A Moment in Time

 

Write From My Heart / September 30, 2020 / A Moment in Time

Genesis 1:1 (NIV)  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:14 (NIV) And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.”

Genesis 8:22 (NIV)  “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

            As humans, we have a very linear conception of time. We are constantly moving from the past—time that is “no longer,” into the present—time that is “now,” while we anticipate the future—time that is “yet to come.” We live from one moment to the next; and as soon as that moment arrives, the previous moment is gone forever, it no longer exists except as memory, and it cannot be retrieved or relived.

            I have been thinking about this concept for some time (pun intended), and what I realize is that God does not require the measurement of time to function, nor does time place constraints upon him. Before the world began—before it was created—Our Triune God existed. In fact, it was God who created the world, created the planets, stars, universe and all the orbiting movements that generate time as we humans understand time. We are time-bound and our life is fleeting…naught but a momentary breeze as compared to God’s eternity and the time span of his word.

Isaiah 40:8 (NIV)  The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.

James 4:14 (NIV)  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.

            We survive by living moment by moment, and some days we accomplish this better than others. Truly we are time-dependent creatures. Worse still, we tend to cling to the past heaping guilt upon ourselves for what no longer exists. The only thing that does is muddy our joy in the present and hinder our hope for the future. God stands over and above time just like he stands over and above the world. He understands the guilt of our past; but when he forgives, it is remembered no longer. It doesn’t follow us into the future unless we fail to let it go. Furthermore, he understands what lies ahead of us in the future; and through the Holy Spirit, he is able to address our concerns and guide our directions in life. 

Psalm 30:5 (NIV)  For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Ezra 9:6 and 8 (NIV, excerpts)  O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. … But now, for a brief moment, the LORD our God has been gracious…

Ezra 8:22 (NIV)  The good hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him.

            I am reminded of an old hymn and I will close with one of its verses.

“Moment by Moment” (words by Daniel W. Whittle, 1893)

Never a trial that He is not there, never a burden that He doth not bear,

Never a sorrow that He doth not share, moment by moment I’m under His care.