Psalm 90: Lord, Teach Me to Count My Days

Introduction

At the service of October 25, 2026 at Chiesa Evangelica ADI Napoli-San Rocco, the preacher focused on a single sentence from Psalm 90, the prayer of Moses: "Teach us to count our days."

He begins with a conviction: we are called to a task that is anything but ordinary, a spiritual task. To honor it, we need a special strength, an "extra" help that becomes decisive for each person's life.

Everyone knows how to count. But if Moses asks God to teach him, it is because there is another way of counting, with different values. The message follows this prayer from Jacob's love to the small expenses that drain great fortunes, all the way to the cry of verse 13: "Return, O Lord!"

Outline of the Message

1. "Moses, Man of God," the Finest of Titles

Before the first verse, the psalm carries a heading: "A Prayer by Moses, the man of God." The preacher insists: in every area of life, what we put at the head of our words, our actions and our plans matters.
People give men and women many titles. But "everything gets covered in dust, everything rusts, everything rots, everything ends up on a gravestone or beneath it." What remains is this definition: man of God.
"Do you also want to aspire to be that?" Beyond the titles each of us holds and that will be forgotten, he invites us to put these words in front of our own first name: man of God, woman of God.
Moses went through a great deal of opposition. From his birth he was hidden. When a child is born, people want to announce it to everyone, "today with these phones," but he had to be kept hidden. He knew good times at Pharaoh's court and dramatic years in the desert.

2. Sunday, a Day to Learn to Count

Sunday is, "at least on paper," a day of rest. The preacher sees it above all as a day of reflection.
On the seventh day, God rested (Genesis 2:2). "You know as well as I do that God was not tired." He wanted to look at what he had made with his hands and by his word.
"No union would ever have given you a day of rest every six days. God gave it to you." So that you can rest physically, but also reflect on everything he has given you.
Counting your days is not a math exercise. He remembers the whole pages of "1" and then "2" that his generation was made to write: things had to be fixed in the mind. He does not criticize today's methods, but the image says the essential: we need to count our days.
Last night you may have set several alarms, in case one failed, because of the time change. Counting is part of life.
Statistics institutes count what people spend, how they dress, what they eat. Astronomers count the stars and measure the distances between the planets. Armies count their tanks and their planes, "today the drones." The miser counts his money.
Since everyone counts something, let us listen to the advice of the Word: "Lord, teach us to count our days," that is, our actions, our commitments, our service before God.
This is not a mere observation, it is a prayer. If you say "teach me," it is because there is another method than yours, another effectiveness, other values. We count according to our culture, our tradition, ordinary life. God counts differently: a thousand years in his sight are like yesterday (Psalm 90:4).

3. Jacob Learned to Count Through Love

Jacob, the "supplanter," knew how to get out of any situation. He had done a lot of counting: Esau's blessing, his sheep.
To marry Rachel, his future father-in-law asked him for seven years of service. When the seven years were over, he gave him the elder daughter and demanded seven more years.
"How do you think Jacob counted those years?" Years made of months, weeks, days, hours. Yet, says Scripture, they seemed to him like a few days, "because he loved her" (Genesis 29:20).
What really counts is not a calculation of the mind, but a moral and spiritual reckoning. "Lord, we need to learn to love you, because then we will count and weigh everything differently." God's way of counting is shaped by love, and his love is lived out in communion.

4. Small Expenses Drain Great Fortunes

Moses had served God faithfully, in Egypt where he was an important man and during "those terrible forty years in the desert." He had amply proven his love. Why does he still ask: "Teach us to count"? Because he wanted to love God more. He claims no glory for himself.
He was advanced in age, yet he speaks of days, not years. "Small expenses exhaust great fortunes." 5 euros for this, 3 euros for that, 8 euros for something else, and the month's reserve is gone. "The sisters say yes, the brothers stand frozen."
If small expenses weigh on our paycheck, then our days also matter greatly in God's eyes. Jesus said that we will give an account for every word (Matthew 12:36). What is one day compared with a lifetime? Yet God will ask us to account for every day.
We spend a lifetime arguing and fighting, and it is often at the end that we understand the point: "Who made me do that?" Ecclesiastes says it: walk in the ways of your heart and according to the sight of your eyes, but know that for all this God will bring you into judgment (Ecclesiastes 11:9). Hence this desire: "I want to learn to spend my time according to your will."

