Ps. 90: Life is Short

Psalm 90:4 "For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night."

Here it is, book 4. The 90th Psalm. It is titled "A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God." I suppose that it was written as though Moses would have written it. 

What I get mostly out of this one is the sheer timelessness of God. Man's time on earth, his life, is short. We measure it out as 70, 80 years or so. God doesn't measure it. The Psalmwriter had the sense to realize that it is basically a breath. A watch of the night. Not much to it. Having lived under the crushing dominion of measured time, day and night my entire life, I can't imagine not living that way. 

Therefore, it is God who says to man, who was dust, "return to the dust." He demonstrates his power to transcend time, to be beyond time, by his ability to just sweep men away every generation. 

I don't know why the Psalmist writes that they are years of trouble and sorrow. Perhaps that is man's choice? Perhaps that is because of the curse brought about by Adam's disobedience? And then the renewal of the curse by Noah's descendants?

While man has no way to be established, the works of his hands can be.