Time Bears Us Away

Although the words in old hymns often seem rather antiquated, I do enjoy the thoughts expressed so beautifully and truthfully by saints of long ago. This morning, for example, I started my quiet time by humming the words to Isaac Watts’ centuries-old song (1719),  “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.”

Yellowstone National Park, 2019

The words in verse 5 captured my attention:

Time, like an ever-rolling stream,

Bears all its sons away;

They fly, forgotten, as a dream

Dies at the op-‘ning day.

Time does bear all of us away, at some point, doesn’t it? That’s why it’s so crucial that we ask God, as Moses did, to help us realize the brevity of life so that we may live wisely and well, so that our lives—brief as they are even if we live until we are advanced in years—will be lives of significance and service. (See Psalm 90:12.)