Bible Commentaries
Psalms 90

Verses 1-17

The main purpose of this psalm is revealed in the prayer with which it concludes (vv. Psa 90:13-17 ). This prayer is prefaced by a meditation on the frailty of man (vv. Psa 90:3-12 ), in the light of eternity of god (vv. Psa 90:1-2 ). By this backward method of analysis we gain a conception of the general scheme of the psalm which now enables us to take the three movements in their orderly sequence.

The eternity of God is described in three stages. First, as measured by the history of His people, He has ever been their dwelling-place. Secondly, as measure by creation, He was before all. Finally, whether the mind travel backward or forward to the vanishing point, He is still god. In this light man is seen in the frailty of his being.

To God a thousand years are comparatively nothing, and in every millennium men appear and pass in a sequence as orderly as that of the grass, but in a life as transitory. This frailty is the more feeble because man is a sinner; and therefore out of harmony with God. Yet this very eternity of God is the hope of man in his frailty and sin, and the heart is lifted to Jehovah in a prayer that the mornings, the days, the years of brief life may all be set in true relation to Him. Satisfaction, gladness, success in work must all come from the right relation of man in his frailty to the eternal Lord.