“…You have come to the kingdom for such a time as this…” Esther 4:14

Reading in the Past Tense

I used to read the Bible in the past tense, as if everything happened to someone else, at some other time, in some other place. It was real for them, but not for me. It’s all behind us, and all we can do is read about the exploits and faith of those who lived in those times. This is exactly how I studied history in school—and never learned a thing. I never applied it to myself because it wasn’t about me and my own life. It was all so, so long ago.

We all know 2 Timothy 3:16-17, that the Scriptures are profitable in our lives today, “that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work,” so we have the reason we should read the Bible and apply its lessons to our own lives today. God’s Word is not merely a history book.

But I’d like to take a steep step up into God’s truth, and grasp why God’s Word is for us today.

God lives in the eternal present. This mean there is no past tense for Him. The parade of life from creation to eternity stretches out before Him, seen by Him in every circumstance, every realm, every heart. It’s been said that God “lives outside of time” meaning that He doesn’t dwell in what we would label past, present, or future. He is everywhere at once (“back then”, “now”, “later”—all the words we use to express time) though we humans can only understand this in an extremely limited way. God is Spirit, and we can’t grasp or think what it is like to be Him.

Our God is the Living God. He works now. He orchestrates now. He touches our lives where we are now, in our needs now. Yes, He worked in the lives of those who came before, but the Word He inspired then is everything we need to hear and live by right now.

Daniel was surrounded by snapping, snarling lions when he was thrown in the den; we are surrounded by snapping, snarling people who are struggling through their anger and hunger. Jacob wrestled with God physically; we wrestle with God every time we do not want to submit to His authority in our lives. Esther, Naomi, Joseph, Mary—and on and on the list goes—lived upright lives, yet things happened to them that they did not choose, and the lives they dreamed of did not come to pass; yet we know that God sovereignly directs the events of our lives as well, and intends all the hardships we experience to be used in fulfilling His plan.

The Bible calls the experiences of those who came before us “examples.” An example shows the character of the whole. We might call it “a slice of life.” These examples show us how people are, and how God is towards people and within Himself. This is not just the past. This is the present.

God, help us consider every Word You breathed as being for our lives today. May we learn from it, be prepared by it, and be helped by it. Amen.