Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Before...

 

[Photo of a Scripture verse]


“Before the mountains were born or you
brought forth the whole world, from
everlasting to everlasting you are God.

“A thousand years in your sight are
like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.”
—Psalm 90:2, 4

There is a distinct advantage when one has the privilege of serving a particular cause for a long, long time. If one is present, awake, and has a good memory, “long-time-serving” can prove to be an adjective that indicates the person has much to offer in helping to understand how things came to past.

By God’s grace, and through absolutely no merit of my own, I had the deep honor of serving the fire protection community as a member of various National Fire Protection Association codes and standards committees since 1974. Though I have served on numerous NFPA Technical Committees, I have spent the greatest amount of time serving on the Technical Committees related to the development of what has now become NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code.®

One of the things that I have brought to the table over the years is that I was present during many discussions that led to changes in the Code and can explain to others, who have come along later, why the Code states the requirements that it presents.

Now, magnify my rather insignificant contributions by many times. Imagine what it would be like to have the ear of someone who was, in every case, present from the beginning of everything—someone who knows and understands why things are the way that they are.

This is exactly what Moses was declaring about God when Moses wrote these words in Psalm 90:2, 4:

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

God is the ultimate Technical Committee member, and so much more. He knows why He made things the way He chose to make them. He understands all the systems He put into place. He is the one who understands how climate works, along with every other conceivable system that makes up our universe.

He also understands the people He has created, His knows His divine purposes for them, their advantages, and their limitations. He knows and understands at the most basic level everything that anyone might wish to know about heaven and earth.

It makes sense for us, at the start of another new day, to recognize how fortunate we are to have access to God through His written word and through His Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him and through Him we have an inexhaustible resource to lead us and guide us in every aspect of our lives.

God is before all things, in all things, above all things, around all things, and through all things. Nothing escapes His attention. Nothing is beyond His caring.

And, to top that off, He loves us—loves us!—with His unfailing love. And, that is certainly worth celebrating.

 

Copyright © 2018 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.