PSALM 90:1-12
METER: 86 886
SUGGESTED TUNE: REST
This is the meter of the hymn "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind."
1. Lord, you have been our dwell-ing place
In gen-e-ra-tions all.
Be-fore the mount-ains had been birthed
Or you had ev-er formed the world,
You are e-ter-nal, God.
2. Hu-mans you turn back to the dust,
You tell us to turn back.
A thou-sand years to you are like
The day just passed, or e-ven like
Keep-ing a watch at night.
3. A-way you sweep us; we are like
A trans-i-to-ry dream.
We are like weeds that sprout at morn,
That blos-som in the day, and then
At eve-ning fade and die.
4. Lord, by your an-ger we're con-sumed,
By your wrath o-ver-whelmed.
You set our sins be-fore your face,
Our se-cret sins where your pres-ence
Un-cov-ers ev-ery one.
5. Our life is cut short by your wrath,
We fade out like a sigh.
We've sev'n-ty years, eight-y if strong;
Yet they're with woe and sor-row filled,
They end, and we de-part.
6. Who un-der-stands your might-y wrath?
Who knows the fear that you
Bring when your fu-ry comes? Teach us
To know the num-ber of our days,
That we may wise be-come.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher from Sing the Psalms! by Dale A. Schoening. Copyright 1988 Dale A. Schoening. Alt. 2002 Dale A. Schoening.
