Teach Me To Number My Days (Psalm 90)

At first glance, the statements of Psalm 90 come off as a bit depressing: “You return man to dust… you sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream.” When we are living for what the world offers, these sentiments seem almost morbid, reminding us of the finitude of life.

But what about when we’re suffering? What about when this world has not satisfied us? Could it be that accepting our frailty – accepting the transient nature of this world as we know it – is not a dead-end at despair but rather a pathway to life? 

Psalm 90 highlights the passing nature of our lives by pointing out the disparity between humanity and God: We are of dust; God is divine. Our days are numbered; God’s reign has no end. While the span of a thousand years, much less our lives, is paralleled to the life-cycle of a blade of grass that grows in the morning and fades by night, Psalm 90 declares God’s enduring nature in comparison:

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” - Psalm 90:2

In pointing out the passing nature of our days, Psalm 90 reminds us that, likewise, our earthly accomplishments are passing away:

“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.” - Psalm 90:10

So, why can the transience of our lives and earthly accomplishments be a source of hope rather than despair? 

When we believe we are too small to bring redemption or meaning to our lives, we are freed to trust God to bring the redemption and meaning Himself. For example, when we trust God with our suffering, we are freed to relinquish control of our circumstances – to give up trying to make sense of it all. When we trust God with our work and our life’s efforts, we are freed from the pressure of deriving good or lasting results. Trusting God to bring redemption and meaning from our lives releases us from the burden of control. It releases us from the stress and anxiety that comes with seeking to be the author of our own days. 

Psalm 90 invites us to accept our need – our smallness. It invites us to welcome the things in life that reveal our deficiency and need for Jesus. It is only as we humbly depend on God that we are equipped with the proper perspective to live! “Teach us to number our days,” the Psalmist prays, “that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). When we humbly surrender our days into the hands of God, depending upon his power and grace, we can trust that our lives will grow full with eternal meaning and spiritual fruit.   

Though our lives are but a passing breath before God, we can trust that God covers them with His mercy and fills them with great meaning and purpose. And while we wait on the Lord, we can cry out to him in humble dependence:

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love;

Let your favor be upon us ‘til the work is done.

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