This is my new matra, as I am trying to understand the mysteries of the almighty. You know how sometimes he gives you an answer without context, yeah, this was one of mine:
2 Peter 3:8 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.
It's so plain, but it has such interesting insight. I think the natural attraction is because Peter is talking about God's attitude towards his promises.
For many years I read it from one angle, in that the Lord is patient. The Lord can wait 1000 years and it's not a big deal for him. Which is of course true. The mystery is that it doesn't just say that. It says a day is like a thousand years.
One thought I have been playing with is that in regards to what he can accomplish, he can do more than it seems like there is time for. Or looking at it another way he can bring about things that would take US a very long time.
Reading on it some people read it to say time is immaterial to God. I don't see how that would be. For everything there is a time and a season. The more accurate portrayal is that in most ways God is immaterial to time. He is unchanging, never aging, ever patient. We aren't even sure how he perceives time, and this is the only clue I've got.
Yet he is connected with us. In fact he lives in us (holy spirit). Therefor he is aware of the temporal nature of the human experience. So though I agree that he is not effected by time in a metaphysical sense, in a practical sense he does have to work with it.
One of my repeated prayers is actually an old Beatles tune:
If you want it, here it is. Come and get it, but you better hurry cause it's going fast.
If you want it, anytime, I can give it, but you better hurry cause it may not last.
Which is to express that I would like God to put me to use while I still am young and have my health. I'm taking better care of myself, so I'm uncertain as to my durability vis-a-vis longevity.
More evidence of God's nature to give good gifts and provide is in Matthew 7. It frustrates me because I've been avoiding quoting this passage, it and I have an unfortunate history. I'm uncertain where the flaw is, I've read whole books on the subject yet no solution has arrived. Anyway Matthew 7:7-12
7“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
I'm going to try not to get into the implicit promise there, because.... I'm waiting.
But to the point of his relationship to us, argh, it's not possible to discuss this and not discuss prayer and promise.
A short history and disclaimer: I thought I had been promised something at one point in my faith walk. Life has proceeded to kick me in the face. Which isn't to say God isn't faithful. It's to say he has his own timing. Even though that sounds like I totally get the theological concept and I have agreed to abide by his will it still breaks my heart. I have come to a point at which I do not know what he is planning for my next moments. I do not know how I will cope with it, or if I will. I'm not even certain I believe in a future. I believe in God, and if he sees fit to allow a meaningful future then I submit. I belong to him, because if I belonged to me I would be dead.
Anyway, so the point I was trying to make is that though he can accomplish things in any time he wants, he does it well. More to the point he "gives good gifts".
The passage implies that as a father provides for his family as best as he can, so God will provide for his people the best he can. How glorious such provision must be. Because there isn't a father on this planet that wouldn't give up everything to take care of those he loves. Key word is father there, there are plenty of sperm donors who don't measure up.
So we have two concepts: God's relationship with time, and God's relationship with those who bring their needs to him.
They can't be separate, because those he cares for need things within a certain time. At which point I have circled back to where I started.
2 Peter 3:8 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.
It's so plain, but it has such interesting insight. I think the natural attraction is because Peter is talking about God's attitude towards his promises.
For many years I read it from one angle, in that the Lord is patient. The Lord can wait 1000 years and it's not a big deal for him. Which is of course true. The mystery is that it doesn't just say that. It says a day is like a thousand years.
One thought I have been playing with is that in regards to what he can accomplish, he can do more than it seems like there is time for. Or looking at it another way he can bring about things that would take US a very long time.
Reading on it some people read it to say time is immaterial to God. I don't see how that would be. For everything there is a time and a season. The more accurate portrayal is that in most ways God is immaterial to time. He is unchanging, never aging, ever patient. We aren't even sure how he perceives time, and this is the only clue I've got.
Yet he is connected with us. In fact he lives in us (holy spirit). Therefor he is aware of the temporal nature of the human experience. So though I agree that he is not effected by time in a metaphysical sense, in a practical sense he does have to work with it.
One of my repeated prayers is actually an old Beatles tune:
If you want it, here it is. Come and get it, but you better hurry cause it's going fast.
If you want it, anytime, I can give it, but you better hurry cause it may not last.
Which is to express that I would like God to put me to use while I still am young and have my health. I'm taking better care of myself, so I'm uncertain as to my durability vis-a-vis longevity.
More evidence of God's nature to give good gifts and provide is in Matthew 7. It frustrates me because I've been avoiding quoting this passage, it and I have an unfortunate history. I'm uncertain where the flaw is, I've read whole books on the subject yet no solution has arrived. Anyway Matthew 7:7-12
7“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
I'm going to try not to get into the implicit promise there, because.... I'm waiting.
But to the point of his relationship to us, argh, it's not possible to discuss this and not discuss prayer and promise.
A short history and disclaimer: I thought I had been promised something at one point in my faith walk. Life has proceeded to kick me in the face. Which isn't to say God isn't faithful. It's to say he has his own timing. Even though that sounds like I totally get the theological concept and I have agreed to abide by his will it still breaks my heart. I have come to a point at which I do not know what he is planning for my next moments. I do not know how I will cope with it, or if I will. I'm not even certain I believe in a future. I believe in God, and if he sees fit to allow a meaningful future then I submit. I belong to him, because if I belonged to me I would be dead.
Anyway, so the point I was trying to make is that though he can accomplish things in any time he wants, he does it well. More to the point he "gives good gifts".
The passage implies that as a father provides for his family as best as he can, so God will provide for his people the best he can. How glorious such provision must be. Because there isn't a father on this planet that wouldn't give up everything to take care of those he loves. Key word is father there, there are plenty of sperm donors who don't measure up.
So we have two concepts: God's relationship with time, and God's relationship with those who bring their needs to him.
They can't be separate, because those he cares for need things within a certain time. At which point I have circled back to where I started.
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