21st June 2023
Before
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:2 (NIV)
Before. I am having a hard time remembering what came before this week. Such a concept as the beginning of time is hard to visualize. It makes me want to know what came before, and what came before that before. We are learning more and more every year, by the mercy and gift of God, about our planet and the universe around us. We are given little hints that this world is much, much older than we have ever imagined. In Genesis 1 it tells us in verses 1-2, that this world was without form and void but an exact time for this is not known. We can only speculate. In my mind I want to know if this is a first-time experience or if it happened before. I do not have the eyes to see, the wisdom to know.
The important point in all of this mystery is that God has always been God. He personally touched everything that we know, and everything that we do not know. We have all been born of God, for we came from him and our lives were made possible because of him. What a small portion we play in who God is. We do not change his goodness, we do not change his love, faithfulness, or any of the wonderful things God is; and yet he cares for us. How long I wonder, had God planned for us? I am sure that we were not just a sudden whim. Could you say that this was the original family planning program? As we look into the wonders of how things on this earth work and how they balance each other out, we cannot think that mankind was just a blip in the beginning of time; we didn’t just happen. It takes the love of God to put all of these things together.
Psalm 90, a prayer of Moses, talks of the fragility of mankind. Our years are limited, and our sins have put even more limits to our lives. Yet God is still God, and he loves us still. He always wants what is best for us, and we in our fallen ways want what we want. How patient God is, generation after generation he is faithful to us. He has made a way [as the song goes] where there was no way. Before we were born, he loved us, before we were born God was love. Before. Before depends on something happening earlier, but there is no before God. We live in the before of things, and God is all things good. We are told to use our days wisely in verse 12 of Psalm 90. We have limits but God does not. God’s love is steadfast (v.14]) and so, may I say it again that we have limits but God does not. His love endures, his power is steadfast, his love is never-ending, and we are held in the palm of his hands.
May you be blessed knowing he loved you before you were born!
Prayer
Your love is steadfast and pure God, we are held by your love, and you always will be here for us. We thank you, God! In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Anne Gillam
About the writer:
Anne Gillam is a retired Pastor in Grace Communion International, Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA.
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