—Psalm 62:8

—“Time,” from The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, 1973

One of the things I enjoy is listening to podcasts and sermons, especially when I’m exercising, on the road, or at other times when I can focus my attention in an active way. However, there are days when I just need a good musical pick-me-up. As I was going to a kickboxing class one morning, Pink Floyd’s “Time” came up on one of my lists. It had been a while since I listened to The Dark Side of the Moon, so it had my attention. What made it even cooler was that it was a cover by Greensky Bluegrass that was out of this world. I recommend you check it out.

As I was listening, it really dawned on me that the words of the song had literally come to pass in my own life. Everything Roger Waters wrote hit the nail on the head, and now I see that “every year is getting shorter” and so many of my plans have come to naught. It was not too long ago that I remember listening to this song on a cassette in a car full of friends as we made our way to our high school prom. And then there’s that line that longs for home, longs for rest. Home, as Waters wrote, is a place of solace, but being there is a temporary condition—we’re always on the run!

Now, I am a middle-aged man looking back while simultaneously anticipating new worries over the horizon, and the time seems to slip by even more quickly. It would be very easy to despair, especially in the middle of a pandemic that it pulling at the frayed and tattered edges of our social fabric.

Thankfully, while youth fades, wisdom often comes with age. Actually, wisdom, true wisdom, comes with spiritual maturity, and that maturity comes from faith being tested and strengthened over time. This realization is the heart of Psalm 62. Sometimes, the faith that overcomes is gained in silent waiting.

You see, while Roger Waters might have written about the nature of time from the perspective of the poet, the Psalmist writes with an eye towards the One who transcends time. The difference between the two is more than perspective. The poet can only speak from the insight that experience has given him or her up to that point. The Psalmist listens for a Word from beyond to fill the container of experience, conforming God’s true speech about himself to the contours of our life, illumining all from the inside. In a word, Waters, as with all poets, assembles meaning into art, while the words of the Psalmist are words we receive that validate within us something we already know, deep down: the same God who has been a refuge will never fail.

Time is short, even when it feels endless, and 2020 has been a difficult passage. In the coming weeks, more difficulties lie ahead. With the time we do have, we should put our trust in the One who is the refuge of our soul.

In Christ,

Pastor Sam