My last two newsletter articles have dealt with the ancient Hebrew words wait and hope, how those words are tied together, and the importance of where, or to Whom, we tie the words. Here we are…still in the process of finding some sense of normalcy but with additional dynamics — that of racial unrest, economic re-starts, organizational restructuring, and a general re-thinking of life’s foundations.

The thing is that not all parts of society are experiencing these dynamics in the same way or to the same degree. Communities that are racially homogeneous are probably recognizing the overblown nature of some rhetoric. People whose incomes are set through wise investments (or who have found new work because of the pandemic) are possibly embracing the economic opportunity that has come about. Organizations so structured as to be nimble see this as a validation of forethought. And those whose foundations are…um…that is when it might get a little tricky…or does it?

Psalm 90:1-2 says

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

(NRSV)

The word everlasting is a word whose explanation includes both futurity and antiquity. However far back, or forward, time will go, there will be God. And yet, I am not so sure of that explanation. I tend to agree with those who see the everlasting to everlasting nature and being of God to indicate that God extends above time.

It is not that God can look back on our past or look ahead to our future. It is that the totality of our lives is as the present with God. Here is why this should matter: God sees our current racial, structural, and societal malaise as an eternal now in whom we have been, presently are, and shall be. God knows exactly how we got to where we are, and God knows exactly how we get to where we need to be if we are to be about bringing God’s kingdom to earth. (Isn’t that what the Lord’s Prayer is about? “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”)

Regardless of one’s position in life — or one’s perception of all that is going on, God’s everlasting to everlasting perspective will be that which takes into account all that life has been and all that life will be. Why should not our first choice be that which seeks the everlasting to everlasting nature and being of God? May this be our heart’s first desire in this moment in time.