A Prayer for Joy: Psalm 90-Supplication through the Scriptures
A Prayer for Joy
Psalm 90
Why should not one be filled with constant joy who has the hope of dwelling in a world of glory forever?
Barnes
The Psalms are divided into five books. Psalm 90 marks the beginning of book four. The five book form was compiled in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. These men lived in the time of Israel’s history when the people were still in exile. Some were being allowed to return to their homeland, but there was no king, no temple, no walls around their great city, and Jerusalem was still in ruins. Men like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel were tasked by the Lord for the rebuilding of the temple, city, and walls and to instruct the people in the ways of the Lord. They were living in a time where they needed to live by faith that God would fulfill His promise of a Messianic King, even though at the moment it appeared as though it may never happen.
Book four of the Psalms, consisting of Psalms 90-106, has a heavy emphasis on the theme that God is still King and He is still reigning. “This cluster of psalms that follows Psalm 89 teaches us to live by faith that God reigns, even when all of the evidence of life appears to contradict that truth. The truth stands. The Lord reigns. We live by faith” (Futato).
One evidence that the people of God, and that we ourselves, are living by faith is our joy. Moses, the writer of Psalm 90, beautifully says, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil” (14-15). I think God’s people must have felt those words very deeply after all the calamity that had come upon them. What a beautiful, faith-filled thing to pray. A prayer that God would “give them joy where now they experience affliction” (Longman). Are we longing to be taken away from our present misery to a place of joy (Longman)?
Whether or not our afflictions are removed in our lifetime, we can still shine forth with joy because we are satisfied in our God, the One who has unchangingly been the shelter for generations and generations of believers (Psalm 90:1). “One generation finds him as the previous generation had found him—unchanged and as worthy of confidence as ever” (Barnes). Our afflictions, while they may not seem temporary, are as fleeting as our lifetime in the scope of eternity. We have an eternity of inexpressible joy awaiting us. But it is not just future joy that is ours, but a present joy empowered by the Spirit that lives in us.
Let’s pray for a present joy overflowing in our lives through any and all paths our Everlasting God leads us.
- Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice (Psalm 90:14).
- Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us (Psalm 90:17).
The Lord, our dwelling place
90:1-2 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Lord, I pray:
▫️I would go through this day with joy in my heart and on my face because You are my dwelling place, my shelter.
▫️I would rejoice in You, my unchanging God, in the midst of all the changes I must adjust to today.
▫️When the cares of this world weigh me down, help me by faith to cast my burdens on You because You will sustain me.
Transient life. Eternal joy.
90:3-6 You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
Lord, I pray:
▫️I would endeavor to live my life, however brief and momentary, with confident joy.
▫️Though I know that we are like the grass that withers, Your Word abides forever (1 Peter 1:24-25). Help me to stand upon Your Word, renew my mind with its truth, and fight for joy until You take me home to be with You.
▫️The joy of the Lord would be my strength all the days of my life (Nehemiah 8:10).
A heart of wisdom
90:7-12 For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Everlasting Father, I pray:
▫️When You show me my sinfulness, even the secret sins which You alone see, I would confess and turn from my sin and rejoice in the forgiveness freely and fully purchased for me on the cross. Joy would be mine because Christ took my punishment that I would be saved, and He continually advocates for me before You, Father.
▫️Your divine consolations would put gladness in my heart and a luster upon my countenance (Matthew Henry).
▫️Teach me to number my days that I may gain a heart of wisdom. Wisdom and power belong to You. You give wisdom and knowledge and reveal profound and hidden things. I pray I would have gladness because no matter what perplexing situations lay before me, You have promised to give wisdom when I ask (Daniel 2:20-22; James 1:5).
Make us glad
90:13-17 Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!
My God, I pray:
▫️You would have pity on me and fill me with Your Spirit and I would bear the fruit of joy, and this joy would be steadfast no matter where You lead.
▫️Satisfy me with Your steadfast love. No other substitute will do. I need You. In order to have gladness and rejoicing, my heart must know that You are enough.
▫️Make me glad for as many days as You have afflicted me! Give me joy in the place where I now experience affliction. The very thing that causes me pain now, I pray You would transform and it would give me joy instead of sorrow.
▫️Let Your glorious power be shown to me and cause me to sing for joy as I take refuge in You.
▫️Let Your favor be upon me, Your face turned toward me, and Your countenance shining upon me.
▫️You have called me to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. As I pursue joy in You, establish this work, because You are the One working in me both to will and to do for Your good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13).
▫️May my joy in You be the evidence that I believe Your truth stands, You are reigning, and I am living by faith.
May the Lord do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, for His glory and our good. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All right reserved.
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