PSALM 90
The somber tone of this psalm suggests that Moses may have written it when the nation rebelled in unbelief at Kadesh Barnea (Num. 13–14). God announced that everybody twenty years old and older would die within the next forty years. No wonder Moses prayed, “So teach us to number our days” (v.
We number our years, but it is wiser to number our days, for we live a day at a time. Life is brief, like the changing of the guard, or taking a nap, or mowing the lawn (vv. 3–6). In the camp of Israel, a twenty-year-old would not live beyond sixty, and the older people would never make it to eighty (v.
In the light of eternity (vv. 1–4), life is brief—no matter how long you live. You need God’s help to use your days wisely (v.
The Land of the Living
Charles Spurgeon told about a man who said to a dying believer, “Farewell, friend! I shall never see you again in the land of the living!” The dying Christian replied, “I shall see you again in the land of the living where I am going. This is the land of the dying!”