Psalms 90: Teach Us to Number Our Days
Moses' prayer that contrasts our brief, fragile lives with the eternal God, and asks for wisdom and lasting joy in him.
Psalms 90 (WEB)
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
3 You turn man to destruction, saying, “Return, you children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday when it is past, like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.
6 In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is withered and dry.
7 For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.
10 The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, Yahweh! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work appear to your servants; your glory to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.
Psalms 90 (KJV)
1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
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.
3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
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.
11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Psalms 90 (ASV)
1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place In all generations.
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.
3 Thou turnest man to destruction, And sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4 For a thousand years in thy sight Are but as yesterday when it is past, And as a watch in the night.
5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: In the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; In the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
7 For we are consumed in thine anger, And in thy wrath are we troubled.
8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: We bring our years to an end as a sigh.
10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger, And thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee?
12 So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Jehovah; how long? And let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
14 Oh satisfy us in the morning with thy lovingkindness, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, And the years wherein we have seen evil.
16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, And thy glory upon their children.
17 And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And establish thou the work of our hands upon us; Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Summary
This prayer of Moses, the man of God, opens Book IV of the Psalter and is the oldest psalm in the collection. It begins by anchoring our brief lives in the eternal God: "Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations." Before the mountains were born or the earth was formed, from everlasting to everlasting, God is God. Against that vast backdrop, human life appears achingly small—a thousand years are like yesterday to God, while people are swept away like sleep, sprouting like grass in the morning and withering by evening. Moses connects this frailty to sin: our days pass away under God's wrath, our secret sins exposed in the light of his presence, and even our best years are but labor and sorrow before we fly away. Out of this sober reckoning rises the psalm's central petition: "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." The prayer then turns toward grace, asking God to relent, to satisfy his people in the morning with his loving kindness so they may rejoice all their days, to make them glad in proportion to their affliction, and to establish the work of their hands. For believers, this psalm teaches us to live wisely in light of eternity, finding our true and lasting home in the God who in Christ has conquered death itself.
Voices
- Moses, the man of God — The psalmist who prays from a lifetime of wilderness wandering, contrasting fragile human life with the eternal God.
- The eternal Lord, our dwelling place — God from everlasting to everlasting, before whom a thousand years are like a day, the home of his people across all generations.
- Mortal humanity — People swept away like grass and a sigh, whose brief years are touched by sin yet may gain a heart of wisdom.
Key Verse
Psalm 90:12 (WEB)
So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Lessons Learned
- God alone is eternal; he has been the dwelling place of his people in every generation.
- Human life is brief and fragile, like grass that springs up in the morning and withers by evening.
- Facing the shortness of our days is not morbid but the path to a heart of wisdom.
- We can ask the eternal God to satisfy us with his love and to give our fleeting work lasting meaning.
- God is our home across the ages. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations" (Psalm 90:1, WEB). Our security rests not in our short lives but in the eternal God.
- Numbering our days makes us wise. "So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12, WEB). Honest awareness of life's brevity reorders our priorities.
- God's love satisfies a fleeting life. "Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days" (Psalm 90:14, WEB). Lasting joy comes from God's steadfast love, not from longer years.
- God can give our work enduring worth. "establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands" (Psalm 90:17, WEB). The eternal God can make even our brief labor count.
- How does Moses describe God in verses 1-2, and why begin a prayer about human frailty there?
- What images does the psalm use to picture the brevity of human life (90:3-6)?
- How does Moses connect our mortality with sin in verses 7-11?
- What does it mean to "number our days" and gain "a heart of wisdom" (90:12)?
- If you truly numbered your days, what might you do differently this week?
- Moses calls God our dwelling place for all generations and the everlasting God who existed before the mountains and the earth (90:1-2). He begins there because only against the backdrop of God's eternity can we rightly see how brief and dependent our own lives are.
- He pictures life as sleep that God sweeps away, and as grass that sprouts in the morning and withers by evening (90:5-6). The images stress how quickly human life flourishes and fades, gone almost as soon as it appears.
- He links our short, troubled days to God's wrath against sin, noting that even our secret sins are exposed in the light of God's presence (90:7-9). Mortality is not random; it is bound up with the brokenness of a sinful world before a holy God.
- To number our days is to live with honest awareness that our time is limited, which produces wisdom about how to spend it (90:12). It frees us from trivial pursuits and trains us to invest our brief lives in what truly lasts.
- This is a gentle personal-application question. Invite members to name one concrete change—a reconciled relationship, a priority reordered, time given to God—that flows from taking life's brevity to heart. As leader, point to Christ, in whom our short lives are joined to eternal life and our work is made to count forever.