"A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
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 favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!"
Psalm 90
The second possible analysis is similar to the first, but more detailed and it gives a real insight into the meaning and message of the Psalm as a whole: (i) God the eternal (1, 2); (ii) man the ephemeral (3-6); (iii) man under wrath (7-12); (iv) the God of grace (13-17). This serves to highlight the real thrust of the Psalm, for what it tells us is this: man's mortality and his sin are compassed about by the unchanging grace of God. And we need to think of the message of the Psalm in these terms. Its words are almost too well known, in the sense that they thereby tend to be rehearsed almost unthinkingly. They are also read frequently at funeral services, which have their own sorrows and sad and grievous associations. But, suitable as they are for this, their primary context and intention do not lie here. The following comment makes a worthy contribution to its interpretation: 'Is life worth living? For the individual it is one long struggle against forces which threaten its destruction, and the wrestler, impelled by the physical instinct of self- preservation, battles on, with the certain knowledge that sooner or later, the powers of decay will triumph.... What is the purpose of it all?' This is what the heart of the Psalm (3-12) is about. But what makes the Psalm transcend such gloom and sadness is the fact that the acknowledgement of man's transience and sinfulness is prefaced by a confession of faith, and an outgoing of the soul to God, in which the Psalmist finds in God his eternal home, and therefore his answer and his rest, and a ground of confidence of crying to Him for grace to help in time of need.