Daily Scripture Passage: Psalm 90

Psalm 90 (ESV)

From Everlasting to Everlasting

90 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.
² Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³ You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!”
⁴ For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.

⁵ You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning:
⁶ in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.

⁷ For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.

⁹ For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
¹⁰ 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.
¹¹ Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?

¹² So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
¹³ Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶ Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷ Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

Thoughts to Ponder from Ecclesiastes 1:2-11

Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 (ESV)

² Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
    vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
³ What does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?
⁴ A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but the earth remains forever.
⁵ The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
    and hastens to the place where it rises.
⁶ The wind blows to the south
    and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
    and on its circuits the wind returns.
⁷ All streams run to the sea,
    but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
    there they flow again.
⁸ All things are full of weariness;
    a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    nor the ear filled with hearing.
⁹ What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there a thing of which it is said,
    “See, this is new”?
It has been already
    in the ages before us.
¹¹ There is no remembrance of former things,
    nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
    among those who come after.

“Nothing is new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

A little over sixty years ago, the song “Que Sera, Sera” burst onto the scene: “Whatever will be, will be.” It’s the same note that the writer of Ecclesiastes originally sounded centuries ago as he contemplated the same old sameness of human existence.

Don’t you sometimes feel that way too? Nothing new happens; it’s the same old routine. We see new technologies and new discoveries all around us, but nothing changes. We may have the latest smartphone or the newest television, but it doesn’t make a dent in who we are or how we relate to other people.

What the writer of Ecclesiastes couldn’t yet see, and we sometimes fail to see, is that there really is something new “under the sun.” All because of Jesus.

Because of his resurrection, we can start each day in hope. Matthew was collecting taxes, and Nathaniel was lying under a tree when Jesus called them and changed their lives forever. As he did for them, so he does for you. He is calling you out of the dullness of a life that ends with death and inviting you into a new life with far wider horizons, a life that offers you greater and greater transformation into his image.

The resurrection changes everything. It’s not just an article of our faith; it is a promise that can become the foundation of our hope and joy. It’s also something we can begin to experience here and now as we ask the Holy Spirit to give us a taste of Jesus’ love.

The author of Ecclesiastes looked out on a bleak landscape and saw nothing worth getting excited about. All he saw was a meaningless endless cycle of life and death, leading to nothing. That doesn’t have to be your vision! Today may look like every other Friday of your life, but in God’s eyes, it is brimming with potential. Jesus has new things he wants to show you. He has new areas of your life in which you can experience his love and compassion, wisdom and joy.

Every day brings new opportunities – because every day brings new challenges. Every day, there absolutely is something new under the sun!

Jesus, thank you for the resurrection. Help me find joy in knowing that I belong to you forever. Amen.

From C.S. Lewis

This is the whole of Christianity. There is nothing else. It is so easy to get muddled about that. It is easy to think that the Church has a lot of different objects—education, building, missions, holding services. Just as it is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects—military, political, economic, and what not. But in a way things are much simpler than that. The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden— that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time. In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.

From Mere Christianity
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis