One of Charles Dickens’s most famous characters is the villainous Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. She stands as one of literature’s clearest examples of how shattered hopes can destroy a life, leaving only bitterness, cruelty, and loneliness.
In the Old Testament book of Ruth, we meet another woman, Naomi, whose expectations were crushed by repeated loss and trauma. Yet one of the book’s most beautiful arcs is Naomi’s redemption. She learns to trust God’s faithfulness even in seasons of deep pain.
We, too, often become discouraged when hard times arrive. Scripture warns that, as fallen people saved by God’s grace, Christians will face trials in this world. We may wonder where God is and why these painful things are happening. At times, it can even feel as though God has broken His promises, and we question whether our hope was in vain.
This exact situation appears in Psalm 90, one of the most important poems in the book of Psalms. What makes this psalm so powerful is not only its author—Moses—but also its placement. It opens Book Four of the Psalms and follows Psalm 89, in which the writer laments the exile and seems to say that God’s promise to David has failed. The psalmist cries out, “Where are You, Lord, in our suffering, loneliness, pain, and humiliation?”
Psalm 90 gives God’s answer. As the Psalms continue, they show how the Lord will keep His promise to David even when hope looks completely lost.
This psalm works on three levels. First, it reflects Moses’ own perspective as he wrote it for God’s people who stood on the edge of the Promised Land. Second, it was placed here by the prophet who shaped the final form of the Psalter under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Third, it speaks directly to new-covenant believers today who live between Christ’s first and second comings—exiles in a world that often threatens God’s promises while we wait for the Lord’s return.
The main point of the psalm is this: we must live faithfully as exiles waiting for Christ by relating rightly to God. To help us do that, the psalm divides into four clear sections.
1. The Eternal Character of God (verses 1-2)
The psalm begins with the word “Lord.” What an encouragement! Even when wicked leaders, corrupt judges, and hostile rulers seem to control the world, Christians are never without a King. Our King sits on His throne and reigns.
Moses then declares that the Lord has been the dwelling place of His people from generation to generation. The Old Testament patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses himself—had no permanent earthly home. Yet the eternal God was their true refuge and strong tower. If He was their shelter, He is ours as well.
When we wonder where God is or why He allows hardship, we must run first to His unchanging character. He is everlasting. He has been our refuge in every generation, and He will be our eternal home. This truth comforted Moses when he could not enter the Promised Land. It comforted the exiles far from Jerusalem. And it comforts us today as we long for heaven in a broken world.
2. The Righteous Judgment of God (verses 3-6)
Moses reminds us that the deepest problem in the world is not exile itself but our sin, which brings God’s judgment. He points back to the curse on humanity: because of sin, we return to dust before an eternal God.
This truth makes clear who is truly to blame for wickedness and suffering—it is not God. Blame falls on human rebellion. God remains perfectly righteous. We see this in the reality of death, in the story of the Flood, and in the coming return of Christ, when God will judge the wicked forever.
3. A Proper Fear of God (verses 7-12)
Moses had seen both human sinfulness and God’s judgment, and it filled him with awe. He knew he could not even imagine the full force of God’s anger.
The real problem, Moses says, is that we are fools. We waste our short lives on trivial things and open sin. We act as if time will never run out. So Moses prays that God would teach us how brief our lives really are, so we will use our days wisely.
The Israelites foolishly believed they could rebel against God and never face exile. We are just as foolish when we think sin has no consequences and that we can waste our time without ever provoking the Lord’s displeasure. If we want to live faithfully as exiles, we must develop a healthy fear of God that changes how we live every day.
4. The Abundant Grace of God (verses 13-17)
The psalm ends by turning to God’s grace. We belong to the Lord, yet He sometimes feels far away. Moses asks God to return and dwell with His people as He did before the Fall.
He makes several bold requests: show us compassion, satisfy us with Your faithful love, make Your glorious works visible to us, and establish the work of our hands. These prayers rest completely on grace. We do not deserve any of it, yet Moses asks God to act toward us with mercy rather than giving us what we deserve.
Even his final request—that our lives would count for something—is built on grace. Picture Moses standing outside the Promised Land, longing for his service to have lasting value. Imagine the exiles watching their temple burn, later rebuilding a smaller version, and still asking God to make their efforts matter eternally. Today we ask the same: Lord, establish the work of our hands so that our lives bring You glory.
Living Faithfully in Exile
Christians are exiles awaiting our true home, where God will live with us forever. In this waiting time, it is easy to doubt whether the Lord will keep His promises. We live faithfully by focusing on God’s eternal character, remembering His righteous judgment, cultivating a proper fear of Him, and depending fully on His grace. When we do, even our shattered expectations can lead us closer to the God who never fails.
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