Before the mountains were created, before you made the earth and the world, you are God, without beginning or end.

You turn people back to dust, saying, "Return to dust!"

Our help in ages past

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home!
O God, Our Help in Ages Past, ISAAC WATTS (1674-1748)

In 1714, the people of England were anxious. Queen Anne lay dying, and she had no son or daughter to succeed her. Who would be the new monarch, and what changes would that make? Isaac Watts had reason to worry. His father had been imprisoned under the previous regime because his views did not please the ruling family. As a young child, Isaac has been carried by his mother to visit his father in jail. But Queen Anne had brought a new tolerance, and freedom for the elder Watts. Now that she was dying, what would happen?

Isaac Watts turned to Psalm 90 on this occasion and penned what may be the greatest of his more than six hundred hymns. In essence, it is a poem about time. God stands above human time, and in Him all our anxieties can be laid to rest. The greatness of our eternal God was a favorite theme of Watts. When the events of the day bring worry, the God of all ages remains our eternal home.

adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995), entry for January 29

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A person can respond to suffering like an egg, or like a potato. A potato goes into the boiling water hard, but comes out pliable. An egg goes into the boiling water soft and comes out hard.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House