Psalm 90 meets the new year with unsentimental honesty: we are mortal, our days are limited, and we live before a holy God. Yet Psalm 90 is not gloomy; it offers deep hope. It urges us to face reality as it is and then look beyond it to find lasting hope.

Psalm 90 centers on time. In just 17 verses, it mentions time 15 times: night watches, days, years, generations, mornings, evenings, and “everlasting.” It is the only psalm we know for certain to have been written by Moses, likely near the end of his life. He had watched an entire generation die in the wilderness, including his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron. Now he stands at the edge of the Promised Land, knowing he will not enter because of his sin (Numbers 20). This psalm is not mere theory; it flows from deep, painful, gut-level faith.

Our Eternal Home: Who God Is

Psalm 90 begins where wisdom always begins—with God. “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations” (Ps 90:1). Before Moses speaks of death, he speaks of home. Before he addresses human frailty, he anchors us in divine permanence.

God is beyond time. He spoke the world into existence. He was before the world was. From everlasting to everlasting, he is God. He does not age. He does not worry. He does not grow weary. Time does not erode him. For God’s people, this means our true security has never rested in circumstances, geography, or longevity. It has always rested in Him. He has been the dwelling place of His people in every generation, and He remains so still.

With God, as the psalm insists, we begin. If we start with ourselves, with our plans or our fears, we will either grow anxious or arrogant. But when we begin with the eternal God as our home, we are steadied. Christian hope comes from God; it is grounded in God’s permanence.

Dust and Grass: Who We Are

Only after God is rightly seen does Moses turn to humanity. And the picture is sobering. We are dust. We are grass. We flourish briefly and then fade. A thousand years are nothing to God. A lifetime for us passes like a dream, like a watch in the night.

Scripture consistently reinforces this perspective. Our lives are a mist, here for a moment and then gone. And yet, our most significant problem is not that life is short, but that we live as though it is not. We plan as if tomorrow were guaranteed. We speak as if time were ours to manage rather than a gift to steward. We worry as though we deserve control.

Psalm 90 strips away the illusion of control. It reminds us that we are fragile, finite, and fleeting. But this reminder is not cruel. It is merciful. God tells us the truth about ourselves so that we will stop trusting in ourselves.

Living in the Shadow of Death: What Is at Stake

Moses speaks of God’s anger, His wrath, His presence, His holiness. Our sin is not hidden. Our secret sins are not secret to Him. All is exposed in the light of His sovereign presence. We do not drift through time; we live every day before a holy God.

Death, then, is not an accident. Death is in the world because it is a fallen world marred by sin. It is not merely biological. It is theological. It is bound up with the reality of sin and God’s holiness. To ignore the fear of the Lord is not optimism—it is foolishness. Too many people live without considering the weight of God’s holiness or the seriousness of living our days before Him.

And yet, even here, the Psalm does not leave God’s people in despair. It is honest and tells us what is at stake so that we will look to the hope He alone can provide.

Number Our Days: What We Must Do

At the center of the psalm comes the hinge: “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Ps 90:12). Moses does not ask for longer life, easier circumstances, or the ability to enter the promised land. He asks for self-awareness and wisdom. He asks God to teach him how to live his days rightly.

To number our days is not merely to count them. It is to interpret them. It is to live with awareness that our time is limited, meaningful, and accountable to God. Both the young and healthy and the aged and unhealthy are tempted toward folly in relation to time. The young often assume they are immortal, and the old assume usefulness is over. Moses says both are wrong. Wisdom sees every day as a gift entrusted by God and redeems time by submitting to God.

Christ Our Answer: Where Hope Is Found

The psalm does not end with death. It ends with prayer—bold, covenantal prayer. Moses calls on the Lord for the first time by His covenant name, “LORD” (Yahweh). He asks God to return, to satisfy His people with covenant love (hesed), and to replace sorrow with joy (Ps 90:13–15).

Ultimately, Psalm 90 presses us forward to Christ. Christ does return for His people. Only Christ can fulfill these longings. Only Christ can bear the wrath we deserve. Only Christ can satisfy us with covenant love. Only Christ can transform fleeting days into eternal significance. In His resurrection, the morning finally dawns that Moses longed for. A morning where joy outweighs sorrow and death is swallowed by life.

Moses closes, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands” (Ps 90:17). We have the fulfillment of this heart-cry in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the conclusion of the longest chapter in the Bible on the resurrection of Jesus, Paul concludes, “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58). 

Because Christ lives, the work of our hands will be established. Because Christ reigns, our brief days matter. Because Christ will return, even our dying becomes eternal gain.

Happy New Year. Prepare to die—and, therefore, learn at last how to live.