God’s Word for You
Psalm 119:90 The earth stands
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, September 28, 2024
90 Your faithfulness continues from generation to generation;
you have established the earth, and it stands.
This verse does not have any of the usual terms used throughout the Great Psalm for the Word of God. However, it is really paired with verse 89: “Eternal, O LORD, is your word, it is set firmly in the heavens.” It is easy to see that these two verses are a linked set, since each ends with the establishment and “standing” of heaven and earth. Therefore “faithfulness” corresponds to the Word of God here, and we must remember that apart from the Word of God we would not know either who God is or how we are saved from our sins and given the promise to be taken up to heaven; this is God’s faithfulness in its most important sense. Also, the Word of God is how his faithfulness is communicated from generation to generation. In just a few months, I look forward to hearing my son preach his first full sermon. This is when one generation is delighted to hear the next generation pick up and carry on the proclamation of God’s name to the world.
The two dwelling places of verses 89-90 are the two that will continue, remade and made perfect, in eternity: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17), and we constantly look forward to seeing them, for they are the home of righteousness (2 Peter 3:13).
Meanwhile, the solid earth stands beneath our feet. God does not forget to sustain his creation and preserve it, for “all things were created by him, things in heaven and on earth… and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17). In what ways does he preserve us?
First, he gives us those delightful things we share with the animals of his creation: life and breath (Genesis 1:30), health (3 John 1:2), food and water (which he gives to all, Proverbs 25:21), and our physical members, skills and abilities (1 Corinthians 12:24; Proverbs 30:19).
Second, he gives us those delightful things that are unique to man, such our intellect and reason (2 Chronicles 2:12; Job 32:11), but especially the soul, which is man’s spirit, and shares the body’s intellect, reason, sense of humor, desires, memories, faith, and love (Luke 16:25-30).
He gives to us our families, blessing us with marriage and blessing our choice for a spouse (Genesis 11:31, 24:7-8).
To all he gives shelter or a home; even though the Son of Man did not have a home of his own (Luke 9:58) his heavenly Father provided him with places to rest (Mark 4:38).
And God our Father has given to us other things, wonderful things: “All creation helps provide the comforts and necessities of life—sun, moon, and stars in the heavens, day and night, air, fire, water, the earth and all that it brings forth, birds and fish, beasts, grain and all kinds of produce. Moreover, he gives all physical and temporal blessings—good government, peace, and security” (Large Catechism).
These are the basic things we have and see every day to praise God about. For every one of us can sit up in bed in the morning and breathe in the fresh air and say, “Thank you, Father, for my rest. Thank you for my shelter, and my wife (or bless my search for a wife or husband, as each will know to pray), and bless my work in your service today. Amen.”
These blessings are topped by even greater things, as we also remember that in his Holy Word, God faithfully, from one generation to the next, proclaims the gospel, the good news of Jesus our Savior, who has liberated us from sin and the grave and the hideous clutches of the lying Devil. He will bring us up from death in the end, and carry us home to the New Heavens and New Earth that he has promised. Until then, and without fail, the earth stands.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.