THE QUEUE AND THE CIRCLE: PART 1

Do our prayers have to be in a queue to get God’s attention?

How does God handle all the millions of petitions that go to

Him at any given moment?

Answers to these questions depend on our view of God, and of

time and eternity. They also depend on our experience of God and our

observations of others around us.

Early in my Christian walk, I had the impression that I was one

of God’s favourites – not because of what I was doing for Him, but

because of the experience of grace upon grace, and the steady stream

of blessings that came my way. I wondered why I was receiving special

treatment from the heavenly Father – even though I did not deserve to

be treated so well.

When I walked further in the Christian life, I realised that I was

surrounded by God’s favourites. He loves every human being with

perfect love and has time for each of His creatures. He longs to lavish

His generous love on us so that everyone is God’s favourite (though

many remain prodigal). As Jesus reminds us, He showers His rain on

all, both the wicked and the righteous (Matthew 5:45).

How does God manage to give us His undivided attention when

there are so many – billions – of us?

Any parent who has more than one child will understand the

challenge. John Wesley’s mother, Susanna, had 19 children. Many of

them died, but she still had a large family to take care of. She was

unable to give undivided attention to all her children all the time, but

as a wise and loving mother she set aside special contact time once a

week for each child.

As far as the Lord is concerned, “a day is like a thousand years,

and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). God’s timing is

different from ours. He is able to operate in time and history; yet He is

not bound by time as we know it. He dwells in eternity, and is able to

move back and forth from the two realms of time and eternity to relate

to us and hear our prayers.

Coming up next week: What does C S Lewis got to say about God and time? In a world where our lives are always busy and hurrying, how can God's timing relate to us?