Americans are often stereotyped for living fast-paced, career-driven lives with hardly any downtime. When you think of “America,” one image that may pop into your mind is a busy street in New York City with business men and women walking with an intimidating sense of tenacity; brief case in one hand, coffee in the other, rushing to their next meeting. Though nicely dressed, they move about like high-strung slaves, trying to meet a deadline for a project lest they suffer the metaphorical whip of their bosses, who are also pressed for time.
The truth is, in this example, the master-slave relationship isn’t between a boss and their employees. The master-slave relationship is actually between everyone in that chaotic corporate structure—boss and employees—and their master named “Time.”
But does Time have a master?
It Was Just a Normal Sunday
I was visiting a church last Sunday when the pastor mentioned something about people coming in who might be bound by things and how the Lord wanted to break those chains. I hardly remember what he said after that, because as soon as he spoke those words, me and the Lord began having an unexpected conversation. In my head, I thought to myself “I feel like I’m bound by time. I’ve been feeling stressed because I feel like there are deadlines that I won’t be able to meet.” Turns out I wasn’t just speaking to myself, but the Lord overheard my thoughts, and He began to respond. What He told me was something that sounds so obvious now, but I had never really thought of before. Rhetorically, He asked, “Am I bound by time?” He continued, “I’m not bound by time, but time is bound to Me.” Shocked that I was hearing from Him, I started pondering what He was saying, and then His next words hit me with such powerful conviction that I had to sit on the floor. He said:
“I may be the Lord of your life, but am I the Lord of your time?”
Even writing these words, tears are starting to well up in my eyes as I realize all over again that the reason I had been feeling “bound by time” and had been anxious over it is because I hadn’t faithfully submitted it to Him. Yes, He’s already the God of time, but how kind is it of God to not take my time away from me by force, but to give me the option to offer it up to Him willingly! The question then isn’t “Is He the God/Lord/Master of time?” but instead, it’s “Is He the God/Lord/Master of my time?”
With this epiphany came a flood of scriptural support about how time does in fact submit to Him, and that’s it’s not just an ethereal statement or a mere cliché. It’s the truth, and as Jesus said, “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The truth about who He is can even set us free from the anxiety of time’s demands.
The Day Time Stood Still
One glaring example of God demonstrating His Lordship over Time comes from the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. At this point, Joshua had overtaken many cities, but the city of Gibeon had made peace with him, so that they and Israel had a diplomatic relationship. Therefore, when the king of Jerusalem heard that Gibeon made peace with Israel, he gathered up 4 other kings to go attack Gibeon. Gibeon then sent word to Joshua to come with his armies and help defend them against this coordinated attack. Joshua answered their cry swiftly with the help of the God of heaven and earth. During the battle, Joshua noticed that the sun was starting to go down, so he made a bold decree, saying “‘…Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon’” (Joshua 10:12). The passage goes on to say that the Sun and Moon did exactly as Joshua commanded, and did so for almost a whole day. but it wasn’t Joshua causing time to stand still. The next scripture says “And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel” (Joshua 10:14).
The indication of this passage is that even though Joshua made the declaration, it was the Lord that caused the sun and moon to “stand still.” This would further indicate that the Lord literally stopped the earth’s rotation so that Joshua and his armies would have enough daylight to defeat their enemies! Joshua didn’t see the sun setting and get anxious about defeat. God assured him of victory, so instead of letting himself be bound by time, he commanded that time to submit to him, and in doing so, he told time to submit to the victory that God promised beforehand. His victory in battle was determined by God Himself, and not even the laws of time could stand in the way.
God Reverses Time
Jesus, who is God incarnate, also demonstrated how time is subject to Him. We see this in John’s account of how Jesus raised His friend Lazarus from the dead, despite having been dead for 4 whole days. In fact, when Jesus heard the news that Lazarus was sick, He actually waited until he was good and dead before He decided to arrive at the scene, which baffled everyone, including Lazarus’s sisters, who were also His friends. Jesus assured them that He would raise him from the dead because He is the Resurrection and the Life. Still, the sisters didn’t quite believe Him. How could He raise someone from the dead when the decomposition process was already taking place? Martha’s argument was “But Jesus—it’s going to stink! He’s not just dead, he’s decaying!” He redirected her back to what He said, and asked if she believed Him, and she said “Yes.” That was all He needed to hear to go into Lazarus’s tomb to raise him back to life (John 11). In the very next chapter, John describes how the resurrected Lazarus was now sitting at a dining table with Jesus, as if he hadn’t just been dead for 4 days (John 12:1).
