Isaac Watts 1674-1748
- Considered by many the best known of the 800 hymns written by Isaac Watts
Isaac Watts is often called the "Father of English hymns"
- Some of his hymns in our Hymn Book
• O God Our Help
• Joy To The World
• Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed
• When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
• At the Cross
• We're Marching to Zion
- This Hymn has been sung often on great public occasions —
- At the Funeral of King Edward VII
- At the unveiling of the Queen Victoria Memorial before Buckingham Palace
- Sung at the funeral of Winston Churchill.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt choose this hymn to be sung at the church service the morning of his first inauguration
- The hymn is often sung as part of the remembrance day service in Canada
- Used on festive occasions in England.
- Has been called "The Church's National Anthem"
- No matter our situation, no matter our struggles and fears, no matter doubts, we are told to have courage, for the Lord is our God.
- God is all we have
- God is all we need
- There is a future for you in Christ
- Paraphrase of Ps 90
- This song refreshes the spirit at the end of every year
- It gives new hope for the year ahead.
- We need Our God every second, minute, hour, day, week, month year, decades, generation and century.
We only see a little of the ocean,
A few miles distance from the rocky shore;
But oh! out there beyond
—beyond the eyes' horizon
There's more—there's more.
We only see a little of God's loving,
A few rich treasures from his mighty store;
But oh! out there beyond
—beyond our life's horizon
There's more—there's more.
- Ps 90 described as a prayer
- Could Moses be the first Psalm writer?
"O God Our Help In Ages Past"
- Moses could remember God's faithfulness at the burning bush
- Struggles in Egypt
- Red Sea & Pharaoh
- Water from the rock - Or manna each day
- Also further back God had been the refuge of Jacob and Isaac, of Abraham, Noah
- In all of events & times God had been a help
- v.2 – Before creation or the beginning of time
He was there
- The eternal God is everlasting
We Look At Our Own Generations
v. 1 Generation - The act or process of bringing into being
- The term of years, roughly 30-35 yr.
- We could use this as a time frame or event in our lives
- Can you really say time after time God has failed you?
- Just looking at the past year let alone our entire lives we have been blessed
- Sure there are times of hurt, lost, pain & disappointment
-Through it all have you seen God's faithfulness?
- Have you learned to trust in God?
- Have you experienced the promise "I will never leave you or forsake you?
"Our Hope For Years To Come"
- Moses was old when he penned this Ps.
- When he stood on Mount Pisgah seeing the land was he seeing Israel future?
- Kings, The Temple, Captivity, Messiah?
Hope
- Today there is much discouragement
- Suspicion drudgery & pessimism abounds
- When we become critical we never give room for wonder of God's work
- Hope is not a vague wish that something will happen
- Hope is a confident expectation for the future
Psalm 71:5 (AV)
5 For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth.
- Jesus encouragement just before arrest
John 14:1–3 (AV)
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
John 16:33 (AV)
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 (AMP)
33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]
Our Hope For Years To Come
- Remember the gloomy donkey Eeyore in Winnie-the-Pooh
- Always negative, head down seeing only dirt
- Without joy
- Moses gives that impression if we have not Christ
- v.7 Hopeless
• Consumed by God's anger & wrath
• There is trouble
- v.8 – We seem to be constantly sinning
- v.9 – Impossible escape
- v.10 – Life is short yet a drag filled with tears
• Then maybe in 70 or 80 years we die
• Where is tomorrows hope?
The opposite of Eeyore is Bouncy Tigger
- Full of life & energy
- Always with a song
- We need a correct view of life
- v.12 – Search for wisdom
- Placing our self under the shepherd's care
John 10:10 (AV)
10 ... I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
1 Peter 1:8 (AV)
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
- v.14 – Life will take on joy & gladness
- v.15 – True gladness last more than a moment
- v.14 – There is an awareness of receiving mercy
- v.17 There is a request for only him
Psalm 27:4 (AV)
4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
Our Shelter From The Storm
- Note the first & last verse
Psalm 90:1 (AV)
1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
- Lord Adonai – Master/Owner
- Requiring absolute obedience
Psalm 90:17 (AV)
17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
- LORD – YHWH – Source of all reality, existence
John 16:33 (AV)
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
And Our Eternal Home
Psalm 90:1 (AV)
1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
- Live confidently in the assurance that the One who has directed your steps to this moment of time is worthy of your complete trust for the days ahead
- A New Years verse to memorize
Psalm 48:14 (AV)
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.
