"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, thou hast been our dwelling-place In all generations. (2) Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. (3) Thou turnest man to destruction, And sayest, Return, ye children of men. (4) For a thousand years in thy sight Are but as yesterday when it is past, And as a watch in the night. (5) Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: In the morning they are like grass which groweth up. (6) In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; In the evening it is cut down, and withereth. (7) For we are consumed in thine anger, And in thy wrath are we troubled. (8) Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, Our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. (9) For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: We bring our years to an end as a sigh. (10) The days of our years are threescore years and ten, Or even by reason of strength fourscore years; Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away.


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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