In reading N. T. Wright’s book ‘A Case for the Psalms’ (not that I ever needed a case making for the Psalms, finding them totally invaluable throughout my Christian life!), I came across a quote which articulated for me a long-held belief that the more we understand of God’s perspective on time, the easier we will find it to cope with waiting in our time.
“Make us to be people who know how to stand at the threshold of human time and God’s time, and there to learn both humility and hope. Our time is not worthless, but any worth it may possess will come from God’s goodness, not our control of our circumstances.” (N. T. Wright, ‘The Case for the Psalms’, P 38)
We are people who belong to eternity but who are, in Michael Card’s words, stranded in time. Aaron Shust says ‘there is only one desire in the heart of Your redeemed/ To step deeper in the place where earth and heaven meet.’ Learning to live in our time but seeing eternity from God’s perspective does wonders for how we view the drudgery and the waiting of our daily lives. So often, we feel helpless because we cannot control our circumstances or dictate when things will happen to us. Yet as we wait and hope (the two being inextricably linked together etymologically and in our experience), we learn that ‘there is a time for everything’ (Eccl 3:1); times are appointed by God (Gen 1:14) and He is Lord of all time. (Rev 1:8)