Day 29

Of God and of the Holy Trinity

Chapter 2, Paragraph 1.

“…eternal,…”

Scripture Lookup

Psalm 90:2.

Reflection

Eternity. To our minds, it conjures up a very looooong time. For example, when my 4-month old cries before finally falling asleep at night, it “feels like an eternity” to my tortured Mommy heart. Or when sitting in a traffic jam. So often when we hear that something is eternal it has negative connotations. As we live in a constantly fast-paced world where even the movies of 40 years ago seem slow-moving compared to the quick and flashy films of today, it may be difficult to think of something eternal as desirable.

Likewise, when we hear that God is eternal, our first thoughts might be that He has existed a long time and is quite old, like Michelangelo’s erroneous depiction on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. However, that is far from the truth! Remember, God is not limited by time:

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. -2 Peter 3:8

To have had no beginning, to have had no end, but be in a constant state of existence, that is God. He is the great “I AM”, after all: not the great “I was” or “I will be.” For God to be eternal means that He is constant. As such, His promises are constant. His goodness is constant. Instead of being affected by age, He is always the same.

Time is fluid, but eternity is stable; and after many ages, the joys will be as savory and satisfying as if they had been but that moment first tasted by our hungry appetites. When the glory of the Lord shall rise upon you, it shall be so far from ever setting, that after millions of years are expired, as numerous as the sands on the sea-shore, the sun, in the light of whose countenance you shall live, shall be as bright as at the first appearance; he will be so far from ceasing to flow, that he will flow as strong, as full, as at the first communication of himself in glory to the creature. -Stephen Charnock

Eternity is not boring and doesn’t grow old. And neither does our eternal God. What a glorious God we serve!

Questions to Consider

• Compare the duration things of this world to the eternity of God.
• How does the eternity of God affect your interaction with the world?