So Teach Us To Number Our Days

This psalm looks at Israel or perhaps humankind in general, examining who we are in relation to the Everlasting and Almighty God. There is a sense of finiteness of man compared with God's infiniteness. Man has angered God in many ways and subjected to God's wrath.

The writer acknowledges our sins and God's anger but asks God to teach us to "number our days" so we can live wisely. Finally the writer calls for the mercy and compassion of God so that His people can rejoice and be glad in life. In addition he asks for God to reveal His work and glory to His people.



Psalm 90
A Prayer of Moses the man of God.

 1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place[a] in all generations.
 2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
         Or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
         Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
       
 3 You turn man to destruction,
         And say, “Return, O children of men.”
 4 For a thousand years in Your sight
         Are like yesterday when it is past,
         And like a watch in the night.
 5 You carry them away like a flood;
         They are like a sleep.
         In the morning they are like grass which grows up:
 6 In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
         In the evening it is cut down and withers.
       
 7 For we have been consumed by Your anger,
         And by Your wrath we are terrified.
 8 You have set our iniquities before You,
         Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
 9 For all our days have passed away in Your wrath;
         We finish our years like a sigh.
 10 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 away.
 11 Who knows the power of Your anger?
         For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
 12 So teach us to number our days,
         That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
       
 13 Return, O LORD!
         How long?
         And have compassion on Your servants.
 14 Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
         That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!
 15 Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us,
         The years in which we have seen evil.
 16 Let Your work appear to Your servants,
         And Your glory to their children.
 17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,
         And establish the work of our hands for us;
         Yes, establish the work of our hands.