Book IV - Psalm 90

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

- Moses, Psalm 90:12

Psalm 90 is the first Psalm of Book IV of the Psalms.

Yes, the Book of Psalms is divided into five subsets of books, representing each of the five books of the Pentateuch, the Books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).

The Psalms are divided into five books to help remind us that all of God’s Word is just as important as the Torah, the first five Books of the Bible.

Psalm 90 is attributed to Moses. It is a prayer he offered to God then passed down from generation to generation, later written down as one of the Psalms.

This Psalm reminds of how, despite the shortness of our life and the trials we face, God has been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

It culminates with Moses asking, in verse 17, for God’s favor to rest on us, that He would establish the work of our hands. Moses is asking God to use us, that the labor we perform on this earth will have meaning, that it will be effective and enduring.

Verse 12 jumps out at me, for Moses writes,

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

- Psalm 90:12

This is a sober reminder that our life is short and we need to make each day count.

When we lack accountability to God for the days He has allotted to us, with no thought of our mortality, we become a fool. Only when we embrace our mortality, not in some morbid way, but as an opportunity to use each day to bring glory and honor to God, will our life truly count for something.

I can only speak for myself, but I would rather not think about all the wasted days of my life, days in which I was selfish and self-centered, not honoring God with the choices I made. If I were judged by those days, I would be like Moses when he writes in verse 9,

All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.

- Psalm 90:9

The good news is that I, and you, serve a gracious and forgiving God, who does not hold our past – our failures and shortcomings – against us, but allows today to be a new beginning.

As Moses writes in verses 13 and 14,

… Lord… have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad for all our days.

- Psalm 90:13-14

Like Moses, my prayer becomes:

Lord, forgive me for taking my life for granted, for all the times I put my selfish desires ahead of Your plans for me. Help me, Lord, to seek You first in my life, before all things, and to let my life count for you, that I may sing for joy and be glad for all my days. Amen.

May this become your prayer as well.

Pastor Ken

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