Psalm 90:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

NIV: You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

NASB: You have placed our guilty deeds before You, Our hidden sins in the light of Your presence.

CSB: You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

NLT: You spread out our sins before you — our secret sins — and you see them all.

KJV: Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

NKJV: You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.

Moses makes the crucial point that God sees everything about us, including our sin. Even our so-called secrets are known to Him. Nothing is hidden from His all-seeing eyes. Hebrews 4:13 acknowledges that "no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

King David tried to cover up his sins of adultery and murder, but he could not hide his sins from God. He saw David's wickedness and sent Nathan the prophet to confront David. "You are the man!" Nathan said, as he exposed David's sin (2 Samuel 12:7). Later, David confessed his sins and received forgiveness. He wrote in Psalm 32:5: "I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity." Because God sees every sin we commit, it is unwise to try to cover our sins. It is better to follow David's example and confess our sins to the Lord and seek His forgiveness.

Psalm 90:3–10 reflects on life's brevity and God's wrath. Psalm 8:4 raises the question of man's status, and James 4:14 describes life as finite and fleeting. Numbers 14:33–35 spells out God's judgment on the Israelites for refusing His call to enter Canaan.

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.

Accessed 5/7/2024 8:47:09 AM