Being reminded of God's eternal nature helps you overcome life's momentary problems.
Psalm 90:1–4 (ESV)
A prayer of Moses the man of God.
1 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.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 8: The Trinity
In keeping with this truth and Word of God
we believe in one God,
who is one single essence,
in whom there are three persons,
really, truly, and eternally distinct
according to their incommunicable properties—
namely,
Father,
Son,
and Holy Spirit.
The Father
is the cause,
origin,
and source of all things,
visible as well as invisible.
The Son
is the Word,
the Wisdom,
and the image
of the Father.
The Holy Spirit
is the eternal power
and might,
proceeding from the Father and the Son.
Nevertheless,
this distinction does not divide God into three,
since Scripture teaches us
that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
each has his own subsistence
distinguished by characteristics—
yet in such a way
that these three persons are
only one God.
It is evident then
that the Father is not the Son
and that the Son is not the Father,
and that likewise the Holy Spirit is
neither the Father nor the Son.
Nevertheless,
these persons,
thus distinct,
are neither divided
nor fused or mixed together.
For the Father did not take on flesh,
nor did the Spirit,
but only the Son.
The Father was never
without his Son,
nor without his Holy Spirit,
since all these are equal from eternity,
in one and the same essence.
There is neither a first nor a last,
for all three are one
in truth and power,
in goodness and mercy.
Summary
Out of all the Psalms, only this one - Psalm 90 - has been ascribed to Moses. This psalm carries the description of being “A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God.”
In this psalm of prayer, Moses speaks to the eternal nature of God and the finite nature of man. This psalm opens with “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” While the people of the earth live but one lifetime, the Lord has been a place of refuge for all generations. God remains constant, for the God we worship is the same God that Moses worshiped. The generations may come into the world and pass away, but our God remains.
Unlike the world and everything in it, God does not have a beginning. It is God who “brought forth the whole world.” God was there before the world, for all of creation is his handiwork. As the psalmist writes, “from everlasting to everlasting you are God”. Here the psalmist is speaking of the eternal nature of God. To be eternal is to exist forever, without a beginning or an end. God has existed forever into the past and will continue to exist forever into the future.
Dig Deeper
When we speak of the eternal nature of God, this applies to all three persons of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As the Belgic Confession proclaims, “the Father was never without the Son, nor without the Holy Spirit”.
The three persons of the Trinity are described as co-eternal. Before the creation of the world, God existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is no first or last person of the Trinity, for while the three persons of the Trinity are distinct from one another, they are also one in truth and power.
As you begin preparing for another Lord's Day, let your momentary troubles (2 Corinthians 4:17) fade away in light of the eternal, Triune God who created and redeemed you.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who from everlasting to everlasting is Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will see reality through this eternal lense so that you don't get so caught up and distracted by momentary troubles;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Hebrews 1
