Christian Reflection and Prayer

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!"
Psalm 90:3-4 NLT

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

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