Psalm 90
verse 1 LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
verse 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
verse 3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
verse 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
verse 5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
verse 6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
verse 7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
verse 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
verse 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
verse 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
verse 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
verse 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Emphasis added.)
verse 13 Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.verse 14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
verse 15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
verse 16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
verse 17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; year, the work of our hands estalish thou it. (Emphasis added.)
As I read this psalm, I am reminded that my life, my time upon earth is exceeding brief, even as a tale that is told (verse 9), as a night’s sleep (verse 5) or as grass that grows and withers in one day (verses 5 and 6).
Though my lifetime is short, still it must and may be spent to God’s glory. It is a deception to think that life’s brevity indicates that life then is futile or meaningless. The psalmist prays (and I am encouraged to pray with him), teach me how to spend these days in godly wisdom (verse 12). How I live my life is significant.
Firstly, I must seek unto the Father, through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ for cleansing from my sinfulness and my sins, that the beauty of the LORD my God might be upon me (verse 17). I Timothy 2:5,6 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Secondly, I must energetically do the work which the Lord providentially sets before me (the work of my hands, not someone else’s work) (verse 17). For me, this is the work of a wife and mother. By God’s grace I seek to be wise or sober, to love my husband, to love my children, to be discreet, chaste, to be a keeper of the home, to be truly good, and to be obedient to my own husband, that the word of God be not blasphemed (Titus 2:4,5). Within my sphere of influence, I may be zealous for good works, to God’s glory (I Timothy 2:9-15, especially verse 10).
O let thy work and pow’r appear
thy servants’ face before;
And shew unto their children dear
thy glory evermore:
And let the beauty of the Lord
our God be us upon:
Our handy-works establish thou,
establish them each one.
(Metrical version of Psalm 90, verses 16 and 17)