Gaining Perspective
Psalm 90 (RCL 90:12-17)
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
Click to read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge
Key Verse: Psalm 90:12 –
“So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a wise heart.”
We know what it is to have good days, and we’ve all experienced bad days. When you look back at your life, would you say you have had more good days than bad, or bad days than good? Whatever the answer, to what do you attribute your sad or happy days?
The author of Psalm 90 was convinced that his days had been few and hard. As he prayed, it seemed, the most he could hope for was that his good and bad days would come out even. [DD]
In modern times, portions of Psalm 90, with its reference to typical human lifespans and to “counting our days,” is often read at funerals, and for good reason. It reminds us of both our mortality and our hope. [DD]
Eternity and mortality (vv. 1-6)
Psalm 90 has a superscription associating it with “Moses, the man of God.” Like other ascriptions in the psalms, it is probably a scribal notation rather than original. It is highly unlikely that Moses would have written the psalm, which probably originated in the postexilic period, a thousand years after Moses would have lived.
The prayer probably came to be associated with Moses because it has some loose similarities to the “Song of Moses” in Deut. 31:30-32:47, or because of its apparent references to Genesis 3, which early Jews believed to have been written by Moses. Portraying the psalm as having more ancient roots would also suggest greater authority. [DD]
The psalm begins with a familiar reflection of praise for God’s goodness. “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, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (vv. 1-2).
One might think this is going to be a song of praise. One would be wrong, for the tenor of the psalm goes downhill from there. The attribution of God’s supremacy over creation and everlasting nature is a setup, designed as a marked contrast to human frailty and mortality.
“You turn us back to dust,” the psalmist says (v. 3), perhaps intentionally reflecting Gen. 3:19, the story of God’s judgment on Adam and Eve for disobedience in the garden: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
From God’s perspective, even 1,000 years “are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night” (v. 4), the psalmist claims. The language is, of course, poetic. There is no specific correlation of time so that God perceives the passing of a millennium in precisely the same way we experience a single day.
The psalmist’s point is the belief that for God, life and time are eternal, while for humans the experience is ephemeral, hardly more than a dream, as short-lived as grass that springs up in the morning but withers away by evening (v. 6).
Respect and perspective (vv. 7-12)
And why is human life so short? For the psalmist, it is due to God’s anger: “For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance” (vv. 7-8).
Why would the psalmist attribute human mortality to God’s anger? The theology underlying most (but not all) of the Old Testament is the belief, portrayed most clearly in passages like Deuteronomy 28, that God and Israel lived in a covenant relationship. If the people of Israel were faithful and obedient to God, they could expect material blessings and a happy life. If they proved disobedient, all manners of curses and diseases would fall on their heads.
While the psalmist would have been informed by this belief, it seems more likely that his reference here also goes back to Genesis 3, where we find the story of Adam and Eve choosing to eat forbidden fruit in hopes of gaining knowledge known only to God. In response, God expelled them from the garden and ordained that they should die and return to the dust from which they were created.
From this perspective, the psalmist appears to believe that humans from that time forward lived and died under the penalty of God’s wrath over human presumptuousness. “For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh” (v. 9).
How does the psalmist come up with the numbers in v. 10? “The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty if we are strong …” (v. 10b). The Bible contains no divine injunction that humans can live only 80 or 90 years. Indeed, the genealogies of Genesis 5 attribute to early generations exaggerated lifespans extending for centuries, with the famous Methuselah topping them all at 969 years. [DD]
An introduction to the story of the flood does seem to suggest a new limit to human lifespans: “My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years” (Gen. 6:3). Many individuals are credited with much longer lives after that: Noah reportedly lived 950 years (Gen. 9:29), Eber 464 (Gen. 11:16-17), Peleg 239 (Gen. 11:18-19), Abraham 175 (Gen. 25:7), Jacob 147 (Gen. 47:28), and Eli 98 (1 Sam. 4:15).
Note that the ages trend downward. Even the great Moses was accorded only 120 years (Deut. 34:7). Most kings of Israel and Judah died between 40 and 70 years of age.
The psalmist’s reference to lifespans of 70 or 80 years is drawn from personal experience. Average life expectancy in the ancient world was quite short, because many children (and mothers) died young. Those who survived childhood were unlikely to live more than eight decades. Even with today’s medical advances, living into one’s 90s is considered an accomplishment.
The psalmist was not concerned with length of life alone, however: he took a decidedly negative attitude toward the days allotted to him. Even for those who live to an old age, he said, “their span is only toil and trouble, they are soon gone, and we fly away” (v. 10b).
Again, the psalmist is being poetic. He does not expect to take wings at the moment of death, but sees the brevity of life as being like a bird that is here one moment, then quickly flies away. Hymn-writer Albert E. Brumley gave a more positive spin to the theme in 1929 with “I’ll Fly Away,” a catchy and optimistic gospel hymn that has been frequently recorded. [DD]
Despite his apparently negative view, the psalmist finds something valuable in associating short and troubled lives with God’s anger: he believes connecting the two can become a source of wisdom.
Israel’s sages taught that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10, Prov. 9:10), and the author of Psalm 90 put two and two together: “Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you” (v. 11b). He concludes, “So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a wise heart” (v. 12). All of our lives are limited: perspective is a valuable thing.
Prayer and prosperity? (vv. 13-17)
Having bemoaned the shortness of life and the wrath of God – while trying to gain wisdom from meditating on it – the psalmist shifts to a plea that God would relent and look to his particular situation of suffering with compassion rather than wrath (v. 13).
“Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,” he prays, “so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days” (v. 14).
The psalmist does not expect all joy in life, but seems to believe he has already experienced his share of trouble, and is due a balancing quota of better days: “Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil” (v. 15).
This could be a clue to the psalmist’s life setting: his prayer, offered corporately, would have been appropriate if offered for a people who had spent many years in exile, but longed for release. It could be just as apropos, however, for any time of prolonged suffering and trial.
The psalmist’s lack of specificity is to our benefit: we can imagine our own times of suffering and trial and utilize this psalm in our own prayers for better days. Like the ancient poet, we may also pray “Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children” (v. 16).
Such a prayer does not assume that God owes a quota of good times to all people, but comes from the standpoint of people who think of themselves as God’s servants, as people who are devoted to God and trusting in divine mercy to bless their efforts: “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands – O prosper the work of our hands!” (v. 17).
In the classic movie “Star Wars,” the robot R2D2 carries a video message from the rebel Princess Leia to a famed-but-reclusive Jedi knight: “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi,” she says. “You’re my only hope.”
Humans – in life as in science fiction – often focus our hopes on other people, but there are things even the most loving and capable humans cannot do for us. Our true hope for joyful living is in the one who created life: “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper the work of our hands – O prosper the work of our hands!”
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: Psalm 90
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
Our students have a lot of hopes. Some want to play sports professionally. Some want to be first chair for a symphony. Some want to develop groundbreaking medicines. Their hopes seem unbelievable to us. Maybe it is the weight of “life” that has hampered our spirits and dreams. Maybe it is that we know the effort it takes to fulfill these dreams. Maybe it is having those same dreams and not seeing them fulfilled. Whatever the reason, don’t stop your students from having hopes and dreams. Provide opportunities for your students to succeed but don’t push them beyond what they desire. Be supportive. Be hopeful. Cheer on their dreams.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: Psalm 90
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“You’re My Only Hope” from Star Wars: A New Hope
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