Psalm 90:16 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

NIV: May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.

NASB: Let Your work appear to Your servants And Your majesty to their children.

CSB: Let your work be seen by your servants, and your splendor by their children.

NLT: Let us, your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory.

KJV: Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

NKJV: Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children.

Moses asks the Lord to show favors and power to His people, but not only to them but also to their children. His prayer is similar to that of David. In Psalm 86:17 David prayed, "Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me." Moses' request in Psalm 90:16 ascended from a humble heart. He referred to himself and the people he led through the wilderness as the Lord's servants. It is of the utmost importance to remember when we pray that God is not under our command, but we are absolutely subject to Him. David exhibited a humble heart when he prayed in Psalm 35:13: "I wore sackcloth: I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest."

When Isaiah received a vision of the Lord high and lifted up, he cried out humbly, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips," and he made himself available to serve the Lord (Isaiah 6:1, 5, 8). We must be careful to avoid arrogance or entitlement when we make requests to the Lord, but we can ask for His favor as Moses did.

Psalm 90:11–17 calls on the Lord to teach His people to number their days and gain wisdom. Moses, the author, prays for mercy and joy. Also, he asks the Lord to prosper His servants' work. Other Scriptures emphasize God's compassion, the joy He gives, and the blessing He pours out on those who serve Him (Psalm 100:5; Proverbs 22:4). The books of Ezra and Nehemiah demonstrate the truth that God grants these gifts to those who honor Him, even if those gifts aren't always in the form of an easy, prosperous life.

Psalm 90, likely the oldest psalm, opens with Moses addressing God as eternal and Israel's dwelling place, but quickly shifts to an acknowledgement of man's brief life on earth. Our iniquity is the reason God directs His wrath at us. In most cases, a person can expect to live somewhere around 70 or 80 years, barring disease or misfortune. Short or long, life is full of toil and trouble. In view of life's brevity, Moses asks the Lord to fill His people with wisdom. He also asks the Lord to reveal His work, demonstrate His power, grant His favor, and make Israel's labor successful.

Psalm 90, written by Moses, is most likely the oldest psalm, presuming it was written during Israel's wandering in the desert. This begins the fourth division of Psalms (90—106) and likely was written after Israel refused to heed the Lord's command to enter and occupy Canaan (Numbers 13—14). The background for Psalm 90 is Israel's wanderings for forty years in the desert and the perishing of a generation as a result of its disobedience. The psalm focuses on God's eternal nature and man's finite nature. It stresses God's anger against sin and appeals to His compassion to restore and bless His people.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.