Two Thousand And Three, A.D.

Psalm 90:12 – Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (NIV)

I can hardly pick up a computer publication these days without seeing another doom-and-gloom story about the Y2K problem. That's the problem where older systems use two numerals for the year in dates, and can't handle the rollover to the year 2000.

For many computer professionals, it's old news, and has been for a long time. While there is a great deal of concern, many of the major firms saw the problem coming, and have done the re-programming. They are using 1999 to conduct a year-long series of dry run tests, just to make sure that nothing has been overlooked.

One thing struck me recently. Most computer people are worried about January 1, 2000, and others will tell you the millennium doesn't start until January 1, 2001. What happens if the calendar itself is off?

Most Bible scholars accept that there was a dating error made in trying to compute the year of Christ's birth. Most texts will use a year somewhere around 4 BC. I.f that's so, that means we're already at 2003 A.D. The millennium may have already come and gone a couple of years back and we never noticed it!

I think that simply underscores the fact that God's time clock is different from ours. The writers of the Greek Gospel manuscripts had more than one word for "time". "Kronos" was the word for ordinary clock time; "kairos" was a different word, meaning "a significant time". I've heard it translated "in God's time". That's different from human time. The Bible says that "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Some things do take time. For example, vintage wine must slumber in casks undisturbed for years, to reach its peak.

God is outside the confines of the human time frame. The Ancient of Days is before all moments in time. Much that makes no sense to our human striving and deadlines, makes perfect sense if only we could see the other side of the divine time-line. God is concerned about each one of us, and the moments in our lives. God gives us our allotment of time day by day. Every person on this earth gets the same 24 hours as everyone else. The Psalmist is asking God to help teach us to make the right use of time.

We live in a hurry-hurry world, where no one has enough time. Human beings must look silly, from the vantage point of heaven. There may be two words used to sum up this 20th century: instant gratification. For some people, ten seconds for microwave food is too long.

The Creator has numbered the hairs of our heads and the days of our lives. If we have the courage to let God be our "time management expert" we will find we have time enough for everything necessary under God's heaven.

Prayer: Lord, in this frantic world, the moments slip through our fingers like water. We can measure time to the millisecond, yet we forget Who created this earth, and set it spinning, to mark the days and the years. We would ask, with the Psalmist, that you would "teach us to number our days aright," so that we may reflect Your love to each other. Amen.

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