Part 29: Moses Shows Us How To Pray Series

Great Prayers of the Old Testament

Part 29: Moses Shows Us How to Pray

Psalm 90:1-17

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared August 8, 2025)

BACKGROUND:

*Today God wants to bless our hearts by speaking through one of the most unique Psalms in the Bible. It's Psalm 90, written by Moses, and the opening words in vs. 1 call it "A Prayer of Moses the Man of God."

*God has given us many more prayers His Word. The Dake Annotated Reference Bible lists 222 different prayers in the Bible: 176 in the Old Testament, and 46 in the New Testament. So anyone who has read much of the Bible has read some of these prayers. (1)

*God surely put a lot of prayers in His Word, and there are some tremendous reasons why. First, God is showing us that He wants us to pray, also that prayer is important, and that prayer is powerful. God also uses these prayers to teach us how to pray. So today we are going to explore the prayer of Moses in Psalm 90.

*John Phillips gave us this helpful background information: "Next to the book of Job, Psalm 90 is most likely the oldest piece of writing in the Bible. This psalm was written by Moses in the wilderness on the way from Egypt to Canaan. So, Psalm 90 stands in grand isolation as the oldest psalm in history, one of the greatest psalms ever written, and the first great masterpiece in the Old Testament hymnbook. (2)

*Let's get started by reading Psalm 90:1-17:

1. Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

2. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

3. You turn man to destruction, And say, "Return, O children of men.''

4. For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.

5. You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up:

6. In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers.

7. For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified.

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

9. For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh.

10. The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

11. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.

12. So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13. Return, O Lord! How long? And have compassion on Your servants.

14. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!

15. Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, And the years in which we have seen evil.

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

17. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.

*Notice again that in vs. 2 Moses declared, "Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God." And J. Vernon McGee explained that the original Hebrew word for "everlasting" there means "from the vanishing point to the vanishing point." God is from the vanishing point in the past and reaches to the vanishing point in eternity future. Just as far as you can see, from vanishing point to vanishing point, HE IS STILL GOD. How majestic is this thought!" (3)

*So without Christ, we are just very mortal creatures. But with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can share in the eternal life of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!

*And in this Psalm, God shows us a great man's prayer. Moses was one of the best men who ever lived. And his prayer can help us have a better prayer life.

MESSAGE:

*Have you ever wished you could have a better prayer life? Most of us would say "YES!" And we're not the only ones. In Luke 11:1, one of the disciples saw Jesus praying, and when the Lord finished that disciple said, "Lord, teach us to pray..."