A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by. Psalm 90:4
In 1990, French researchers had a computer problem: a data error when processing the age of Jeanne Calment. She was 115 years old, an age outside the parameters of the software program. The programmers had assumed no one could possibly live that long! In fact, Jeanne lived until the age of 122.
The psalmist writes, “Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures” (Psalm 90:10). This is a figurative way of saying that whatever age we live to, even to the age of Jeanne Calment, our lives on earth are indeed limited. Our lifetimes are in the sovereign hands of a loving God (v. 5). In the spiritual realm, however, we’re reminded of what “God time” really is: “A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by” (v. 4).
And in the person of Jesus Christ “life expectancy” has been given a whole new meaning: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36). “Has” is in the present tense: right now, in our current physical moment of trouble and tears, our future is blessed, and our lifespan is limitless.
In this we rejoice and with the psalmist pray, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Psalm 90:14).
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling placex
throughout all generations.
2 Before the mountains were borny
or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlastingz you are God.a
3 You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”b
4 A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.c
5 Yet you sweep people awayd in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
6 In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered.e
7 We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sinsf in the light of your presence.g
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.h
10 Our days may come to seventy years,i
or eighty,j if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,k
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.l
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
Your wrathm is as great as the fear that is your due.n
12 Teach us to number our days,o
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.p
13 Relent, Lord! How longq will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.r
INSIGHT
- What worries do you have about your life and its limits?
- How are you comforted by the presence of Jesus?
Moses’ authorship of Psalm 90, based on the superscription, makes it the oldest of the psalms whose authorship we know. In addition to this psalm, Moses is ascribed authorship of the first five books of the Bible—the Pentateuch or Torah—making him the most prolific Old Testament writer. Some scholars believe that the background to the writing of this psalm may have been Israel’s failure at Kadesh Barnea (Numbers 13–14), where they rejected the land of promise despite Joshua and Caleb’s glowing account of the magnificent new homeland God had promised them. That rejection resulted in the forty years of wilderness wanderings the Israelites endured.
PRAYER
Loving God, sometimes this life is hard, but—even so—I sing for joy in Your provision for me. Satisfy me today with Your unfailing love. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: Psalm 90:1-14 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Isaiah 39-40; Colossians 4
