Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. (Psalm 90:2)
Sometimes during my morning time of praying the Psalms, I come across a verse that doesn't so much speak to me as slam into me with the force of a tornado. This is one of those verses. Funny thing is, I've read it like a gazillion times, but this morning the words seemed to leap off the page and shout, "Wait! Stop! Think about that for a moment."
Being a writer, I pay attention to verb tenses. That verse has several past tense verbs - were born and brought - because it's referring to past actions, things God did a long time ago. The word before tells me the point of the sentence is to refer to something that happened prior to those actions. And then we get to the main point - before those things happened, before God performed those acts, 'you are God.' Present tense.
This is one of those things that cause people to stumble. "If God created the world, then who created God?" That's because from the moment we draw breath, we live on a timetable. We live in a world where time is a reality. We can barely conceive of an entirely different plane of existence where time doesn't exist. But this verse whispers a truth --eternity is. It's going on right now, and it has been going on forever, and it will go on forever. Though we can point to a moment when the mountains were created, we can't point to a moment when God was created because He exists independent of moments.
I know. It will blow your mind if you think about it long enough. How can we understand God with our limited view of things? We don't even glimpse the timeless reality of eternity, because we're looking through a microscope called Time. We're no more aware of the reality of our awesome, timeless God than the bacteria on the slide of a real microscope is aware of us looking through the lense at it.
I can't grasp it. This is one of those deep truths that leaves me feeling like a bacteria - clueless, and brainless, and in awe of anyone who 'gets' it. But I'm comforted, because I know when God looks at me, He sees me without the microscope. Because I'm a believer, I know the end of the story -- here's a hint: we win! -- but I'm taking that on faith. When God looks at me, He already sees the end of the story. He sees me as I will be for all eternity. As I am for all eternity. His bride, pure and spotless and victorious because of Him.
Wow. That's a lot of deep thought early in the morning. My brain hurts. I need coffee.
