We come now to Psalm 90 itself, a psalm that, like Numbers 20, is a reflection on human mortality and the brevity of life, plus quiet confidence in God who is the steadfast hope of the righteous. This psalm is probably the greatest passage in the Bible contrasting the grandeur of God with man's frailty.

Do you remember the cry of the saints in Revelation, which I referred to previously: "How long, Sovereign Lord" (Rev. 6:10)? That question hangs in the air throughout Revelation. It is there at the end. But at the end we also have the answer of Jesus, who says, "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Rev. 22:12, 13; see vv. 7, 20). To this we reply, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus" (v. 20). The editor who closed out this third book of the Psalter had a like faith when he followed Ethan's cry with the faith-filled ascription: "Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen” (Ps. 89:52).

In case we have any question about the tone in which the psalmist is making the statements in verses 39-45, we find ourselves pointed in the right direction in the eighth and final stanza (vv. 46–51). Here we have his appeal, focused on the question: "How long, O LORD" (v. 46)? It is a common question of the saints, arising out of what seems to be a breaking of the covenant. In Revelation the saints ask God, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood" (Rev. 6:10)? Believers ask this when they feel abandoned and when God does not seem to act. But the cry is not unbelief. On the contrary, it is the cry of faith, for it is to God, and it is looking for an answer.