A Heart of Wisdom

I woke up one morning with the words of a hymn in my head. ‘A thousand ages in Thy sight, are like an evening gone; short as the watch that ends the night, before the rising sun’. With the help of Google, I was able to find out the hymn is called ‘O God our help in ages past’, written by Isaac Watts in 1708.

He aimed to put the Psalms into verse for hymns to sing in the Church and to also give them a Christian perspective. So, he would imitate the words of the Psalms and then add his own words about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, His ascension into heaven, His presence in His Church on earth, and His blessings for grace, glory, and eternal life, as promised in the New Testament.

‘O God Our Help’ is a hymn which is based on Psalm 90. The hymn is about the brevity of human life, but the faithfulness of God to help believers in troubled times, protecting them, providing hope, and promising them an eternal home. It ends with a prayer, ‘O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, be Thou our guard while life shall last, and our eternal home’. In the English-speaking world it has always been used at Remembrance Day services and at times of national crisis.

In the Bible Psalm 90 is described as ‘a prayer of Moses, the man of God’. It is easy for me (at the age of 76) to relate to the words describing how quickly life passes. ‘For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night’ (verse 4). ‘The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away’ (verse 10).

But the verse that stands out for me is verse 12, ‘So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom’. I really want to make this my prayer, that I will live my life with the right heart attitude and make decisions that are pleasing to my Heavenly Father. Certainly, the focus of prayers at Ellel Ministries has always been the centrality of inviting Jesus to be Lord of every area of our lives.

Psalm 90:14 goes on to say, ‘Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days’. This is a wonderful prayer asking God to fill us with His love so we can experience joy and thankfulness every day of our life, whether we are old or young.

I am privileged to have amazing, Christian friends, some of whom are a lot older than me, and I notice that they never fail to be content with all the blessings God gives them. They are quite modest and humble, full of thankfulness and kindness, and they overflow with love as they willingly, and generously, reach out to others in prayer and with practical deeds.