Selah2020: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during April 2024]

Did you forget? On Sunday morning did you “show up an hour late like two frozen peas”?^[1] The clocks went forward, but did you?

In our era of digital communications, devices such as telephones and computers are usually updated automatically and our dependence on mechanical timepieces is not as great as it once was. The rhythmic tick-tock of the mantle clock no longer lulls us to sleep, its familiar chime no longer marks the progress of the night hours.

Nevertheless, we still have clocks that need to be adjusted: classic wrist watches, car clocks, timers for central heating. It is estimated that the average household spends between 30-45 minutes changing their clocks and verifying their devices each spring and a further 60 minutes reversing the change in the autumn. Considering only UK households, this amounts to time worth about 650 million pounds being spent without achieving anything of lasting value.^[2] This is one example of the futility of human attempts to control time.

In the account of the beginning of the world we see that God created the sun and the moon during the fourth period of creation.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, [and] to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.” Genesis 1 v14, 18 [NIVUK]

It was at this point that God introduced the concept of day and night. Prior to this, light and darkness had been spacially separate but now there was an established, measurable cycle of day and night. So, literally, God made time.

We use that cycle of day and night to measure time but God looks at it differently:

But do not forget one thing, my dear friends! There is no difference in the Lord’s sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same. 2 Peter 3:8 [GNT]

Did you know that there were times when God intervened to overrule the passage of time? Not with the biannual regularity that disrupts our routines but with a specific purpose. The Bible records two such occasions; in both cases they were a response to prayer.

In around 1405BC Joshua led the Israelite army to the defence of allies who were being attacked. His army gained the upper hand over the aggressors but time was running out. He appealed for more time to ensure victory. God made time for Joshua.

The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day. There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Joshua 10 v13-14 [NLV]

Some 700 years later Hezekiah, king of Judah, was seriously ill. He asked for a sign to confirm the promise of his recovery. God made time for Hezekiah.

And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” And Isaiah the prophet called to the Lord, and he brought the shadow back ten steps 2 Kings 20 v10-11 [ESVUK]

In 1719 the hymn-writer Isaac Watts penned some words which describe God’s attitude to time, and include a prayer for us to echo.

A thousand ages in thy sight are like an evening gone,
  Short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun.
Time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away;
  They fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day.
O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
  Be thou our guard while troubles last, and our eternal home.

God made time for us; do you make time for him?

Resources:
[1] from ‘Matrimony’ as sung by Gilbert O’Sullivan, 1971
[2] using official figures for national average income (£672 per week) and number of households (24.4 million).

Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.

Bible dates: Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.