Bible Chat – Psalm 90

Psalm 90 teaches us to live consciously before God—aware of time, restrained in speech, intentional in labor, and oriented toward eternity. When we number our days, we limit our words, choose our work carefully, and hold every moment as sacred trust.

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Numbering Our Days and Limiting Our Words

“Teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.” – Psalm 90:12

I really need this prayer to be my prayer daily.

I need it to inform everything about how I make decisions, how I communicate, and how I try to influence others.

You cannot accomplish this for me. God can. I am working on something inside my soul. That is where most of the work in my life needs to be done.

As an example:

After prayer—though a rather short prayer—I removed one of my own posts because it was attracting the potential for the very sort of conversation I was advocating the avoidance of. I was made aware of that by the specific words of a participant and took them to heart.

The post had been up long enough to be read by those who would read it. I am told it benefited a few folks on both sides of the political spectrum. That was its intent. It also provoked some helpful comments in the style of point and counterpoint.

But the discussion began to drift sideways. I went silent. I took it down because it was tempting me to step beyond the parameters where I felt led to remain in that context.

I hear a lot of “God told me” language in the world and among some popular preachers with large, loyal followings. It always makes me charitably suspicious.

I am careful to avoid claims of divine inspiration for my words. It is for me to meet God over that matter, and it is for the hearer to determine whether my words carry a message from God to them. None of my words are Scripture.

Yet, in my own silence on what might seem to be clear-cut issues, I sometimes feel a bit of guilt for not taking a counter-position in the quest for truth.

When we believe we have a perspective that needs to be considered, do we always share it?
Do we share it selectively with those we believe will attempt to see it?
Do we simply focus on those who can hear?

To number our days may also mean to number our words.

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The Eternal Perspective

“For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” – Psalm 90:4
“One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” – 2 Peter 3:8

Where will you be a thousand years from now? Ten thousand? A million? A billion?

We live in time and space and are subject to the limitations of both. Time is depleted and never regained. Not so in our Father’s house. There will be no wasted moments or years. No boredom. No hurry.

Time as we know it will be turned upside down and inside out. Eternity—of which we are now at least somewhat ignorant—will be as real as the second hand is today. What is incomprehensible will be comprehended. What is vast will remain vast, but our capacity to experience it will be transformed.

We may not comprehend it, but we do not have to remain ignorant of it. We can at least know this: there is so much we do not know now, but someday we shall know fully, even as we are fully known.

This is about becoming eternally minded—living every day with eternity in our focus, our hopes, and our hearts. We are called to live on a different plane, with an attitude of amazement.

As Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 4:18:

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen…”

It is a matter of choosing our view and sticking with it.

Can you imagine shining as the sun for eternity? I cannot either. But I can wait a little longer for it with the wonderment of a child waiting for Christmas.

Now is the time to make decisions for eternity, because this is all the time anyone will ever get.

We are about to step out of this realm into the timeless expanse of eternal glory. We are about to leap into God’s everlasting day.

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Meaningful Labor

“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” – Psalm 90:10

We are all on borrowed time.

Plutarch called time “the wisest of all counselors.” It teaches us to value the moments we have and to make the most of them.

It is not necessarily a bad thing to be on borrowed time. When we realize it, we treat time with more respect. If it were not so, we might waste more of it.

We have limited time and limited strength, and we spend it on labor and sorrow. We cannot do much about the inevitability of sorrow, but we can make choices about our work.

Our great challenge is to spend our lives in meaningful work as partners with God and others.

“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.” – 1 Corinthians 3:8

We are always doing something. The question is whether we are doing something positive and rewarding.

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord… that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” – Revelation 14:13

That is our aim—to live and die in the Lord so that rest awaits us and our works continue to do good after we are gone.

The secret to such a life is partnership:

“For we are labourers together with God…” – 1 Corinthians 3:9

That is good work, if you can get it. And you can.

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In the Cracks

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – Psalm 90:12

There will come a time—no matter how well you plan your beginnings and endings—when you will find yourself with unintended margins.

Whether you cringe at those margins as wasted spaces or embrace them as opportunities depends on your attitude and preparation.

The secret to numbering your days may be to divide them into smaller portions—even fifteen-minute blocks.

What can you do in fifteen minutes?

I once wrote a short article on what could be accomplished in fifteen minutes, and I made sure I finished writing it within that amount of time.

Time is precious, and it is hard to predict how long a given task will take. Sometimes we find ourselves with small windows—cracks between engagements and responsibilities.

We can use those times for prayer, contemplation, processing, and rest.

We can also use them for small tasks that are ready and waiting for our attention when opportunity arises.

The psalmist is praying for an attitude, taught by God, that tunes his heart toward reverence in the face of time’s limits.

God has given us the gift of time to use for His glory. Time is a sacred trust to manage under His guidance. Ask Him to make every moment count—even the spaces and cracks between the larger blocks.

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Prayer

Father, make me aware of time.
Help me to understand how precious and limited it is.
Help me to know that every minute and second counts.
May I give every moment of my life to Thee and Thy purposes.
Give me insight into how best to use my time.
Grant me the creativity to make even the small moments count.
May I do this with wisdom, knowing that all time is Thy gift.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.