A Present Tense God

Isn't it funny how the Holy Spirit can take just a couple sentences from a sermon to add a whole new dimension to what you already know and  understand?  That's what happened to me today 


I think we all know that God never changes.  He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  That is basic to our/my faith.  God is God.  I also know that God is not caught in time as we know it.  He is omnipresent, always present everywhere.  In addition, I have an understanding that God is as present in the future as he is in the today, and is in yesterday--all at the same time.  How?  Only he knows because that is who he is.


 In John 8:58 Jesus says, "I tell you the truth...before Abraham was born, I am!" At these words, the people picked up stones to stone him. I understand the reason the people were so upset  Clear back in the third chapter of Exodus when Moses asked God who he should tell the Hebrew people sent him to be their deliverer, God said, "Tell them I AM has sent me to you." The people knew exactly who Moses meant, just as the hearers in Jesus' day knew who he meant, he was claiming to be God.


Here is my "aha" moment. Notice Jesus didn't use the past tense "I was" in his reference to Abraham.  That is what we would do.  Instead, he said, "I am", present tense. He is the great "I Am".  That is his name. He is not the "I Was" or "I Will Be" God. There is only present tense for our Triune God. 


Sure, he says he will (future tense) never leave us or forsake us*. The word "will" helps our understanding of God's faithfulness as we live out our lives. Our future, that time of uncertainty we all know is out there somewhere, is something we all face. That chronological time is where we live, but not God. He is (present tense) already there.  It isn't someplace he is going someday when we get there. 


 I think it is awesome that God is a present tense God.

Ouch!!! I just had a very painful question shoot through my mind.  If my God is a present tense God, why do I slip into being a past tense, future tense believer? Think about that one a minute.

Deut. 31:6