God and time...

​As of five minutes ago, the world's population is estimated to be at 7,883,740,996 and growing.  Do you ever have a hard time wrapping your brain around the fact that God is able to hear somewhere in the neighbourhood of 7.8 billion voices at once if they were all to call on him at the same time? I used to get frustrated when my 3 kids would talk to me all at once and expect me to hear their needs. He’s not limited to that number, either.  As mankind increases on the earth, God is more than able to hear every person ever born from Adam to the end of time, should they address him.  And, not only can he hear an incomprehensible amount of voices at one time, he intimately loves, cares and has a purpose for each and every one.  In addition to all that, he runs the Universe with his spare time.  Can we really appreciate just how omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent, (everywhere at once) he is?  Is there any problem of ours he can’t solve in light of all this? I find that when I study God’s magnitude it increases my faith to believe he is more than able to handle my problems.
 
            Man has been created with a finite mentality; we have however a mind than can understand infinity—no beginning and no end, but we operate in finite terms.  Almost everything we do has a beginning, a middle and an end.  Not so with God.  God himself created units and measurements of time moving forward, but he is not bound to it as we are.  We move forward in time into the uncertain future but understand it backwards as history. God knows the beginning and the end simultaneously and yet leaves room for our free will and all the possibilities and outcomes those choices create.  It is very helpful for us to view our lives through this lens.  Think about it. If you could know how your kid’s life would progress from beginning to end I’d bet you’d change some of your parenting decisions along the way due to having that knowledge for their ultimate good.
 
God is no different than us. This is why God’s solutions to our problems don’t always line up with what we want. We want immediate relief when God knows that that solution may only put a temporary bandaid on the problem. Knowing the beginning from the end God wants to go to the heart of the problem for a long-term solution that may be different than ours. God’s timetable and ours is usually different too.  When we cry out for a solution to a problem we want that solution right now, right? I’ve heard it said this way:  God is never late, but usually not early either; but He’s always right on time!
 
So, it’s okay to not know what will happen.  He does.  It’s okay to have to wait a bit. His best solution is coming. It’s okay to trust him with your uncertain future. He knows your future. When you get to Heaven and look back at your beginning, middle and end, may it be a beautiful tapestry of God’s weaving that fits into eternity.