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Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down (Psalm 145:13-14).

Well here we are, the traditional first day of school in Ontario. I don\u2019t remember the first time I walked up the steps of that big yellow school bus. I do have memory of other first days of school, with all the hopes, dreams and fears that came with it. I\u2019m afraid that I never paused to consider how my parents were doing on those days. There was a year when all eight of their children marched out the door one September morning, and scattered through kindergarten to grade 12.

Being a parent myself, I reflect on those childhood memories differently now. Parents have different hopes, dreams and fears.

For many of us, this September will be unlike any we have had before. And I suspect that nobody wants another. I also suspect that the fears may overshadow the hopes and dreams.

To give us some steadiness on this day, I want to return with you to the magnificence of Psalm 145. Early in the Psalm it says, \u201cOne generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.\u201d

I have always understood this to mean that the older generation tells the younger. But for some reason, I got thinking about a little VBS exercise. That part where the children are encouraged to look for \u2018God sightings\u2019 when they go home and report back the next day. It\u2019s always interesting and often encouraging to hear what things the children have seen. Is it possible that children have better eye sight adults? Why don\u2019t adults make that part of their day?

Can I encourage you to do this little exercise today? Who knows what God wants you to see today?

However, there is a danger here. The book of Hebrews tells us that our faith is not based on sight. Faith is hoping for things we have not yet seen (11:1). It is possible that we walk through this day and do not see the hand of God. Does that mean he\u2019s taking a nap? Of course not.

This is why we need to tell the stories of God from one generation to the next. Many Biblical scholars believe that the final arrangement of book of Psalms is from the time of the Babylonian exile. This was a time when Israel could not see God\u2019s hand at work. But in faith they sang these psalms of praise.

This is a song of defiance. In Babylon, God\u2019s people declared to each other that Babylonian power would end, but God\u2019s kingdom would be forever. The ways of people and human kingdoms are so unpredictable. Can we depend on governments to care for our interests? Can we depend on teachers to respect and care for us? Can we depend on family to be there for us? Thankfully, we can often say yes to these questions. But we can also recall times when the answer was emphatically no.

Psalm 145 tells us several times that with God there is no question. God is faithful to his promises and he does what is right. He is a loving, gracious, compassionate king. \u201cThe Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.\u201d

As we enter a fall season in which little is certain, let us remember that God is faithful. But also this: that the statement \u201cGod helps those who help themselves,\u201d is blatant heresy. The unbridled testimony of scripture is that God helps those who are in need. He does not wait until we have gotten up; he reaches down when we are still lying in the mud and helps us up.

This is an essential reality of his grace. He comes to us in Christ before we come to him. So, if today lands you in the mud, look for the hand of God to help you up. The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. Praise the Lord!