"Broken!"

 "In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened," (Ecclesiastes 12:3 KJV)

  "Lord, through all the generations you have been out home! Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God. You turn people back to dust, saying, "Return to dust, you mortals!" For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours. You sweep people away like dreams that disappear. They are like grass that springs up in the morning. In the morning it blooms and flourishes, but by evening it is dry and withered. We wither beneath your anger; we are overwhelmed by your fury. You spread out our sins before you - our secret sins - and you see them all. We live our lives beneath your wrath, ending our years with a groan. Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away. Who can comprehend the power of your anger? Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve. Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom." (PSALM 90:1-12 NLT)

 Really, this is about the body failing, which is brought on by old age, but for the sake of making this a message of hope and redemption, let's just pretend that it involves a personal relationship with God! By the way, if you didn't know or haven't yet been told: When you came into this world, you came in as a broken person, needing to be fixed. From your very first breath, you started a journey to find some kind of way to get fixed; but the majority of us never do find the right way! 

 This Psalm was written by Moses, who made it to be a prayer, to show us just how badly we need to find and follow God, no matter what! Seriously, we really don't realize how weak we really are, until our heart gets hardened, and we find ourselves walking away from the only One that can actually fix us. I have seen it happen too many times; just a little offence is all it might take, and there it goes: "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." 

 I know it might not look like much, but these last few verses are geared for covering the bases; not just about being young or old, but being faithful or unfaithful, committed to God or lost in the world! This world can be either a place that swallows you up, or a place where you become redeemed by God; the choice is totally and completely yours! 

 Who is better at telling that story, then Solomon? Has there been many people who have lived the life he lived, and been able to turn back to God? This is all about the power of God's hand, because our hands are tied; they were just the same, before we were actually born...

"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I'll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." (Galatians 5:1-4 NLT)