Our Eternal God

Somewhere in the middle of yesterday and tomorrow lies this little thing we call today. It’s the only part of life we are guaranteed. The “present” it is often called. Today started a long time ago (forgive the pun) when God made the very first day. At that moment, there was no yesterday, only today and tomorrow. It’s hard to imagine such a thing because we are so accustomed to time marching on to the tune of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. It’s all linear to us, and there is nothing we can do about it. We are captured and immersed in its clutch.
But to God, it’s different. To God, there is no yesterday, today, or tomorrow. He exists beyond the limits of time. It only makes sense, really, since He is the One who made time. But He is not confined by it or held to its demand. Think of painter, if it helps to understand this. A painter exists beyond the limits of the picture he/she has created. Though the picture captures the essences of time, tone, mood, setting, or context, the painter exists beyond the limitations of his/her creation. They are part of it, but they are not confined to it.
Theologically, we call this timeless nature of God “eternal”. The fact that God is beyond time gives Him the capacity to “be” in all three aspects of time simultaneously. Because He is present throughout time, this gives His character the capacity to be other things as well: omniscient, sovereign, and omnipotent to name a few. Because God is eternal, He can know all things that have ever occurred, are occurring all over the world right now, and those things that will occur in the future. Because He is eternal, He can guide His desired outcomes to come to pass – His will we call it. And because He is eternal, He can providentially control all aspects of humanity, creation, and events without any trouble whatsoever.
So, for you and me today, this gives us great comfort. The nature of time itself causes many great anxiety. Many dread the past and all its mistakes. Many dread today because of all the problems we face in our time. And many fear tomorrow because we don’t know what will happen. Time has a way of causing us to respond to it in these ways. It’s always pressing – always demanding. So, it’s good to know that we serve a God who is eternal, omniscient, sovereign, and omnipotent. He is never surprised by the events of the world. He is never pressured to meet a deadline or be somewhere when He’s needed most. And He is never overwhelmed by the management that His creation requires. He created it all and it all worship Him through its design. He looks down from heaven, and He sees each one of us; and He knows how to provide, on this day, our daily bread. A comforting fact indeed!

Blessings,
Bro. Ben