Letting God Steady Our Day

There’s a line from an old hymn I prayed recently in the Divine Office that has been echoing in my heart lately:

“O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be now our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.”

It’s a prayer that stretches across time—past, present, and forever. And it’s exactly the kind of prayer Psalm 35 teaches us to pray.

Psalm 35 is raw and honest where David doesn’t pretend the battle isn’t real. He names the injustice, the fear, the confusion. He cries out for God to contend with what he cannot fix, to defend him when he feels surrounded, to speak for him when he has no words left. It’s a psalm for the days when we feel pressed, misunderstood, or worn thin by the weight of what we’re carrying.

But woven through the psalm is a deeper thread: David keeps lifting his eyes beyond the moment. He remembers who God has been. He trusts who God is. And he anchors himself in who God will always be.

That’s the eternal perspective we are invited to reclaim.

When troubles last—and sometimes they do—God is not only our guard in the present moment. He is the One who has carried us before we knew to ask, and the One who will hold us long after this particular storm has passed. He is our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, and the home our hearts are ultimately made for.

Keeping an eternal perspective doesn’t mean ignoring the struggle. It means letting God steady our day. It means remembering that every battle, every disappointment, every unanswered question is held within a much larger story, one where God is faithful, God is near, and God is leading us toward a future that cannot be shaken.

So today, if your heart feels like David’s—tired of contending, longing for rescue—let this be your quiet courage:

You are guarded by the God who spans all time. And your story is held by the One who is not only your help and your hope, but your eternal home.