But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. -2 Peter 3:8
At first glance “permanence” is weighted with earth-bound ideas of strength and immovability. Mountains and diamonds are dictionary pictures of the indestructible. Sitting amidst the Appalachians, I sense an atmosphere thick with a timeless durability. If time doesn’t stand still, at least the mountains do. Right?
In Judges 5:5, the prophetess Deborah exclaims that the mountains melt, or more accurately from the Hebrew, flow before the Lord. In this divinely inspired song of praise a Jewish scientist found a name for an important parameter used to measure the flow properties of natural and manmade materials. He called it the Deborah Number. In his studies, he noticed that even solid substances like granite flow given enough time, temperature, pressure, or some combination of the three. The tendency to flow or resist movement is a key factor in determining how a material can be used, how it will fill a mold, or resist outside forces and external stresses.
Heraclitus (535-475 BC), a Greek philosopher, in recording his observation that a river flows, stated that no man steps into the same river twice (And you thought Disney’s Pocahontas came up with that idea). In doing so he provided a name for a branch of science, rheology (literally rhea –“it flows” + ology “study”), developed in the 20th century. Change is often as quick and certain as water over rocks. And it’s permanent. Just as no river stays the same with each tick of a clock, no life does either. We can all relate to those changes that come in the moment spent listening to mountain creeks or ocean waves. But it’s the change measured by the slow, inaudible moan of mountains melting that is harder to appreciate, anticipate, or accept.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Other translations render beauty as “appropriate” with the idea being suitable, relevant or significant. Not exactly our modern concept of beauty, is it? Our culture tells us beauty is a three-year-old racehorse not a six-year-old plow-mule. God’s beauty is formed over time measured in years, sometimes many years, not minutes measured in gym reps, hours of spa pampering, or weekend shopping sprees. His beauty is perfect craftsmanship housed in imperfect humans for His ultimate purpose, glacier-moving speed often required.
This beauty-making work is not only slow but it’s unfathomable. Fathom is one of those words rich in meaning with old origins. Born from a word for “outstretched arms”, to fathom is a process of finding the bottom or measuring the depth of a body of water. The reach and scope of God’s plan is impossible to wrap our minds around much less our arms. He never intended us to. What He has done from beginning to end is a mystery. From the wet-with-dew newness of creation until today and beyond, His work of reclamation, redemption, and restoration is shrouded for His understanding alone to keep us trusting, watching, and believing. A work of that magnitude may require diamond-melting time. He does speed the process some to give us a glimpse. He uses the pressure of uncertainty, the crushing of disappointment, the fire of temptation, the heat of adversity or any combination to accomplish the impossible in an appreciable frame of reference.
This down-payment on eternity is just enough to keep us anticipating; delayed gratification works wonders in our over-indulged souls. I like the way C.S. Lewis put it: “Our Heavenly Father has provided many delightful inns for us along our journey, but he takes great care to see that we do not mistake any of them for home.”
Oh, how waiting goes against the grain! We want instant everything (except coffee). But is instant “anything” as good as its patience-inducing, “slow cooked”, homemade, multi-ingredient, grown-up of a first cousin? Jello brand or Mama’s baked, meringue-topped banana pudding? Instant beauty is no more possible than instant relevance. Overnight celebrity we know and crave, but overnight significance is impossible. God’s work is measured by the flow of mountains, not streams. Sometimes our earthly view or sample of eternity is so finite, we mistake it for inaction or unconcern on His part. With a little patience we see that on a long enough timeline, the immovable is moved and we become moldable or molded, perfected for a specific work or pliable for a multitude of uses.
I’m not guaranteed a beginning-to-end view of the full scope and reach of my own life much less Maggie’s. These present trials are with us as a tool in the great machinery of His purpose with a finished product that may not be realized in our lifetime. The one consolation is that in being used, the by-product of herperfection will be seen and shared. In my waking daydreams, I have voiced my hope that in our eternal home all mysteries will be revealed. Maybe a heavenly Netflix service will stream feature films that explain the earthly unexplained. Deep down I know that those issues will not matter in the glorious light of His presence. But her life will matter, and I plan to be in on the “reveal” of the finished product. For now, I wait for stillness so quiet before God that I hear my window panes flow, and I yearn for wisdom to trust that time will give way to the beauty of a life shaped and molded enough to be used.
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