“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future.” So sang the Steve Miller Band a number of years ago. And there is no real doubt about that fact.
But is that a good thing? Or is it a bad thing?
God is eternal and not subject to time. Time is a created reality—and God did the creating. As Creator He holds time within His own eternal Being.
But what about us? Is time a friend or a foe? God created and then said it was all “good” (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 24). Indeed, He said it was “very good” (v.31)
Did that apply to time? Surely it did. But how did the entrance of sin (Gen. 3) twist time? Is it still “good”? Is it now our friend or our foe?
It all depends, I suppose.
Toward the end of a long and eventful life King David wrote“the word of the Lord proves true” (2 Samuel 22:31b).
He was reflecting upon a lifetime of walking with God. His conclusion as he looked back over a lifetime of experience was that time “proves true” what God has already said.
Other translations render it “the word of the Lord is tested” (NASB) or “the word of the Lord is tried” (KJV). The picture is that of metal which is “tried” or “tested” by being passed through the fire. The fire melts the metal and it “proves” to be pure. Just so the things God says prove to be true as we test them out in the fires of life in a fallen world.
Time is on the side of truth. Truth need never hurry. Time will lay bare the truth. Truth is never afraid of time. Truth need not be in haste; nor those who stand in and with the truth.
Time is the friend of truth. But time in many ways is not the friend of one who stands apart from the truth. The clock is always running. Truth will endure the passage of time. Indeed, time and the events that fill it serve to prove the truth. All that is not of the truth eventually breaks down, comes undone, and is dispersed by the winds of time.
C.H. Spurgeon once counseld: “Patience! Patience! you are always in a hurry, but God is not.”
Time is the friend of truth. It is not always the friend of man.
Time is thus a comfort to some; a warning to others.
The word of the Lord proves true in its promises (of which David had enjoyed many)
The word of the Lord proves true in its warnings and judgments (of which David had also tasted).
The sage concluded David was correct: “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Proverbs 30:5).
So if falsehood seems to be winning the day, hold on. Take refuge in Him and in what He has said. Time will tell. Time will tell the truth. Time will tell the truth about what is true. And time also has a way of telling the truth about that which is not truth.
Carefully make your determination where you’ll take your stand. Then rest. Wait. Be still.