Perfect Timing

Time is running out.
Or is it?
I heard once that in Africa, they don’t see time as we do here in the western, industrialized world. In Africa they see time, not as going or leaving us, but as coming towards us. I thought this was very interesting and it seems like a healthier view. It can be frustrating for westerners to travel to third world countries, or even for effective yankees to travel to southern states, where things seem to move at a slower pace or for Northern Europeans to deal with Mediterraneans with the “mañana-mindset”. We are so steeped in our worldview that time is leaving us. We find it rude to be late. We don’t want to waste people’s time. We see time as a finite resource. We even have the saying: time is money. We also have a lot of stress-related diseases in our society thanks to this twisted view. Stress can lead to heart attacks, asthma, high blood pressure, even cancer, immunity system disorders and other mental health complications, such as drug abuse etc.

In many cultures, as well as in the biblical worldview, time is not linear. It is circular or more like an up-going spiral. God is standing outside of time. He is transcendent over time. God has time in His hands. He is in control. In this worldview time is not static. Time is alive. Time is pregnant. We can tap into things of the past and things of the future. There are portals, or wells from the past and to the future. The word “remember” (zakar) in Hebrew is not just a mental recollection of the past, but an action word. When God remembers us, He saves us. He acts on our behalf. When we remember what He has done for us, we are activating His promises and His covenant. We are testifying of His power. The word “testify” (edut) in Hebrew means “Do it again, with the same power and authority”.

In Hebrew thinking the future is not in front of us (which can be scary) but the past is in front of us. Specifically God’s faithfulness and goodness in the past. That is what we are called to focus on in the call to remember. We are not facing the future, we are facing the past, meaning we are remembering all that God has done for us and all his goodness and faithfulness.
Psalm 136 which is called the Great Hallel is a perfect example of this thinking. The psalm is recited in its entirety on every Shabbat and all the jewish festivals and during the Passover seder. Every verse repeats “for His love and mercy endures forever” as it tells of specific miracles God has performed in the past. The words Jesus used when he broke the bread during the last supper “do this in remembrance of me” gets a new meaning in this light.

There are different words for time in Hebrew. One is “eth” and it means appointed time, proper time, opportune time, time and season, the time for God to act. The word “eth” consists of two letters in Hebrew, ayin and tav. Ayin is the picture of an eye and it means “to see, to know, experience, understand, obey”. Tav is a picture of crossed wooden sticks and it signifies a sign, to seal or to covenant.
The only way we can understand the times we are living in, is through His Covenant.

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:11