Why am I bringing up this story?
If you read it too quickly, you’ll miss the connection, which is that by raising Lazarus from the dead, He reversed the process of decay in his body. If you’re a scientist, you could say that Jesus broke the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which indicates that over time, things break down and decay and cannot be returned to its original, ordered state. Jesus, however, reversed time, reversed the decomposition process beginning to take over Lazarus’s lifeless body, and returned his body to such a state that, despite being dead for 4 days, the stench of death couldn’t be found on him. If he did still stink, he probably would have cleared the dining area he was sitting in! But he was in the presence of the Resurrection and the Life who reversed the death and decay settling into his body and set it back in order. This tells me that, because of His mastery over Time, we can trust Him that He can heal you to the extent that the most tragic situations can become as if they never happened, and you won’t even stink of death after the fact.
God Quickens Time
What if I told that He not only can pause time, or reverse time, but that He’s also capable of quickening time?
Before Jesus was supposed to start His ministry, He went to a wedding at Cana where He and His disciples encountered an embarrassing issue—they ran out of wine at the wedding. Mary, Jesus’s mom, informed Jesus of this, and while He appeared to brush off her request because it wasn’t time for Him to be revealed, she told the wedding servants to be ready to do what He said. Later, He told the servants to fill the six stone water jars used for Jewish purification rites that could hold 20-30 gallons each. Once this was completed, he told them to draw some out and serve it to the master of the feast. The master of the feast was shocked when he tried it, not knowing the miracle that took place in the back room. They had already served the good wine, and were supposed to serve the bad wine so the drunk people wouldn’t notice the change in quality. However, according to this wedding host, the wine that Jesus made was even better than the “good” wine they ran out of! (John 2:1-12).
What was the miracle?
It wasn’t just that He was able to turn water into wine. It was also the fact that He turned water into wine instantly, and it wasn’t just any wine. It was the best wine, and we know the best wine takes decades of aging before it tastes that good. Not only this, but if you do the math, He made 120-180 gallons of this fine wine, and He did it without growing grape vines, harvesting the grapes, smashing them, collecting the juice in a bottle, and letting it sit for years. It happened in seconds, and the wedding guests were none the wiser that the wine had ever run out.
The other noteworthy detail in this story is that when Mary told Jesus about the lack of wine, He told her “It’s not My time yet.” But because of her faith that Jesus could fix the issue, Jesus decided to reveal His glory earlier than originally planned. Her faith was the hinge that opened the door for God to do something faster than He would have had she not looked to Him in faith-filled expectation that He was going to move, despite His initial dismissal of her request.
What Are the Implications?
I hope you’ve noticed a theme in the examples I provided. In all three, the people involved showed great faith, so God moved in great power, even demonstrating His power to manipulate time according to His will. Whether it’s an intense battle and precious daylight is fading, whether it’s death and decomposition and all hope seems lost, or whether it’s something trivial, like running out of wedding wine, all of these stories had at least one person who said “Yes, I believe!” Therefore, God broke the laws of nature to demonstrate the impossible.
What about you? Are you feeling stressed about accomplishing something before a certain time and you don’t know how you’re going to do it? Are you feeling like you’re flying by the seat of your pants trying to complete something important?
Take heart! For people that live in the world, Time is their master, but as for you, the Lord is your Master, and He reigns outside of time. All of history, the present, and the future, can fit quite comfortably in the palm of His hand—and with room to spare. Let faith subvert fear in your life, and as you commit your time to Him, you’ll find that time will always be on your side, because the God who created time is always on your side, and He is ready to reveal His glory to anyone who is willing to take Him at His word.