Christian Reflection and Prayer

God protects His people

How has God protected us in the past?

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