Gtcotr/ss041110
There is a reason why life and time move
forward … God designed it that way.
Ephesians 5
14 Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And
Christ will give you light."
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
The Apostle Paul admonishes every believer to shake off the apathy, rise from
your lethargy, and walk in the light, making the best use of our time in these
desperate days.
In other words: Don’t just sit there and waste time … get up, get going, go
forward and do something that counts while there is still time.
Time is a paradox – The faster we move the longer we live.
As we move faster time seems shorter, but we actually live longer.
The best theory suggests that people who move faster age slower.
For example, if one could move at the speed of light, aging would cease and
time would stop … at least for the person who was moving that fast. While
others who were moving at the regular speed would continue aging at the normal
pace of life along with everyone else except for those who were moving at a
much slower pace of life, these would theoretically, of course, age more
rapidly.
I don’t wish to bog you down with theory or push your thoughts down endless
rabbit trails, but suffice it to say that:
God is so wise and so merciful to us and, it is He who has graciously limited
our natural access to time.
Can you imagine how confusing it would be if people could access the past? How
would it be if they could stop, pause, jump ahead or rewind time … Do things
differently, do things over – never do them at all?
Sure it might be ok if you were the only one who had that access to the past
and the power to go back and change things, do things over or fix those things
that went wrong … but … give that power and access to everyone and you might be
the one they went back and fixed, and the changes they made which affected you
might not be something you could live with, if they allowed you or your
children to live at all.
Both life and time are designed by God to move forward and without life moving
forward or, when life is not moving at all, it is not life as God intended, not
life as God designed.
Your best life moves you
forward …
And for those who are moving forward – your greatest day is yet ahead!
We are admonished to get up, get engaged in life, move forward and make the
most of our time, while we still have time.
We are encouraged to make the most of the day we have instead of worrying about
the days gone by or those things we might have messed up or missed out on.
It can be difficult to move forward when we are too worried about the future or
too focused on the past. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah said about time past:
Isaiah 43 NKJV
18 "Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring
forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
Life and time are designed by God to move forward. They move forward to embrace
all the new things which have not yet been birthed, all of the new joys that
have not yet been experienced, all of the tomorrows not yet lived.
Your best life cannot be lived in regret of the past or in fear of the future.
We can do nothing about time … God can, but we can’t.
God can pause, God can rewind, God can fast forward, and He can even delete
time and, on occasion, when He has been requested to, He has done it. Such was
the case in Joshua 10 when God put time on hold.
Joshua 10
12 Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the
Amorites before the children of
13 So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till
the people had revenge Upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and
did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.
14 And there has been no day like that, before it or after it,
that the LORD heeded the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for
Not only did God once put time on hold but He also turned back the hands of
time for King Hezekiah as a sign the king had been granted 15 additional years
of life after it was appointed unto him to die.
This occurred 713 years Before Christ as best we can figure. It seems
King Hezekiah fell sick even unto death and Isaiah the prophet paid a visit to
this King and said to him:
“Get your house in order;
for you shall die and not live.” (2 Kings 20:1)
King Hezekiah prayed earnestly and wept bitterly before the Lord and God sent
the prophet Isaiah back to extend his life 15 more years. However, the king was
concerned if Isaiah was telling him the truth or not and so he asked the
prophet for a sign.
Isaiah 38:8 Behold, I
will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial
of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned
ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
Isaiah replied, “Shall the Lord make the shadow on the sun dial to forward ten
steps or backward ten steps?” “Backwards”, Hezekiah said. And so the Lord
caused the sundial of Ahaz to mark a reversing in
time. Some say it was but 5 hours while others say 10. It really doesn’t matter
... however:
Without regard as to the details, suffice it to say that Hezekiah believed and
did live to see another 15 years, years by the way which were perhaps the
worst, the most selfish and destructive years, in Hezekiah’s lifetime. You can
read the historical account of the son born to Hezekiah 3 years into his
extended lifetime and how he became a curse to all
Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son was 12 years old when his father died and left him to
begin his reign of terror. He attempted to wipe out the worship of Jehovah
among the children of
There is an old Jewish tradition which says that Isaiah was put to death during
this time having been sawn asunder in the trunk of a tree. In 681BC Manasseh
was taken captive to
God heard Manasseh’s cry and restored him to his kingdom. You can further read
about this in the book of 2 Chronicles 33. Manasseh abandoned his idolatrous ways
and encouraged the people to worship Jehovah. But there was no lasting
reformation during his lifetime.
Sometimes it’s real hard to
build up what you worked so hard to tear down.
Manasseh ended up being the longest reigning king in the history of
God not only knows the past but He can also see the future, and believe me when
I tell you, you can trust Him.
There is a reason why life and time move forward. God knows it is best that
way! Decide right now that you are going to move forward with God and make the
most of the time you have. Make a living, life & difference!