18 [r]This will be written for the generation to come,
[s]That a people yet to be created [t]may praise [u]the Lord.
19 For He looked down from His holy height;
From heaven the Lord gazed [v]upon the earth,
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner,
To set free [w]those who were doomed to death,
21 That men may tell of the name of the Lord in Zion
And His praise in Jerusalem,
22 When the peoples are gathered together,
And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.
23 He has weakened my strength in the way;
He has shortened my days.
24 I say, “O my God, do not take me away in the [x]midst of my days,
Your years are throughout all generations.
25 “Of old You founded the earth,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
26 “[y]Even they will perish, but You endure;
And all of them will wear out like a garment;
Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed.
27 “But You are [z]the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.
28 “The children of Your servants will continue,
And their [aa]descendants will be established before You.”
There’s a stark contrast here when it comes to the things that will last. Why does God bother with prisoners, why does He seek to set free those doomed to death? Because He didn’t create us to die, He created us to live with Him forever.
We see in vv. 25-26, that even the heavens and earth, that God so painstakingly created, they will perish. They will be remade, and become new. Yet therein lies a similarity. Anyone who lives yet in sin, lives in death, and when God rescues us, we (must) become a new creation. Paul wrote, “The old is gone! All things have become new!”
Only God never changes, He remains the same, steadfast through all generations. And while our lives on this earth come and go, He is still seeking to save those who are lost, so that we can be restored to eternal life, as we were meant to be. Let Him make you new, let him make something amazing in you, and leave behind that which is perishing and worn out.