Oh God, Our Hope (Week 5) - Monday Morning Devotions
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If you attended Sunday school or Bible Class as a child, one of the first stories you were taught was how man was formed out of the dust of the ground. As a pastor to the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and former missionary to the Kono tribe of Sierra Leone, West Africa, I like to start with the story of Creation. It is a very good place to begin, as most tribal people around the world have a creation story and most call on God as their Creator.
In the selection I choose from God's Sacred Word, we are reminded not only that man was formed from the dust but, due to man's rebellion against his Creator, to dust he will return. Meditate on the words of a prayer from Moses, Psalm 90 verses three and four. They read:
You return man to dust and say,
Return, O children of man!”
For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
The sad reality is someday you and I will die and our bodies will decay to dust. (Unless Christ returns in the meantime.) This world is around six thousand years old, therefore Adam and Eve have been returned to dust for around six thousand years. Time is of no significance for them. It is as if they are sleeping, and the next thing they realize it is morning. This blessed hope holds true to all who die trusting in their Creator and His Son Jesus.
Isaac Watts wrote a hymn based on this verse of Scripture in his hymn entitled "O God our help in Ages Past." Here are the words to verse four:
A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone,
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
Moses and Isaac Watts give us an illustration of an evening. How many evenings have quickly come and gone in your lifetime? Life everlasting, however, will be timeless. There will be no clocks in paradise. Unlike our vacations that come and are over way too soon, or the weekend, or a celebration, paradise has no end! And the Good News, the comforting news, the encouraging news, is that the tree of life will be there and those who eat from it will live forever and ever. Amen.
Please pray with me: O God, in the paschal feast You restore all creation. Continue to send Your heavenly gifts upon Your people that they may walk in perfect freedom and receive everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.