Number Our Days: Psalm 90 on Lasting Legacy

Psalm 90 begins with Moses looking back and saying that the Lord has been the dwelling place throughout all generations. Israel had no land, no city, and many years wandering in the wilderness, but God was home, refuge, shelter, and strength. The ancient world imagined God above the sky, above the dome of heaven, but Psalm 90 brings God near to his people. Before the mountains were born, before the whole world was brought forth, from everlasting to everlasting, God is God.

The modern view of the cosmos only makes that claim more humbling. Granville Chapel becomes one tiny spot on a map, then one pixel in Vancouver, then a speck on earth, then a dot in the solar system, then almost nothing beside the Milky Way, Andromeda, and the observable universe. The universe stretches around 93 billion light years across, and yet God is bigger than this. Stars may burn for a trillion years, give or take a few billion, but God is longer lasting than this.

Human life appears very small in that light. Psalm 90 says that people are dust, and to dust they return. Human beings are like morning grass, fresh for a moment and withered by evening. Ozymandias captures the same ache: “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair,” and then nothing remains but sand and a colossal wreck.

Moses then adds the second challenge to legacy. Human days are not only short, but human work is tangled up with sin. God sets iniquities before him, even secret sins in the light of his presence. Moses’ own life moves like the moon, waxing and waning through forty-year seasons: rescued as a child, raised in Egypt, exiled after killing the Egyptian, sent back by God, leading Israel, and still falling short. Even righteous acts can be “like filthy rags,” and even good intentions can become the worst three dollars ever saved.

Verse 12 becomes the turning point. Moses prays that God would teach people to number their days and gain a heart of wisdom. Moses asks God to relent, to show compassion, to satisfy his servants with unfailing love, and to make gladness match the years of trouble. The final prayer asks God to establish the work of human hands, and the repetition makes the request bold.

The Greek Old Testament adds the nuance of direction: direct the work, guide the feet, direct the way, direct the heart. Jesus embodies this in Gethsemane: not human will, but the Father’s will. The cross could have vanished into Roman anonymity, but the Father raised Jesus, vindicated him, and established the work forever. Even humble soup, ordinary kitchens, daily tasks, and small faithful labor can become worship when God directs and establishes them.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God is nearer than the cosmos Psalm 90 does not make God smaller by calling him a dwelling place. It makes human assumptions smaller, because the eternal God who is beyond the observable universe also comes near as refuge, shelter, and home. The vastness of creation humbles human significance, but it does not push God far away. [38:07]
• 2. Dust learns wisdom by counting days The prayer to number days is not morbid bookkeeping. It is the wisdom that comes when death is looked straight in the eye and life is received as precious rather than presumed. Brevity can either shrink the heart into fear or open the heart to God’s mercy and gladness. [49:30]
• 3. Good intentions still need direction Moses wanted to help, lead, and follow God, but good intentions did not keep his actions from being tangled with sin. Human effort needs more than sincerity, because even righteous acts can carry pride, fear, impatience, or control. The deeper prayer is not merely that God would bless human plans, but that God would direct the hands, feet, way, and heart. [52:08]
• 4. Established work begins as rubbish Human labor is vapor in the grand cosmos, and even the best offering can look like rubbish before God. Yet Psalm 90 dares to ask God to take what is humble, ordinary, and weak, and make it endure. Legacy is not secured by human importance, but by the God who makes things grow. [56:10]
• 5. Small labor can become worship Dorothy Day’s “good and holy soup” gives flesh to Psalm 90’s prayer. Chopping, stirring, cooking, and feeding the hungry can become part of a liturgy when love is directed by God. Legacy may be found not only in dramatic sacrifice, but also in daily faithfulness that God quietly establishes.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [28:09] - Psalm 90 Read Aloud
• [31:26] - Legacy Through Psalm 90
• [32:38] - God as Dwelling Place
• [35:27] - Zooming Out Into the Cosmos
• [38:29] - Human Frailty and Dust
• [40:22] - Sin Under God’s Judgment
• [41:04] - Moses and the Moonlike Story
• [48:54] - Numbering Days for Wisdom
• [50:32] - Establish the Work of Hands
• [51:16] - God Directs Hands, Feet, and Hearts
• [52:32] - Jesus Entrusts the Cross
• [54:20] - Dorothy Day and Holy Soup
• [57:09] - Praying Psalm 90 Together

Bible Reading

Psalm 90
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout 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. You return man to dust and say, ‘Return, O children of man!’ For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. 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. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 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!” [28:10]

Isaiah 64:6
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

1 Corinthians 15:58
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

1 Corinthians 3:5-7
“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”

Observation questions

1. In Psalm 90, what images are used to describe both God’s permanence and human frailty? What stands out about the contrast between “from everlasting to everlasting” and returning to dust? [33:01]
2. What does Psalm 90 say God does with human sin, including secret sins? How does the psalm describe the effect of that reality on human life? [40:26]
3. In the prayer at the end of Psalm 90, what specific things are asked of God besides wisdom? List as many as the group can find. [49:30]
4. What concrete examples were given of ordinary human work that may seem small, but can still be taken up by God? [54:45]

Interpretation questions

1. Psalm 90 calls God a dwelling place for all generations. What does that suggest about where security and identity are really found, especially when people do not feel settled, strong, or in control? [33:48]
2. Psalm 90 moves from human brevity and sin to a prayer for wisdom, compassion, joy, and established work. Why might that order matter? What kind of wisdom seems to grow only after people face their limits honestly? [48:54]
3. Isaiah 64:6 says even righteous deeds can be stained, and Psalm 90 asks God to establish the work of human hands. How do those two truths fit together without leading either to pride or to despair? [53:53]
4. The prayer “establish the work of our hands” carries the sense of God directing hands, feet, way, and heart. How is that different from simply asking God to bless plans that have already been decided? [52:07]

Application questions

1. God is a dwelling place, not merely a distant ruler. In this season of life, where is the strongest pull to look for “home” somewhere else—work, family approval, comfort, control, achievement? What would it look like to return to God as home this week? [34:55]
2. Numbering days is not meant to make people morbid, but wise. What helps a person remember that life is brief in a healthy way? Is there a habit, conversation, or prayer that could help the group live with more gratitude and less presumption? [49:37]
3. Secret sins are in the light of God’s presence. Is there an area of hidden compromise, resentment, pride, or self-protection that needs to be brought honestly before God? What makes that hard? [29:00]
4. Good intentions do not always lead to faithful action. Can the group think of a recent moment when sincerity was present, but impatience, fear, or self-will also got mixed in? What might it mean to ask God not just to help, but to direct? [48:03]
5. Jesus entrusted his work to the Father, even when obedience led through suffering. Where might someone in the group be struggling to say, “not my will, but yours”? What would surrender look like in one specific decision or relationship? [52:32]
6. Small labor can become worship. What ordinary task right now—parenting, studying, caregiving, cooking, commuting, showing up at work, serving quietly—could be offered to God more consciously? What might change if that task were received as holy work? [55:22]
7. “God gave the growth” means people are not asked to control outcomes. Where is there frustration because results feel small, slow, or invisible? How can faithfulness be practiced there without giving in to cynicism or quitting? [56:41]