Establishing the Work of Our Hands

“May Your deeds be shown to Your servants, Your splendor to [our] children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us – yes, establish the work of our hands.” — Psalms 90:16-17 (NIV)

Psalm 90 is unique; it is a prayer of Moses, the man of God. Moses spent his life leading a stubborn people through a barren wilderness, only to realize he would not enter the Promised Land himself. If anyone understood the fleeting, frustrating nature of human effort, it was Moses. He knew that without God’s intervention, human labor is like grass that withers in the evening.

In these closing verses, Moses prays a deeply profound, two-part prayer.

Seeing His Deeds

First, Moses prays, “May Your deeds be shown to Your servants.” Before we ask God to bless what we are doing, we must ask to see what He is doing. True meaning in life is found by aligning our tiny, temporary lives with the eternal, massive redemptive work of God. When we see His deeds and His splendor, our perspective shifts from our own anxiety to His majesty.

The Plea for Permanence

Second, Moses prays for favor and permanence: “Establish the work of our hands.”

The Hebrew word used here for establish (kun) means to set up, to make firm, to make stable, to direct. We can build houses, write books, start companies, or raise children, but we cannot guarantee that any of it will last. Time and entropy devour everything.

The only way the "work of our hands" survives the erosion of time is if the favor of the Lord rests upon it. When God establishes your work, He infuses your temporary, flawed efforts with eternal significance. Your daily grind, when surrendered to Him, becomes a brick in a kingdom that will never fall.

Yes, establish the work of our hands, Lord.