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God’s Eternity and Human Frailty

by | May 19, 2020

“Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days!”  

Psalm 90: 13 & 14

I encourage you to read all of Psalm 90 today. The title of it is “God’s Eternity and Human Frailty” and it is attributed to Moses. As I read the Psalm before writing this, I thought the title particularly fitting for our current situation. After all, I think we are all reminded of our frailty during this pandemic. I was brought up short when I found myself in a high-risk category early on due to my age and my asthma – neither of which trouble me too much. All of a sudden, I was an “older, at risk adult, with underlying conditions”. Talk about feeling frail! When did that happen? Speaking with several people in their early to mid-60’s we all had the same reaction. How did we suddenly become old?

My ever-so-helpful husband, reminded me of Erik H. Erikson who was a German-American developmental psychologist. He was known for his theory on the psychological development of human beings as they age. “According to Erik Erickson,” Ken says to me, “we are in the young-old stage of life.” Yea. Yea. Give me the young part and you take the old. In my heart, I’m young and in my mind’s eye, I still have very dark hair and a much thinner body! Go away, human frailty!

Seriously, though, our faith reminds us time and again that our days are numbered and God alone is eternal. However, it also reminds us that God is the source of love and compassion. God is the source of life abundant and the way to finding true joy and meaning in life. God desires for us to understand our frailty while at the same enjoying and being glad in all the days that we live. A couple weeks ago, I shared my favorite question from the Heidelberg Catechism. Question 1 in the Westminster Catechism is also a favorite. Q. What is the chief and highest end of man? A: Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy God forever.

God is a God of great compassion. God satisfies us with his steadfast love every morning. My hope and prayer for all of us is that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days, thereby bringing glory to God and enjoying God forever. Even in these seemingly endless days of quarantine, we can be glad because we know the steadfast love of God.