5. Counting My Days, Not Other People's

The psalm gives this prayer a goal: to gain a heart of wisdom. For that, we have to reflect on what God has given us and on how we use it.
Moses speaks in the plural, but in the singular the prayer becomes: "Lord, teach me to count my days." It is almost instinctive to count other people's days. Some want to sort out the problems in someone else's house, while at home there are far more, "starting perhaps with the many commentators who abound on every side."
"I want to learn to count my days. You need to learn to count yours." And this is only possible if we put the Word of God into practice.
He tells a story he read years ago, about a world champion long jumper (he no longer remembers the name). As a child, to get to school, he had to leap across a wide stream, with no bridge, morning and evening. That daily exercise made him a champion. We need the exercise of the Word.
But his record was eventually broken. All human things pass. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says that speaking the languages of angels, giving away all one's goods or handing over one's body to be burned is not enough. Something more is needed.

6. "Return, O Lord": Staying Close to Him

The first word of verse 13 is "Return, O Lord!" Every day we need to seek the face of the Lord.
Even before thinking about the return of Jesus, the preacher prays: "Lord, help me to stay close to you." We cannot settle for what happened ten years ago, twenty years ago, yesterday or this morning.
The apostles had lived glorious experiences. One had confessed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Another, faced with the two swords, was ready to "sell his life dearly" (Luke 22:38). All together, after the storm was calmed, they had asked one another who this was that even the wind and the sea obey (Mark 4:41).
Yet at the cross, all of them abandoned him. Afterward, Jesus asked: "do you love me more than these?" (John 21:15). You have made excellent statements and taken fine stands, but "do you love me?"
"Lord, help me to count my days," so that in the hard days of the cross, when I feel alone, abandoned, overwhelmed or defeated, I can say: "Jesus is close to me." And this holds just as true in moments of great joy and blessing.

7. Maranatha: Jesus Is Coming Back

Jesus does not return only to comfort you and keep you company. He returns because it is his promise and because "the time is finally ripe."
In indecision, fear and uncertainty: "Take heart, my soul, Jesus is already here." And he will return for each one, "because it is his promise and we believe the promises of the Lord."
The preacher also prays for the days we did not understand, when "we spoke to you with our backs turned": come back to comfort the heart, set our thoughts straight, and restore security to our lives.
Then the prayer becomes shared: "Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20). Maranatha was how the first believers greeted one another (1 Corinthians 16:22).
Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 13, we can give a great deal, do a great deal, and still feel that something is missing. "Lord, I miss you. I miss you to make everything perfect." He invites us to approach the throne of grace with confidence (Hebrews 4:16): our days will be hard, sad, beautiful, glorious, "but make them perfect."

Key Takeaways

"Man of God" is the title that remains when all the others are forgotten.
Counting our days means weighing our actions, our commitments and our service before God, according to his way of counting, not ours.
Like Jacob for Rachel, the one who loves counts differently: God's way of counting is shaped by love.
Small days count like small expenses: God will ask us to account for every one.
"Return, O Lord": every day we need to stay close to Jesus, as we wait for his promised return.

Personal Application

What title would you like people to keep of you, and what would be said today if "man of God" or "woman of God" were written in front of your name?
What did you do with your last Sunday: a simple rest, or a time to reflect on what God has given you?
Which "small expenses" of time, words or energy drain your day without your noticing?
Do you spend more time counting other people's days than counting your own?
Are you content with past experiences with God, or are you seeking today to stay close to him?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "teach us to count our days" mean in Psalm 90?

For the preacher, it is not a math exercise. We already know how to count our years. If Moses asks God to teach him, it is because there is another way of counting, with different values: weighing our actions, our commitments and our service before God, in order to gain a heart of wisdom.

Why is Moses called "man of God" in Psalm 90?

The heading of the psalm says: "A Prayer by Moses, the man of God." The preacher sees in it the most honorable title anyone can receive. Human titles fade, rust and end up on a gravestone, but this definition remains. He invites everyone to aspire, as well, to be a man or woman of God.

What is the connection between Psalm 90 and the return of Jesus?

In verse 13, Moses prays: "Return, O Lord!" The preacher first applies it to today: "Lord, help me to stay close to you." Then he reminds us that Jesus will return because it is his promise and the time is ripe. The first Christians greeted one another with this word: Maranatha.