While my husband and I were visiting another city, we took an evening stroll through the neighborhood where we were staying. As we passed one particular house, an architectural detail (see above) caught our attention.
The carved inscription immediately made me stop and smile. I recognized it as a charming bit of wisdom Charlotte, the barn spider, shared with her frantic friend, Wilbur the pig, in E. B. White’s beloved children’s classic, Charlotte’s Web.
As I snapped the photo, it seemed that the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart …
“Have you ever noticed? Jesus never hurried.”
Hmmm. I thought on that a moment. I realized that Jesus, during his years of earthly ministry, was not only unhurried, but in fact was criticized for taking His sweet time—even occasionally dragging His feet.
In one of the biggest misunderstandings in all of Scripture, Martha had the chutzpah to scold Jesus. (We read all about it in John 11:1-45.)
In all fairness, it had not been her best day ever. Her brother, Lazarus, had just died, and her raw, unfiltered grief had made her forget herself. When Jesus finally arrived—too late—she rebuked the Master for what she assumed was unexcused dilly-dallying.
“Lord,” she cried, “if YOU had been here, my brother would NOT have died!” (John 11:21 NKJV) You can hear the pain and frustration in her voice. “Lord, WHERE have You been?! What took You so long?! Because You delayed, our Lazarus IS DEAD!”
The truth is, Jesus delayed on purpose. He knew Lazarus would die before He got there—He planned it that way. To His disciples He was clear, “I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go—NOW.”
Jesus wasn’t worried one bit, and He didn’t need to hurry. As at other times, His actions, words, and even His timing were carefully calculated to build the faith of those who were watching, “for he himself (already) knew what he would do.” (John 6:6)
As it turned out, Jesus was right on time to perform one of the most dramatic miracles of His earthly ministry—calling Lazarus out of his tomb back to life again.
In another story, recorded in Mark 4, we read that after a long day of teaching, Jesus suggested that He and His disciples cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. During the voyage, He found a comfortable spot in the stern of the boat and, sure enough, fell fast asleep. But as they sailed, “there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.” (Mark 4:37)
I’m sure the disciples did everything they knew to navigate through the storm. But finally, they realized with horror that they would likely capsize and lose the ship—and all their lives with it. They were bailing and bucking when they screamed into the gale, “MASTER! Don’t you care?! Aren’t You worried that we are ALL about to DIE?”
Did Jesus know the danger they were in? Of course, He knew! Did He care? Of course, He cared!
Then WHY did he wait until His disciples were out of their minds with terror? Why did Jesus seem to purposely take His time to intervene?
Because God doesn’t live in TIME. (Forgive me if you do not agree with that statement, but kindly hear me out.)
God created time—He doesn’t need it, spend it, use or abuse it. Time was made on the fourth day of creation for the benefit of the heavens and the earth—and ultimately for man on the earth, but God lives outside and ABOVE our timeline.
He is not a procrastinator, nor is He limited to work in this moment only. His plans are lengthy, but only to US—not to HIM. God does not live by the clock—He lives in ETERNITY.
C.S. Lewis, in his masterful synopsis of the Christian faith—Mere Christianity—wrote, “We tend to assume that the whole universe and God Himself are always moving on from past to future just as we do. But … God is not in Time. His life does not consist of moments following one another. (It) is always the Present for Him.”
Though it is always “NOW” to God, yet He understands fully why we get hurried and worried. He knows we look back with regret at time wasted in our past—He knows that we worry about what we cannot see in our future. He made us to live within the framework of time that He created—but He Himself is not limited by it.
He gets us, but we don’t get Him.
Take your time this week pondering the timelessness of God. In the next post, we will talk about the possible hurry-less and worry-less benefits of putting “our times in God’s hand.”
(Part 1 of 2)
