The Burden of the Heart 6-14-09
This last week I was taken aback by some old photographs my wife had unpacked while moving old boxes around. One in particular cut right to my heart; it was a picture of my oldest daughter at around eighteen months old. The expression of the child in the photo brought back a flood of memories, from her quick thievery of the toppings her mother and I would prepare for homemade pizza (green pepper slices were her favorites) to the mundane errands she and I would run together. The discussion of the photos grew in scope as we reminisced about our other daughters and joyfully compared the three distinct personalities. We talked about the changes that have taken place over the last nine and a half years of our marriage, and about how many more were ahead of us. The conversation ended with our wish that those moments had not passed; but of course they had to, or we would never have had the next moments. We are limited, because time does not heed our call.
Time flows in one direction. Yes, I know what some scientists say, about time going in both directions (forwards and backwards), and possibly even other directions. But really, in flows in only one direction for us: forwards. None of us experience time in any way other than looking backward in our past but moving inexorably forward into our future. This is by design, not by accident, just as our awareness of this fact is by that same design.
I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 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. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. (Ecclesiastes 3:10-14 NIV)
God, by design, set eternity in our hearts, and then caused the work of his hands to be permanent and the work of ours to be temporary. Why? So that we would revere him!
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 NIV)
God’s word starts with the phrase, “In the beginning,” implying that there was nothing before this point other than God; there was no space and no time. Time is often referred to as a river, flowing on in one direction and sweeping past events. But it could also be viewed as a building, with each floor being built on top of all those that came before. If we view time in this way, then the “In the beginning” phrase is the ground floor upon which all of the time since has been built.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5 NIV)
Looking at the end of the Bible, we see the preview that God gives us of what our life will be like after time. Currently, we struggle against the forces of darkness and we struggle against our own dark hearts; but there we will walk fully and completely in the light! And tied to this is the reality of eternity that is expressed as “for ever and ever.” You see, for all of those moments of joy with my daughter that I can re-live only in memory, my existence there will be complete and not a series of events being swept away by time. Eternity has been set in our hearts not to frustrate us, but to liberate us from fear: God is planning greatness for you and I!
-Charles Peterson