Beyond time and into eternity
“We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
One of the difficulties people have concerning prayer, is trying to understand how God handles the petitions of several of believers, at the same time. What is at the root of this difficulty is the idea that God has to somehow fit millions of requests into one moment of time. Now it is certain that God is not in time but inhabits eternity. To be in time means to change and God does not change, for He is in every way immutable and inhabits eternity (the state of timelessness, with no beginning or end). This is confirmed in the Scriptures: “For I am the LORD, I change not (Malachi 3:6) and “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”(Hebrews 13:8).
The following illustration from C.S. Lewis gives an idea of what God’s timelessness is like: Suppose I am writing a novel. I write, “Mary laid down her work; next moment came a knock at the door!” For Mary who has to live in this imaginary time of my story there is no interval between putting down the work and hearing the knock. But I, who am Mary’s maker, do not live in that imaginary time at all. Between writing the first half of the sentence and the second, I might sit down for three hours and think steadily about Mary. I could think about Mary as if she were the only character in the book for as long as I pleased, and the hours I spent in doing so would not appear in Mary’s time (the time inside the story) at all.
I agree with Lewis that this is not a perfect example, but it does give us a glimpse into eternity. God is not hurried along in the time-stream of this universe any more than the author of a book is hurried along in the imaginary time-stream in a novel. God has infinite attention to give to each one of us. He listens to, cares for, and answers each of us individually. When He died on the cross, He died for each of us individually as if we were the only person in existence who needed to be reconciled with Him. If that is not reason enough to love Him, I don’t know what is.
One of the difficulties people have concerning prayer, is trying to understand how God handles the petitions of several of believers, at the same time. What is at the root of this difficulty is the idea that God has to somehow fit millions of requests into one moment of time. Now it is certain that God is not in time but inhabits eternity. To be in time means to change and God does not change, for He is in every way immutable and inhabits eternity (the state of timelessness, with no beginning or end). This is confirmed in the Scriptures: “For I am the LORD, I change not (Malachi 3:6) and “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever”(Hebrews 13:8).
The following illustration from C.S. Lewis gives an idea of what God’s timelessness is like: Suppose I am writing a novel. I write, “Mary laid down her work; next moment came a knock at the door!” For Mary who has to live in this imaginary time of my story there is no interval between putting down the work and hearing the knock. But I, who am Mary’s maker, do not live in that imaginary time at all. Between writing the first half of the sentence and the second, I might sit down for three hours and think steadily about Mary. I could think about Mary as if she were the only character in the book for as long as I pleased, and the hours I spent in doing so would not appear in Mary’s time (the time inside the story) at all.
I agree with Lewis that this is not a perfect example, but it does give us a glimpse into eternity. God is not hurried along in the time-stream of this universe any more than the author of a book is hurried along in the imaginary time-stream in a novel. God has infinite attention to give to each one of us. He listens to, cares for, and answers each of us individually. When He died on the cross, He died for each of us individually as if we were the only person in existence who needed to be reconciled with Him. If that is not reason enough to love Him, I don’t know what is.
