How old is God?

It's not enough to know that God is. I must know who He is, what He is like, and how He relates to my life and mine to His. Life changes; we decay. We hurt; we die. Nothing in this life is for sure. That's why you and I need a God who is bigger that life; and certainly one who is bigger than death. We need a God who cannot get sick, grow weak, or die. Myths won't work. Magic won't do. Creeds, theories, and abstractions do not excite, or satisfy. We need a God who is everlastingly the same.

Of the attributes of God discussed by the composer of Psalm 90, the assertion that He is "from everylasting to everlasting" is most encouraging. The phrase denotes His eternal existence. In order to reinforce this declaration, he compares the eternity of God with the brevity of man. The Psalmist says that

* God is eternal in His sovereignty- He is "Adonai," "The Sovereign Lord."
* God is eternal in His tenderness- He is our "den," or "dwelling place."
* God is eternal in His power- He "formed the earth and the world."
* God is eternal in His sympathy- He says to man, "Arise, O children of men."

In contrast, and to add weight to the truth of God's eternity, the Psalmist uses three natural analogies to describe the fraility of man. Man's life is as

* A flood- As the torrent rushes down the river-bed and sweeps away everything in its path, so man is here and soon gone.
* Sleep- Sometimes it seems as if the night wears on forever. But at other times it's all to brief, and as quickly as you lie down it's time to rise.
* Grass- As grass is green in the morning, and lies in the barn at night, so is man's life.

What on earth is frailer than man? Nothing! Not so our God! He is "from everlasting to everlasting." He is from the eternal yesterday (from everlasting). Go back in your mind as far as you can, and God is there. Let your thoughts carry you back past the day of your birth, and that of your parents, back past the founding of our republic, back still to the days of Christ, then continue until your mind's eye sees Adam and the garden and perfection. Then from the beginning, go back still further, until the cherubim's song is silenced and until the ministering seraphs are yet futrue; and you will never reach a point in your mental time travel when God didn't exist. Likewise go into the all the tomorrows (to everlasting), until every earthly sovereign has relinquished his throne, until every kingdom has faded, until everything we know and have known has returned to dust. Go as far into tomorrow as your mind can transport you and God will still be there. God is past, present, and future; God is yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He dwells in eternity, and because He is my home, I know that I too will live eternally.