Psalm 102: 26-27 (NRSV)
“They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like clothing and they pass away. But you are the same, and your years have no end.”
Devotion
A couple of years ago, one of my professors at Princeton Seminary said something striking in a class that I remember often. It echoes how God is described in Psalm 102. My professor had just completed a book about sabbath (Wrestling with Rest) and he reminded us of this simple, yet easy to forget truth: God has enough time for what God needs you to do and for who God is calling you to be.
I remember that when I heard him say this, I felt so relieved. It was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I could take a deep breath. We are conditioned to believe that we must live by a certain prescribed timeline and that anything that deviates is not only seen as unnatural, but oftentimes as failure. There is an immense pressure to do and be what is expected by this world.
Psalm 102 calls us to a new way of framing our lives. Not around a human-created, one-size-fits-all timetable that is based on expectations and assumptions; but around a God that is constant, unconditional, and eternal. Find relief today, even if only for a moment, in knowing that God has more than enough time for you, for what God needs you to do, and for who God is calling you to be.
Prayer
I return to this prayer of Saint Teresa of Ávila often when I need a reminder:
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, all things will pass away.
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things, whoever has God lacks nothing.
God alone suffices. Amen.
Lizzy Steel