I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Psalms 90-97.

The psalmist reminds us that our lives are short.  In the scheme of history we live for but a moment.  We do not have much time to do God’s will, do not waste the time that you have.  This reminder sets the stage for the two intertwined themes which fill most of the rest of today’s psalms.  The more we praise God and thank Him for what He has done the more we experience His joy.  And, what has God done for which we should thank Him?  He protects those who trust Him.  If we put our faith into action (because if our faith does not cause us to act, it is not really faith), we will not fear.  The psalmist does a great job of summing up the sources of human fears and shoes us that our faith in God will remove those fears.  Human nature causes us to fear what might come at us out of the dark; we fear the inability to see where there might be danger that we could avoid if only we knew it was coming.  Human nature also causes us to fear dangers we see coming that we cannot avoid; the fear that happens when you see a car coming around the corner too fast and know that it will crash into you.  The psalmist reminds us that if we truly trust God we will not fear these things because we know that God controls the outcome.  If we give Him control, whatever happens will further His will and bring us joy.

I was going a different direction with this, but when I got to that point I was reminded of this:  My Mom served others all of her life.  She constantly looked for ways she could be of service.  Even in the last few years of her life she did so.  When she essentially lost her vision to macular degeneration, she still found ways to be of service.  However, all of that stopped, or so I thought, almost a year before her death.  She suffered with a relatively mild form of dementia towards the end and was physically unable to care for herself.  So, she could no longer carry on conversations, partly because of her failing memory and partly because she did not trust what she remembered.  Further she could no longer do anything for others.  She had to allow the nurses and aides to do for her.  I did not understand why God did not take her, her joy in life had been serving Him and I did not see her doing anything for Him anymore because she could not.  Then we got word that she was unresponsive.  I went to see her and realized that even though she could no longer respond to our presence, she knew we were there.  So, I and my siblings took turns staying at her side (others among my siblings spent more time at her side than I did).  I observed how heartbroken one of the aides was to see that my Mom was dying and realized that even in the state she had spent the last months my Mom had still been serving God.  Her faithful witness unto the end had lifted the spirits of those caring for her.  No matter how helpless you think that you are you serve God’s purposes on this earth.  Take joy in that fact until the end, until God calls you home to be with Him.