Picture the scene: Boxing Day evening and all the family festivities are over. There’s a pile of wrapping paper and cardboard boxes still to sort out; there’s a table full of foodie leftovers to put in the fridge. The children are finally in bed, worn out by excitement over the festivities, and parents are longing to join them! As they tidy things away, they find some precious toys, eagerly embraced yesterday, already broken or needing more batteries. Christmas seems so very ephemeral at times.
Life can seem very ephemeral also. As we age, we realise that the grass withers and the flowers fall (Is 40:8) and ‘the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath.’ (Ps 39:5) We are fast approaching the end of 2019; I can remember as a child looking ahead to the 21st century as something exotic and beyond my comprehension, and now we’re nearly twenty years into that century! One of the things we can be grateful for, however, is that God endures. His word endures forever (Is 40:8); His love endures forever (Ps 100:5); His renown endures forever (Ps 102:12); His righteousness endures forever (Ps 111:3); His faithfulness endures forever (Ps 117:2); His name endures forever (Ps 135:13). He Himself is without beginning or end: ‘from everlasting to everlasting You are God.’ (Ps 90:2) In God, we have Someone who won’t break, fail, run out of steam or simply disappear. In God, we have Someone who will be with us forever.
