When one is a child, time seems to go by so very slowly. Each school year, September to the end of May or early June, seemed like a lifetime. As the end of the school year approached children might count down the days until summer break. Those days would drag on and on. It was the same waiting for Christmas to come. Opening up those days on the Advent Calendar seemed like a whole year! Now that we are an adult, time seems to just zip by like a flash. The new year has started, and in a blink of an eye, it has passed. This observation, and that of the brevity of life, are the topic of this week’s psalm.
Psalm 90 was written by Moses at the end of his life. He lived to be 120 years old, dying shortly before the people of Israel would enter the Promised Land. As he looked back over his life, these words were some of the observations that he made, words which were a prayer to the Lord God. Moses’ life can be easily divided into three parts. The first 40 years were spent living in the palaces of Pharaoh as a prince, living in luxury and ease. Then he had to flee to the deserts of Midian where he spent the next 40 years as a shepherd. At age 80 the Lord called him to go back into Egypt and lead the Hebrew people out of slavery, and Moses spent the remainder of his life leading them through the desert. Through all of this, days of ease and days of trouble, Moses knew that God was with him. He called the Lord God his “dwelling place” (vs. 1). A dwelling place should be sturdy, providing shelter and giving safety. As Moses found, God is our secure shelter.
While our life may seem to pass by in a flash, Moses contrasted that with the eternal God. We look around us and see things that have been around for seemingly forever, such as the mountains and hills. However, as old as they may seem, God existed before they ever were, as He is their Creator (vs. 2). Yet there are some people who, even knowing that those mountains were there long before they were born, still act as though they themselves will live forever. However, we know that no one will. We will come and go like a flower (vs. 5-6). As we see with so many people we know or hear about, we are here one day and gone the next. Life is short, hard, and ends in death.
Yet in comparison, God is eternal. To Him a thousand years are like just one day (vs. 4) (II Peter 3:8). There are approximately forty generations that pass in a thousand years, yet for God that is the blink of an eye. After the days of the Patriarchs in the Bible, Moses said that most people’s lives would be seventy to eighty years (vs. 10). With modern medicine today, that has extended by just a bit, but living to 100 is still a notable accomplishment. The longest documented life-span outside of the Bible was 122 years.
So now, having been reminded of the brevity of life, what lessons should we learn? Moses reminds us that first we need to be aware of our iniquities and secret sins, as God has kept track of them (vs. 8), and to repent and seek His forgiveness. Secondly, Moses tells us to number our days, and spend the brief time we have with wisdom (vs. 12). We need to live wisely, making the most of our time (Ephesians 5:15-16). Have we been wise with how we’ve spent our time in life? What about with how we plan our remaining days? Time passes in a blink of an eye. We have not been put here on earth to make money and then retire in style, but to tell others about Jesus, and show them His love. So then, we need to wisely use the opportunities that God sends.
In closing, Moses reminds us all that our life will not go on forever. No one knows how long they have. Your life may yet have quite a few years left. For others, only a few. Some may not make it to the next year, and some may not even make it to tomorrow. Psalm 90 tells us to number our days. In other words, make each day count for the Lord. He has counted them. He knows our first day, and He knows our last. They are all in His care. Make them count for the Lord, so that at the end of our life we may hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
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