"These [in Berea] were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." - Acts 17:11

(1) Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations. (2) Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God. (3) You turn men back to dust,
saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men." (4) For a thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night. (5) You sweep men away in the sleep of death;
they are like the new grass of the morning- (6) though in the morning it springs up new,
by evening it is dry and withered. (7) We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation. (8) You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence. (9) All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan. (10) The length of our days is seventy years—
or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

New International Version copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

Psalm 90 gives us probably the best biblical perspective of time. This psalm, the only one attributed to Moses, compares how man and God view time and life. His conclusion, of course, is that man and God look at time from entirely different perspectives. It is this difference in point of view that makes a huge difference in how we conduct our lives.

Moses begins by asserting that God is everlasting and almighty (verses 1-2). He can destroy men's lives, and a thousand years later, He resurrects them to life with a word (verses 3-4)! Thousands of years can pass, and God can still bring people back from the dead! Man has no power over death, but God can, has, and will overcome time and death by the power of the resurrection. To God, these thousands of years pass swiftly "like yesterday . . . like a watch in the night."

This is far different from man's point of view. "The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away" (verse 10). Ethan, the psalmist of Psalm 89:47-48, echoes this in his plea to God:

Remember how short my time is; for what futility have You created all the children of men? What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave? Selah.

— Richard T. Ritenbaugh

To learn more, see:
Time and Life



 

Topics:

Death

Mortality

Resurrection

Time

Time, God's Perspective of

Time, Man's Perspective of




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