“O God, who art from eternity unto eternity, and art not at one time in one place because all times and places are in Thee…” (Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer, page 65).
In my own prayer and in the prayers that have been written down through the ages, I am deeply and profoundly touched by a Christian’s recognition of the person and being of God. This is almost too simple to say: our view of God profoundly shapes our prayer-life.
Putting this spiritual dictum to the test, it makes me ask this: in what way does a recognition of the timelessness of God’s nature effect my prayer life? You may think of different ways yourself, but here is what I came up with:
1) God’s time is not our own. It is difficult to think of time as God does. For God time is immaterial. He was before time and is after time. For God, time is a parenthesis, and a very small one at that. Past, present and future is the same for God.
2) Patience on our part. Because such is the case, we have to be patient for God to answer our prayers. God’s timing in timelessness does not fit our timetable. We get impatient because intuitively we know we are not going to live forever, and we want to see some result while it is still relevant and before it is too late.
3) Ongoing work of salvation-history. God’s ultimate purpose in human history is the salvation of his creation. What went on in our past God knows how it is going to effect the present and the future. It may be a new thought for us to pray in view of the past.
4) God already knows what we need. Since this is true, prayer may be more for us than for God. The transformative power of prayer itself is seldom explored in discussions regarding prayer. God knows that the very utterance of the words that form our prayers can be transformative when we actually hear what we are saying.
In my own prayer and in the prayers that have been written down through the ages, I am deeply and profoundly touched by a Christian’s recognition of the person and being of God. This is almost too simple to say: our view of God profoundly shapes our prayer-life.
Putting this spiritual dictum to the test, it makes me ask this: in what way does a recognition of the timelessness of God’s nature effect my prayer life? You may think of different ways yourself, but here is what I came up with:
1) God’s time is not our own. It is difficult to think of time as God does. For God time is immaterial. He was before time and is after time. For God, time is a parenthesis, and a very small one at that. Past, present and future is the same for God.
2) Patience on our part. Because such is the case, we have to be patient for God to answer our prayers. God’s timing in timelessness does not fit our timetable. We get impatient because intuitively we know we are not going to live forever, and we want to see some result while it is still relevant and before it is too late.
3) Ongoing work of salvation-history. God’s ultimate purpose in human history is the salvation of his creation. What went on in our past God knows how it is going to effect the present and the future. It may be a new thought for us to pray in view of the past.
4) God already knows what we need. Since this is true, prayer may be more for us than for God. The transformative power of prayer itself is seldom explored in discussions regarding prayer. God knows that the very utterance of the words that form our prayers can be transformative when we actually hear what we are saying.
5) Timelessness in our prayers? Is it possible then for our very prayers to take on a characteristic of timelessness? What if we viewed our Christian life as one continuous prayer in conversation with God? What if we were able to visualize the past, present and future coming together in our petitions?
God is from eternity unto eternity. The infinite hears the finite. The Uncreated One hears from the created. The timeless hears the time-bound. Our view of God profoundly shapes our prayer-life!
In Christian love, Curtis
2 comments:
I was awed when I opened this email and found the words "I am in prayer on your behalf today." Moreso because I was wondering why today of all days was so light and peaceful.
Thank you Dr. Mc Clane
and Thank God!
I long for my life to be one unending prayer to God...... thank you for your words!
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