Psalm 90 - Transcendent Prayer
- Chad Werkhoven
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
We have a big God, so your prayers must be big. Not long... big.
BOOK IV
Psalms 90–106
PSALM 90
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
1 Lord,
You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting,
You are God.
3 You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.
5 You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
6 In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.
7 For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
8 You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
9 For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.
10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
11 Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
12 So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
13 Do return, O LORD; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.
14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.
16 Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.
Heidelberg Catechism
Q&A 26
Q. What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”?
A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who out of nothing created heaven and earth
and everything in them,
who still upholds and rules them
by his eternal counsel and providence,
is my God and Father
because of Christ his Son.
I trust him so much that I do not doubt
he will provide
whatever I need
for body and soul,
and he will turn to my good
whatever adversity he sends me
in this sad world.
He is able to do this because he is almighty God;
he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.
Summary
The fourth book within the Psalms begins not with a song written by David, nor by Asaph or the Sons of Korah, but with a prayer written by Moses, who in the superscription (the Psalm's title) is given the greatest compliment that anyone could receive: Moses, the man of God. What will you do today that you might be worthy of such a description for yourself?
Moses begins his relatively short prayer - as most Biblical prayers are - the way so many Biblical prayers do, and exactly as Jesus taught us: by acknowledging who God is. He's our dwelling place in all generations - both Moses' generation and our own! And the Lord has been God even before creation; even before the moutains and the earth and world were born. In fact, the Lord exists beyond the bounds of time itself - from everlasting to everlasting, He is God!
We call this aspect of God's being - the fact that He sovereignly and omnipotently exists over all things - His transcendence. In his prayer, Moses compares God's transcendence with our limitedness. Whereas God turns man back into dust, having been consumed by His anger, our years finished with a sigh after seventy, or if due strength eighty years of labor and sorrow, since even our secret sins have been placed in the light of His presence, the LORD God reigns over time in such a way that a thousand years in His sight are like yesterday when it passes by.
Like Moses, you need to remind yourself of God's transcendence often. The problems of our world are manifest and easy to see. But as you see the world in the light of God's sovereign control, you can see the purposes and work He has for you. So your prayer each morning, like Moses', ought to be that the Lord God would confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes! confirm the work of our hands, that we too might be considered men and women of God!
Dig Deeper
Having reminded himself of the Lord's transcendence as he acknowledged God not just at the beginning, but all through his prayer, Moses presents God with a list of petitions. Notice that Moses doesn't just ask for a bunch of ordinary stuff, the way we too often do. Rather, Moses' primary request in the final section of his prayer is that our lives be aligned with God's will:
Teach us to number our days. Such an attitude that realizes the brevity of life results in a heart of wisdom.
Moses longs for the LORD's return. When's the last time one of your prayers requested God to come back sooner than later?
Moses prays that he'd be satisfied with God's lovingkindness - that is, God's covenant faithfulness - so that we may sing for joy and be glad all of our days.
Moses asks that the days God has afflicted us would make us glad! Not all of our problems are a gift from God meant to correct us and strengthen our dependence on Him, but many are. Pray that they do the trick!
Moses then prays that God's will would be made clear and obvious to us, that His work and majesty would appear to God's servants and our children.
Finally, Moses prays that the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and that He'd confirm the work of our hands.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father in heaven, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Choose one or two of Moses' requests for alignment and make it your own;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
