more to this rejoicing than reveling in the lovingkindness of the Lord. It is to be glad “according to the days in which You have afflicted us, The years in which we have seen evil.” That is the fourth petition, that he make it possible for us to be glad for the evil days we saw in the past, for the times of affliction that came from his hand. We want to be able to look back at those days and say, They were good and necessary. We are glad that we suffered thus. “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (Jam. 1:3).
Such rejoicing is possible only when we begin to understand the Lord’s work in the afflictions he has sent. Therefore, we pray, “Let Your work appear to your servants.” Help us to see your fatherly and saving hand in all that toil and pain, and let us see more of that work as we continue our pilgrimage, so that we may know and believe that you are with us. Let it continue with our children and children’s children according to your covenant promises, so that they too may see your glory. That’s the fifth petition.
And the sixth follows directly from it. As you show us your work, let your beauty be upon us. Glorify and exalt us by our understanding of what you have done and are doing. Let our minds and lives be filled with glory, light, joy, peace and hope even while we continue to suffer affliction.
The last of these petitions is the most difficult. As Moses and the faithful remnant among the people of Israel reviewed their works in the wilderness, they saw many great sins, much evil work. But the believing few (Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Caleb, Phinehas and others) had worked by faith, had endured, and had sought the Lord. Now they pray, “Establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.” Let it bear the fruit of life and peace in the land to which you are bringing us.
All of this is possible only because of verses 1–2. “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting You are God.”
Let us begin today to climb, step by step, this ladder of prayer, and when we fall off, let us begin again, with the confidence that the eternal God is our refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.