From Everlasting to Everlasting
I was walking down the aisle, trying to find the next item on my grocery list, when I saw a familiar face. He recognized me at the exact same moment. We both smiled and walked toward one another with excitement.
As I approached, I instinctively started to put out my right hand to greet him with a handshake. But when my hand was halfway to him, I remembered that we were in the middle of a pandemic and handshakes were off limits.
I had already committed far enough into the handshake that my retreat from the process was awkward. Attempting to recover, I smiled and clumsily waved like a shy child. By that time, my brain was in such panic mode I couldn't think of anything to say and the silence only added to the awkwardness.
CHANGES, BIG AND SMALL
A handshake used to be simple and mindless, but now I must undo years of training and instinct to refrain from this gesture. This is just a small example of how things have quickly and drastically changed this year.
We've all likely noticed there’s a lot of frustration in the air. You feel it in everyday conversations. You see it on social media. Although there are many reasons for such frustration, it's likely that some stems from a fear of uncertainty brought about by fast-paced change.
None of us likes having the ground shift from under our feet. Our day-to-day life, perhaps a way of life that we have known for years, has in a matter of months been completely turned upside down.
How do we, as God’s people, react to such uncertainty? In the midst of fear and frustration, how can we show the world we’re people who are fundamentally different? How can we find comfort when everything around us seems to be changing?
UNRESTRAINED BY TIME
In Psalm 90, Moses reminds us that while our lives are short, God is eternal:
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God (Ps. 90:2).
The book of Job similarly teaches that “the number of [God’s] years is unsearchable” (36:26). Our God is not bound to time as we are. Like a circle, he has no beginning and no end. It’s hard for us to comprehend how someone can be outside of time, but God sees into all of human history. I can only be in one moment at a time, but God is not limited by such restraints. He sees what you did yesterday, what you're doing right now, and what you'll be doing tomorrow, all at once.
Because he is outside of time, nothing catches him by surprise. We are surprised and catch off guard all the time. One moment life is going well, and then we receive that dreaded phone call or see that awful news headline and find ourselves in shock and disbelief.
Nothing happens in your life that God doesn’t already know. Tomorrow's news headline might be a surprise to you, but even now, God is already aware of it and working in many mysterious ways to prepare you for what will come. This doesn't make these events less shocking when they occur, but it does give us hope that God is aware and at work in the lives of his people.
UNCHANGING AND PERFECT
Scripture not only teaches that God is eternal but he is also immutable, or unchanging. Our Lord is "the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb. 13:8). In Malachi, the Lord reminds his people, "I, the Lord, do not change" (3:6).
Humans, on the other hand, are not perfect, so there are times when change is good for us. Other times, our mutability can be a source of great frustration, as it leads to inconsistency and an unworthiness to be trusted.
The fact that God is forever, he always has been, and he never changes should greatly comfort us. It might seem like a lofty doctrine, but it’s foundational to our faith. Since God is perfect, it is ideal that he does not change.
Consider how hurtful it is when someone promises to love you and stay with you forever, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, as long as you both shall live, only to change their mind years later. Such change of mind leaves you feeling betrayed and hurt. How frustrating is it when a politician tells you that if you vote for him, he will do x, y, and z. You vote for him and once he’s in office, he changes his position and doesn't keep his promise.
Aren’t we thankful that a perfect God never changes?
Imagine Abraham leaving his family and home because God said he was going to give him a new land, only to have God decide he’s going a different route later on. Imagine believing that through repentance and faith you can be forgiven of your sins because of Christ, only to stand before God on the day of judgment and find out he changed his mind.
Thankfully, we don't have to worry about this. Because of God’s perfection and immutability, he is worthy of our complete trust.
TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS
After considering the timelessness of God and the brevity of man, Moses prays in Psalm 90:12, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." The reality of life, as we have seen, is that it's constantly changing. We're not guaranteed tomorrow.
The reality of our finitude can be unsettling and frustrating, but coming to grips with this reality can lead us to a heart of wisdom. Our anchor in this brief life is our God, who is outside of time and who does not change.
Equipped with the truth of who God is, we can face each day with hope and security. If our hope is in our circumstances, it will falter when our circumstances change. If our hope is in anything temporal such as relationships, position, or financial status, we will be let down, because these human hopes will change.
However, believers have a hope in someone much more secure—the God who is unrestrained by time and who is unchanging and perfect and everlasting.
FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING
Are we displaying this hope to the world? If people listen to our words, if they read our social media posts, will they see that we have hope in someone unchanging, or will they see the same fear, frustration, and hopelessness they see in everyone else?
Let us strive to rest in our timeless, unchanging hope, even as the winds of change howl around us. As the thoughts of culture shift and the promises of man fail, let us stand firm on God’s timeless word. May the instability of human government cause us to fix our eyes on the unchanging, eternal King.
And, even when it’s awkward to approach someone with a handshake, let us embrace our Heavenly Father, who compels us to draw near his throne with confidence to find help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).
James Williams serves as Associate Pastor at FBC Atlanta, TX, and as a GCD staff writer. He and his wife, Jenny, are blessed with four children and are actively involved in foster care. He is passionate about beholding the beauty of our Lord and helping others do the same. He enjoys writing, running, and gardening. You can follow James Twitter or his blog where he writes regularly.