Psalm 91:1 The one who stays under the protection of the Most High stays for the night in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:2 I will say concerning Yahveh, who is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust:
a temporary overnight stay
In the Bible, human life is described not as eternal unending life, but as a temporary overnight stay. The theologians can talk all day about how we have immortal souls that even God cannot destroy. But God’s word puts us in our place. If we are looking for permanent life, we need to look to Jesus. He offers that permanent life through the resurrection.
Psalm 90:12 Teach us to count our days so that we may develop a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:13 Yahveh – how long? Turn and have compassion for your servants. Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your covenant faithfulness so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:15 Make us rejoice for as many days as you have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity. Psalm 90:16 Let your work be seen by your servants, and your splendor by their children. Psalm 90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us what our hands have made – establish what our hands have made!
turn and have compassion
This psalm began by recognizing the permanence of God, and the corresponding impermanence of humanity — mortal and under God’s wrath. It ends with an appeal for God to turn and have compassion. It pleads for God to have compassion for his nation and its children. It asks for blessing for as long as they had adversity.
It is wise to know that our fate is in God’s hands. His mercy is all we need.
Psalm 90:12 Teach us to count our days so that we may develop a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:13 Yahveh – how long? Turn and have compassion for your servants. Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your covenant faithfulness so that we may shout with joy and be glad all our days. Psalm 90:15 Make us rejoice for as many days as you have humbled us, for as many years as we have seen adversity. Psalm 90:16 Let your work be seen by your servants, and your splendor by their children. Psalm 90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish for us what our hands have made – establish what our hands have made!
turn and have compassion
This psalm began by recognizing the permanence of God, and the corresponding impermanence of humanity — mortal and under God’s wrath. It ends with an appeal for God to turn and have compassion. It pleads for God to have compassion for his nation and its children. It asks for a blessing for as long as they had adversity.
It is wise to know that our fate is in God’s hands. His mercy is all we need.
Psalm 90:9 Yes, all our days ebb away under your wrath; we finish off our years like a sigh. Psalm 90:10 Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. Even the best of them are struggle and trouble; indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away. Psalm 90:11 Who understands the power of your anger? Your wrath matches the fear that is due to you.
flying away
What does flying away (עוף) mean in this passage? Does it mean we go to our reward at death, flying up to heaven? It would be crazy to think that when we read the passage in context. The psalmist has been emphasizing our mortality compared to God’s permanence. Verse ten is sandwiched between two statements about God’s wrath leading to our death. How can death be caused by God’s wrath against sin and also his reward for faithfulness? No, the picture of flying away here is that of our lives leaving us, like a bird flys away.
Psalm 90:7 Yes, we are being finished off by your anger; we run terrified from your wrath. Psalm 90:8 You have put our violations in front of you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
being finished off
Plumer says that verse 7 “reveals the awful secret, not before announced in this prayer, that death is penal.” He also points out that we all “deserve worse than ever befalls us in this world” from God’s wrath. (841). We may hide our sins from others, but they are never hidden from God. The wages of sin will be paid.
Our mortality is a constant reminder that we inherit death because of sin. The psalmist describes all of human life as a battle in which God fights against us, eventually finishing us all off. We spend our lives running from our fate and hiding the reasons that our fate is just.
There is no good news in these verses, but it is good news that the psalm is not over.
Plumer, William S. Psalms: A Critical and Expository Commentary with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks. Carlisle, Pa: Banner of Truth Trust, 1990
Psalm 90:5 You stop their lives; they sleep. They are like grass that grows in the morning – Psalm 90:6 in the morning it sprouts and grows; by evening it withers and dries up.
like grass
McEachern says that in this psalm “faith deals with the brevity of human life.” In the psalm, the “brevity of human life is compared to a flood, a dream, and (in the text above to) grass, which are short-lived” (113).
We need to keep our similarity to grass in mind because if we are not careful, we can waste time on inconsequential things. We don’t have the time to waste. The evening is coming when our lives will wither and dry up. We need to make hay while the sun shines.
McEachern, Alton H. Psalms. Nashville, Tenn: Broadman Press, 1981.
Psalm 90:3 You return mortal humankind to the dust, saying, “Return, children of Adam.” Psalm 90:4 Yes, in your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a watch of the night.
he bestows and withdraws
Rogerson & McKay comment on verse 3: “God both bestows and withdraws the life-force which makes man a living person as opposed to lifeless matter” (200).
He decides how much time each of us has, and he does not pass that information along. It, therefore, behooves us to use the time we have in the best possible way. Each day is a gift from him, and we do not know how many such gifts we will have.
Rogerson, J W, and J W. McKay. Psalms 101-150. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Psalm 90:1 Lord, you have been where we live generation after generation. Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the land and the world, from age to age, you are God.
from age to age
Mays points out that the theme of time “is woven through the whole (of the psalm) in a way that identifies time as the problem of faith with which the psalm’s theology is concerned (vv. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15)” (290).
It does us all good to stop and realize that God has preceded us in time, and will still be here long after we are sleeping in the dust. He is the permanent one. We are temporary — at least we are now. Those who put their faith in Christ are promised a permanent resurrection life, but we are not there yet. He is the only one who is from age to age.
Mays, James L. Psalms. Louisville: John Knox Press, 2011.
Titus 3:12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, put forth your best effort to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to spend the winter there. Titus 3:13 Put forth your best effort to support and send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos; so that neither of them lacks the resources to join me. Titus 3:14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good achievements, so they can bring relief in these urgent cases, and not be unproductive. Titus 3:15 The ones who are with me send greetings to you. Greet our friends in the faith. Favor be with you all.
best effort
We can’t always do all the things we want to do, but we can put forth our best effort. May God give us the courage and commitment to always do so.
Titus 3:1 Keep reminding them to be submissive to their priorities and authorities, to obey them, to be ready to do every good achievement, Titus 3:2 to insult no one, to be a non-combatant, to be gentle, and to demonstrate consideration of all humans. Titus 3:3 Because we ourselves were once stupid, disobedient, led astray, slaves to our lusts and various pleasures, spending our lives by being mean and envious, hateful, hating one another. Titus 3:4 But when the goodness and loving kindness appeared from our Savior God, Titus 3:5 it appeared, not because of achievements done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Sacred Breath, Titus 3:6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, Titus 3:7 so that having been declared not guilty by his favor we might become heirs, confident of inheriting permanent life. Titus 3:8 The word is trustworthy, and I intend for you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good achievements. These things are good and profitable for humans. Titus 3:9 But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, arguments, and fights about the law because they are unprofitable and useless. Titus 3:10 As for a human who causes division, after warning him once and twice, refuse to participate with him, Titus 3:11 since we know that such a person has been warped and is being sinful; he is self-condemned.
mercy triumphs over stupidity
Harvey summarizes the argument of Paul here: “If God showed such kindness and love to men as he has manifested in saving us, we also ought to show kindness and love to all men” (142). God’s mercy reached out to us, removing our spiritual stupidity. Now it is our turn to treat others with the same mercy.
Harvey, H. Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles, First and Second Timothy and Titus, and the Epistle to Philemon. Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1890.
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