Sometimes I hear people talking about God and I wonder if they’ve ever thought very much about who God really is. There has been a remarkable drift in Christianity in our day; many people seem to be overly familiar with God. Because of this, I think it is worthwhile to occasionally look at the ways—and there are many—in which God is different from us. Today, let’s consider just one of the ways in which God is not like us at all:

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by or like a watch in the night. (Psalm 90:2,4)

This passage begins by contrasting one of the differences between time and eternity. Though the earth and the world were created and the mountains were born, the psalmist says, “From everlasting to everlasting you are God.” He doesn’t say, “You were God” he says, “You are God.” With God there is never a past tense, never a future tense. God doesn’t live in time; He lives outside of time, in eternity. Eternity is not just a lot more time; it’s a different way of being. With God it’s always, You are. His name YAWEH means, “I AM.” He stands outside of time and looks in. Then the psalmist says that “a thousand years with God are just like a day that’s gone by or a watch in the night.” In biblical times, the night was divided into four watches of three hours each. So, one way to think about this passage, is that a thousand years for God is just like three hours passing by for us. But God doesn’t even experience three hours! He experiences all of the past and present, and future at the same time. Can you get your mind around that? I sure can’t! But that’s what it is to be God. When we have fellowship with God, we have a relationship that extends beyond time into eternity, a relationship that’s anchored in the very Person of God Himself, the great I AM.

Nobody anywhere is like Him...and that is very Good News!