Winter where I live is a sort of desert. At the start, everyone is talking about koselig and Christmas, but by February or March we are worn thin waiting for sun and warmth that stays.
It is in these months where are most likely to ask “How long?” It starts with “How long until the snowstorm stops?” and moves to “How long until this winter ends?”
Then the illness comes: the flu, the cold, pneumonia, allergies, and this year the coronavirus. Even the young among us become weak.
In these late winter months, we may even begin to despair of our vulnerable vapors of lives saying “How long until all of this is over?” We echo Psalm 90 and we groan “Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!” Perhaps this response is a bit fleeting and dramatic in the context of winter, but what about in the more difficult deserts of life?
What about when we suffer through pain we would rather not endure?
What about the moments when what we see around us doesn’t look like what we thought God would give us?
How do we navigate those moments?
Let’s look at an example in Psalm 90. This Psalm, which is actually a prayer, was authored by Moses. This is the same Moses who led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and then through their 40-year stint in the wilderness waiting for the home God promised them. Moses knew a thing or two about life in the desert.
God’s Eternal Glory
Moses’ prayer opens with a recognition of God’s glory. Similar to the way Jesus taught his followers to pray (see Matthew 6:9–13), Moses begins with the focus on God.
Lord, you have been our dwelling place
Psalm 90:1
in all generations.
Remembering all the Lord had done, Moses praises Him. From this prayer, we know God is a dwelling place for all generations of His people.
The prayer continues in Psalm 90:2–8, as Moses speaks of the Lord’s goodness, rather than his own problems:
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
These words praise God for his everlastingness, his powerfulness, and more. In praying them, Moses models how we can begin to pray in the deserts of our own lives, no matter what they be. This, in Moses’ case, was nearly half of his prayer.
The first step of a desert prayer is to fix our eyes on God’s eternal glory instead of our current pains, sufferings, and discomforts. And then, to praise Him.
Humanity’s Temporary Frailty
Next, the prayer continues with Moses humbling himself and admitting the frailty of humanity.
He makes his first mention of himself and his community in Psalm 90:9, telling God “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.“
The Bible makes it clear that God values this sort of humility. In Psalm 51:17, David says “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” In the time of Solomon, God even offered to hear from heaven, forgive sin, and heal land if His people would humble themselves and pray, in addition to seeking His face and turning from their wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Moses goes on to talk about the fleeting, difficult life lived by human beings:
The years of our life are seventy,
Psalm 90:10
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
This concept of days that are soon gone is one also found elsewhere in the Bible. For example, James 4:13 says:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
In other words, both James and Moses are able to compare humanity to God like one might compare a flea to a tortoise. A three month flea lifespan is nothing compared to the tortoise’s 80–120 years. Likewise our lifespan and our abilities are far less a flea’s when compared to God’s will and power.
On the subject of God’s will and power, Moses then focuses his prayer back God in Psalm 90:11 with “Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?”
This admission of frailty, proceeded by a time praising God, also models how we can pray in our not-so-literal deserts. We begin by praising God for all that He is, then continue by pointing out all that we are not, but He is.
Even in this section, Moses notes God’s power and wrath, which are great compared to the brevity of man. Moses is humble enough not to speak of himself highly as a leader, but instead admit that his short existence is troublesome, yet in the hands of God.
The second step of a desert prayer is to humble ourselves and share our weaknesses.
A Cry for Help
In the final 30 percent of the prayer, Moses asks for God’s help. His requests are specific and corporate, asked on behalf of the Israelites, not just for himself.
The third step of a desert prayer is to ask for help.
Teach us
So teach us to number our days
Psalm 90:12
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Moses, seeking “a heart of wisdom” for the Israelites, asks God to teach them. He specifically requests God help them number their days, knowing that if they remember the brevity of their life and suffering, they will use their lives and sufferings more wisely, rather than losing heart.
Return to us
Return, O Lord! How long?
Psalm 90:13
Have pity on your servants!
Moses asks for pity, or in some translations compassion, from God. His plea of “Return, O Lord! How long?” is very relatable to the life of Christ-followers today. We “do not know on what day” Jesus is coming back (Matthew 24:42–51), but we do know that He is.
As we cry out “How long?” to God, we may be tempted to feel as if He is not moving fast enough. This promise in 2 Peter 3:9 reminds us that God is right on schedule: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” The God who is patient longs to be with us and will return quickly.
Satisfy us
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
Psalm 90:14–15
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. More true, however, is that pain passes more peacefully with praise. Moses knew that joy and gladness would sustain the people of God. Rather than seeking that from external sources, Moses asks God Himself to satisfy them using His great love.
Show us
Let your work be shown to your servants,
Psalm 90:16
and your glorious power to their children.
Moses also knew that seeing the power of God and the work of God would sustain not only the Israelites, but their posterity. As a man who had seen God move, he longed to see God move again.
Favor us
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
Psalm 90:17
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Favor is a powerful term that implies having the kindness, support, goodwill, and listening ear of someone. Luke describes Jesus as growing in “wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” during his youth (Luke 2:52). Jesus, quoting prophesy in Isaiah, also stated that He came to earth to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:19). Moses understood the value of favor and the need for God’s help to make anything the Israelites did matter.
Amen
From deserts deep and wide to the small deserts of winter, the prayer in Psalm 90 is both a tool and a model that can help us not lose heart.
God can handle our cries of “How long?” and he has more than enough power to sustain us in our struggles. He can bring wisdom, satisfaction, joy, gladness, power, favor, and good work.
He not only can do it, but He will.
Next Steps
- If you haven’t already, read Psalm 90 in its entirety.
- Use Psalm 90 to guide you in prayer. Praise God, admit your weaknesses, and ask for what you need.
- Memorize one of the verses in Psalm 90:12–17 and use it as an encouragement.
- Share Psalm 90 with someone you know who is struggling.
[…] This verse has been on my heart this year and was part of the inspiration for my article A Prayer in the Desert last month. The writer, Moses, spends a lot of time in Psalm 90 talking about the brevity of life […]