This is a hymn of adoration. How marvelous You are, Lord. You’re young and old together. You hold time and creation in Your Hands, seeing the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. All life comes from You and to you all life returns. You see each individual as well, knowing the number of hairs on our heads, the thoughts of our hearts and the deeds of our hands.
For us, time is like a river flowing from a hidden source under the ground. But its beginning is no secret to You. You made time, too. For us, the past is like an ocean where all things wash together and are lost in forgetfulness. But You know every deed that has ever been done, every hope that has ever been fulfilled or left empty, and every motive in the heart of every being that ever lived. You make all things grow and you make them shrink away. It delights you to make a small thing great and to make a great thing small. Your justice makes the last one first and those who were the first among men, the last.
You foresee what men will do. You cause them to do other things they have not planned to do. You fix them in the ways You know they will choose, but You haven’t taken away their will to choose. Therefore, I love Your shining and I love Your Glory in the noonday, in the evening and in the morning!