Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Moses Considers God.

God is Eternal

Moses states that in God is man’s dwelling place, a place of life, safety and security. God dwells in eternity, but our existence is only because of God. It is only in Him and through Him that we exist.

In Deuteronomy 33:27, Moses stated it this ways, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.”

Moses goes on considering the eternity of God, he says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”

The prophet Malachi 3:6 speaks with God’s own voice and says, “For I am the Lord, I change not”

Paul in Hebrews 13:8  says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever”

The Bible, God’s revelation of Himself, tells us that He is eternal, and you should understand that there is a difference between eternal and immortal.

Must people don’t believe that man is truly immortal. We were created in the image of God and due to that image, we are immortal. God gave us a soul and that part of the image of God, cannot cease to exist.

But God is not immortal, He is eternal. We had a beginning, but God had no beginning, nor will He have an ending. Moses said that God existed before the mountains, the oldest thing that Moses could picture. But God was yet older than the mountains, He was the one who had brought those valleys and peaks into existence.

In vs. 3, Moses says God turns man to destruction, literally the word here is dust.

This verse echoes what Moses also wrote in Genesis 3 after Adam and Eve fell in sin and become mortal. Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

This is yet another example of God’s timelessness in comparison to us. One generation of mankind returns to the dust but God has decreed that another generation returns, another generation arises. We in ourselves are limited to one generation but God controls all generation from the beginning of creation to the end of all time.

Moses continues and says to God, “a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when they are past, or as a watch in the night.” Time has no bearing upon God. Time has no power over Him. Moses says to God, 000 years are but yesterday’s memory or like a short 3 hour watch in the night.  

Moses in this opening stanza of the Psalm is describing the attributes or characteristics of God, especially His eternity. This is the first lesson we should learn from Psalm 90, who God is, in comparison to who we are.
First Lesson: God's Greatness

We will never learn the life lesson Moses is sharing in Ps 90, unless we see God the way that Moses saw God. No, not with these physical eyes but with the eyes of our soul and heart. Let me amplify the attributes of God a bit so that we can better understand the One we must know in order to learn how to make our life count.

The Eternity of God

Definition: By the eternity of God we mean His infinity in relation to time, we mean that He is without beginning or end; that He is free from all succession of time; and that He is the cause of time- Henry Thiessan

Isaiah echoing God’s voice in 57:15, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

The Omniscience of God

By the omniscience of God we mean that He knows Himself and all other things, whether they be actual or merely possible, whether they be past, present, or future, and that He knows them perfectly and from all eternity. - Henry  Thiesan

Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done…

Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

He knows everything about everything and everybody all the time. Also, he knows the future no less than the past and the present, and possible events that never happen no less than the actual events that do. J. I. Packer, Concise Theology

The Omnipresence of God

God is in all places at all times.  He is present everywhere, always.

Psalms 139: 7-10 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

Jeremiah 23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD

The Omnipotence of God

By the omnipotence of God, we mean that God can do anything He wills.- Henry Thiesan

Job 42:2  I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

Matthew 19:26b ...with God all things are possible.

Omnipotence means in practice the power to do everything that in His rational and moral perfection (i.e., His wisdom and goodness) God wills to do. … all that He wills and promises, He can and will do. - J. I. Packer, Concise Theology

God’s other attributes: He is Gracious, Just, Loving, and Merciful. He Is Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient. He is Eternal, Immutable and Transcendent. He is Holy, Righteous and Good. He is Sovereign. He is God!

Moses is vastly qualified to write this prayer and teach us about God’s character because he was one of only a handful of people who actually entered into the presence of God in a literal way. Moses, more than any other man in the Old Testament, saw and experienced  God. Moses glimpsed the glory of God on twice on Mt. Sinai, first in the burning bush and then even more dramatically and fully on the top of the mount when receiving the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 33:17-22 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD Jehovah before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

When Moses descended back to the camp, his encounter with God was so incredible, that the skin of his face glowed. Exodus 34:30 “And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.”

To learn to make our life count, we must also know God. It won’t be on Mt. Sinai but in a greater revealing of God through Jesus Christ, the Son. Like Moses, we must know the Lord as great God, but also as great friend, as incredible as that sounds it is what God created us for.

So, the first part of the lesson of making life count is making sure we know God as God. He must count in my life, if my life is to count.