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.
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