Psalm 90--From Everlasting to Everlasting

Psalm 90
English Standard Version

Book Four
From Everlasting to Everlasting
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.

5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.

7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?

​12 So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O LORD! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

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This song is one of a few in the Bible that is attributed to Moses.  I can imagine Moses thinking about no matter where they go in the wilderness it feels like they are always at home wherever the Lord is.  Then a statement that is deep--The Lord is God not because He is the Creator of heaven and earth, but even before that, He was God, and He will be God even after heaven and earth pass away.  That is "from everlasting to everlasting, you are God."  Nothing will change that.  Many times, we try to say God is something because He does something (we try to find identity in our works and try to push that same mentality on God), but our works flow downstream from our identity.  God did all these things because He already was all the things that are His attributes that we see through His actions.

We already mentioned creation, and Moses says that on the other side of the equation, it is God that decides how long a man or woman has to live and returns them to dust at the end of their days.  The Lord can judge all the earth and sweep them away in a Flood and make all things new again (I think Moses is definitely talking about the Flood and the salvation given to Noah and his family in the Ark).  Even when we live a long time (70 or 80 years, which probably tells us that Moses wrote this song early in the time of his leading the nation of Israel out of Egypt because the Exodus happened when he was 80, and he lived to be 120), that we see our days as toilsome and full of trouble.  They are hard because we are under the curse of sin which is part of God's judgment in the here and now.  However, the passage of time doesn't affect the LORD.

Moses wraps up the song by asking the LORD to teach His people to number their days--that is to remember that they are mortal and need to fear and obey Him before they can no longer make that decision.  Moses also found the covenant love of the LORD something to satisfy him and make him rejoice.  Moses prays that their time of blessing and rest in the kingdom of God will be just as long (or longer) than the number of years that they have spent in this evil place toiling and being afflicted.  It seems he's already looking forward to his heavenly home and the Sabbath rest that is promised for us there (the book of Hebrews speaks of this rest).  Moses prays for the LORD's grace and favor to be on the people who are called by His name and that he would prosper the work of their hands, which is really His work that He is doing through them.