The Lord of our years

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. — Psalm 90:2

When the Concise Oxford English Dictionary announced in 2006 that the word time was the most-often used noun in the English language, it didn’t seem surprising. We live in a world where people are obsessed with using days, saving minutes, and trying to find more hours in the day. Although each of us has all the time that there is, few of us think we have enough.

Perhaps that’s why Psalm 90 is such a treasured passage. It shifts the focus from our time-bound lives to our eternal God. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (v. 2).

A stanza in Matthew Bridges’ well-known hymn “Crown Him With Many Crowns” begins: “Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time.” A potentate is a sovereign, a monarch, an anointed majesty — one who does not seek appointment or run for election.

God created time. He rules and transcends it. When we feel frustrated by the calendar or captured by the clock, quiet reading of Psalm 90 reminds us that our days and years are in the hands of our eternal God.

As we humbly bow before Him, we see time from a new perspective. — David McCasland

Crown Him the Lord of years,

The Potentate of time,

Creator of the rolling spheres,

Ineffably sublime. — Bridges

READ: Psalm 90

We must have a right view of eternity to know the real value of time.

The Bible in one year:

• 2 Chronicles 19-20

• John 13:21-38