Happy New Year!
Another year is upon us and the last one was a doozy. For me, it went by very fast and with plenty of obvious chaos…yet it will always remain a positively significant year for me as when God called me back to faith, which has changed EVERYTHING!
One of my main revelations this year has been how God’s ways and thoughts are so far beyond our human ones. We are always trying to think of God in measures of our human experiences and bring Him down to our level. My decades of mentally shaking my fist at God and saying “I don’t believe you” seems so preposterous to me now.
Along with renewed faith come spiritual eyes and a “renewing of the mind” that Paul writes about in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. I have definitely had that experience this year.
Many of my doubts and questions have been answered by trusting the Bible as God’s word and knowing that what I don’t fully understand will be revealed in due time…God’s time who owns time. As the Psalmist said, “who can know the mind of God?”. It is now clear to me that our pursuit of God through faith reveals His mind on things more and more as we grow in Him. He helps us understand by comparing our experiences with the scripture of old which meaning and truth have never changed even with these modern times. We think we are so enlightened, yet it appears to me mankind is becoming more foolish and dark-minded by the day. The fundamental aspect of God I missed is that He is not limited by our understanding of time and space.
As a teenager and young adult, I was confused and questioned the Genesis story of how God created the heavens and the earth. As a reasonably well-read and educated person, I couldn’t put my arms around the fact that Adam and Eve lived only 6000 or so years ago yet the earth was scientifically millions or billions of human years old. It has taken me over 50 years to realize that time and calendars as we know them were not the basis for God’s measuring of days, time, or space in history. As I have now opened my mind for further spiritual understanding, it is now obvious that He was the force and intelligence that put the heavens and earth in place over an unlimited period of time. His “days” or ways of keeping time are not the same as ours. He does not fit into OUR box of how or when he created what he has created.
When it comes to time and God’s concept of time…these scriptures prevail:
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3:8)
“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:13-14)
“Before the mountains were born you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:2,4)
Time is finite…God is not. He is infinite. Time is His and under His control. He has given us a limited amount of it in this world, but the meaning of eternity is that we can look forward to the end of time when our real lives begin…with Him as our father. This is where death “loses its sting” in this world.
Before the beginning of time, God was. This means he created time in the same fashion as the creation of man. The reasons for this are still a mystery to me…but who am I to question?
The Gospel of John starts with “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) This basically means that Jesus, who is the Word, was with God before the beginning. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have ALWAYS been. Yet, God created time as a reference point for when he would send His Son in time, space, and history to reconcile man to Himself in a relationship, because He loves us.
God is not in a rush like we are. He does not age like we age. His concerns are different from ours…yet we are to strive to be like Him and of the same mindset. Why? Because His plan of redemption was always about restoring us to a timeless eternity spent with Him as sons of God.
While most probably find these truths alienating between us and God, I am comforted by the Gospel of Christ that states we were made in God’s image and for a purpose. That purpose is eternal even though our lives and time on this earth may be short and full of tribulation. Yet we have the promise that Christ has gone to prepare a place for us so that where He is we may be also (John 14:3).
No man knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return. All Christians have been looking for it since his resurrection 2000+ years ago. Will it be this year? It could be. Will it be 1000 years from now? It could be. No matter, the purpose of our lives is to prepare for a life eternally spent with God and not waste any of our short time here in idleness or sinful conduct on this side of time.
Now go and have a happy, productive New Year as we await the timeless eternity promised for those who believe. Fear not and know He is God of time and eternity.