“From eternity to eternity I am God…”
Isaiah 43:13a (NLT)
You had to do it without thinking or you wouldn’t. I’m not saying it’s the smartest but it’s the only way to cliff jump. If you thought about it at all your feet would stay glued to the rocky ledge instead of making the 40-foot plunge into the creek below.
The best feeling was freefalling. It’s what draws people to do such a thing. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. My arms and legs attempted to grab onto something in mid-air but there was nothing. Nothing but flailing arms until the water.
That experience is the closest I can come up with when attempting to grasp the eternal nature of God. Where does someone like me who had a definite start date and will have an end date (at least on this earth) even begin? A God who has always been there and always will be doesn’t compute.
I’ve definitely experienced those freefall moments when thinking about Him. I’m not saying that every time or even most times it’s like that. I’m all too aware of my limitations. Christian music artist, Chris Rice, put it better than I could when he said, “Three and a half pounds of brain try to figure out what this world is all about and is there an eternity…” A God who’s always been there and always will be is what we’re dealing with.
The times that I’m able to reach all that I can in contemplating the eternity of God are a shocking experience. To simply say that it’s a “whoa” moment is coming up way short. But how else do you say it? In those moments, my stunned mind reaches for something, anything, to give it a framework to understand. My brain takes the best swing it can but there’s nothing but air.
True awe ensues—not cheap verbal recognition or a satisfactory Sunday school answer. It’s not because I’m overly spiritual that this happens. It’s just that I’m like a housefly trying to understand DNA. I get the smallest glimpse of the weight of it and it completely blows my mind. No there aren’t any answers. Because there are no answers on my best day in this life, I only have awe and worship left.
The brain says, “That’s crazy—impossible—everything you’ve ever known has always had a beginning and an end.” Eventually, that freefall ends for me as the pressures and activities of life come at me full force again.
The freefall stops only because of my inability. If I was capable of staying in that mindset, I would find that it never will end. That’s a freefall God’s children will experience for all eternity. Skydiving, cliff jumping or swimming with sharks will have nothing on that ongoing adrenaline rush. That freefall is always there for me in this life when the moment is right. I can’t force myself into that frame of mind. It forces me and I have no choice but to give complete attention. If I could brush it away, why would I want to? I know I’m not unique in this experience. Moments like that scream that God is completely “other.” There has never been and never will be any comparison to Him.
