Earthly Eyes or
Heavenly Vision?

As you think about God being eternal this week, my hope is that this is another attribute that causes us to take a step back in adoration of the greatness of God – recognizing how limited our human understanding is when we try to comprehend a God who is so far beyond us. As Psalm 90:2 states, God is from everlasting to everlasting.

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you
had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to
everlasting you are God.” – Psalm 90:2

When Moses was commissioned by God to go to the Israelites, Moses asked what
he should tell them if they asked who had sent him. God’s response is both simple
and profound: “I AM WHO I AM”.

“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Say this to the people of
Israel: “I AM has sent me to you.”’”— Exodus 3:14

I love the picture of “I AM WHO I AM.” There is no comparison. There is no beginning that explains God, no ending that limits Him, and no one else is like Him. God simply is.

The eternality of God means God is without a beginning or an end. It is challenging for us to wrap our minds around the idea of something without a beginning, but we know that God has always been and will always be. Another component of God’s eternality is that He is free from the continuous, chronological flow of events, moments, or things following one after another in a specific order and God is outside of time. The following quote from C.S. Lewis offers a helpful illustration of this aspect of God’s eternality and gives us a glimpse into something that is difficult for our human minds to comprehend.

“If you picture Time as a straight line along which we have to travel, then you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn. We come to the parts of the line one by one: we have to leave A behind before we get to B and cannot reach C until we leave B behind. God, from above or outside or all around, contains the whole line, and sees it all."– CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

To think that God sees the past, present, and future all as one and is outside of time is incredibly comforting and trust inspiring. We see what is happening right now. God sees what we cannot see. We see the circumstance; God sees the purpose. We see the question; God sees the answer. We see today; God sees yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

God will never look at tomorrow and say, “I didn't see that coming.” Nothing surprises Him. Nothing catches Him off guard. Nothing is outside of His knowledge or His sovereign purposes.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” -2 Peter 3:8
 

We live in time. God is eternal.
Earthly eyes see the moment.
Heavenly vision trusts the God who sees it all.
Know God. Trust His Ways. See Differently.

Personal Reflection

• How does thinking about God's eternality impact me?

• What would change if I looked at my current circumstances with a heavenly vision rather than earthly eyes?