Who knows the power of your anger? Even according to your fear, so is your wrath. So teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Psalm 90:11-12
Considering God’s just anger against our sin and the brevity of our lives, we would be wise “to number our days” and “apply our hearts to wisdom” through the diligent study of God’s Word and heeding its message, which calls us to repent of our sins and look to Christ Jesus and His cross for forgiveness.
O God, You are both a God of justice and a God of mercy. Deal with us in mercy for the sake of the holy life and innocent sufferings and death of Your beloved Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]
The days of our years are seventy years. And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their strength is labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Psalm 90:10
How true this is of our lives! We live 70 or 80 years but our days are filled with sorrow and we soon are carried away in death to stand before our Maker.
O eternal Father, have mercy upon us and forgive our sins for the sake of the atoning sacrifice of the Son that we might dwell in Your presence forever and not be cast into the eternal fires of hell. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]
For we are consumed by your anger, and by your wrath we are troubled. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. For all our days are passed away in your wrath. We spend our years as a tale that is told. Psalm 90:7-9
Though we don’t often think of it in this way, Moses reminds us that all our sins, even those secret ones, are seen by the LORD God and bring about His just anger and punishment. As a result, our lives are brief and pass away as a tale that is told.
I confess my sins, O God, and acknowledge my transgressions. I deserve nothing but Your righteous wrath and punishment. I flee for mercy to the atoning sacrifice of Your Son, Christ Jesus, my Savior. For His sake, grant to me pardon and forgiveness and life everlasting. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]
You carry them away as with a flood. They are as a dream. In the morning they are like grass which grows. In the morning it flourishes and grows. In the evening it is cut down and withers. Psalm 90:5-6
The days of our lives in this world are as brief as a soon-forgotten dream. They are like grass that grows up in the morning but is cut down and withers by evening. Because of our sin, God carries away our lives like a flood.
O LORD, let us recognize the brevity of our lives in this world that we might look to You for pardon and forgiveness in Christ Jesus, our only hope. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]
You turn man to destruction and say, “Return, you children of men.” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night. Psalm 90:3-4
We sometimes forget that a part of the curse brought about by our sinfulness is physical death. It is as God spoke to Adam: “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19). Whether we live 1,000 years or 60 or 70, it is nothing in comparison to eternity and passes like a watch in the night.
Eternal Father, grant unto us a right understanding of sin and its consequences that we might repent of our sinful ways and look in faith to You for mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus before our days in this world are passed away. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Common Version of the Bible.]