Tempo
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
1. The first day
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
John 1:1 AMPLIFIED BIBLE “IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.”
God created light and separated it from something that pre-existed “darkness”. God did a separation between light and darkness and he named these distinct thing. This happened in a period of time. The Bible says that God called this period “The first day”.
Was this a literal day of 24 hours? Some people take Scripture to the letter and they say that this happened in 24 hours. Personally I have a different view of things. At this point of Creation the earth is not even mentioned and we have no reason to believe that God measures time according to our clock.
Notice that for God the day starts in the evening, “it was the evening and the morning of the first day”. We don’t even know what God did in the afternoon. The measurement of time cycles from God’s perspective is very different from ours.
2. God’s Clock
2 Peter 3:8–9
‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’
We can see from this Scripture that there is difference between God’s clock and our notion of time. When the Bible says “a thousand years” this means that, “a day for God is a lot bigger than our 24 hour day.
Notice that there is a new notion explained here. It says, “God is not slow”. It also says that from a human perspective it seams that he is slowing down His promises. The reason why he does it is because he want’s to give us the opportunity to come to repentance.
Revelation 10:6, KJV “And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, Who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things therein, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should BE TIME NO LONGER:”
There will be a period called the “End of Time” where the clock will change from 24 hours to “God’s Standard Time”. We will study this aspect of time in another day.
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them
Time the system of those sequential relations that any event has to any other, as past, present, or future; indefinite and continuous duration regarded as that in which events succeed one another.
Tempo
• The speed at which a passage of music is or should be played.
• The rate or speed of motion or activity; pace.
• The tempo of a piece will typically be written at the start of a piece of music, and in modern Western music is usually indicated in beats per minute (BPM).
• In Classical Music there are descriptions for this measurement (Adagio, Vivace, Allegro, etc.)
The easiest way to operationalize speech tempo is to count the number of syllables in a given time period and report syllables per second. This is known as the speech rate and in English it usually runs between 2.3 and 4.3 syll/sec (Goldman-Eisler 1968). It is possible to measure an overall speech rate for a person, and if we control for the types of situations we have recordings of, then we could report that Robin speaks faster than Bernice, who speaks faster than Harry; they all speak faster than the average person from Montreal, but slower than the average inhabitant of Toronto.
One of the interesting things about “tempo” related to syl/sec is that Moses had a different tempo than everybody else.
Exodus 4:10
Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
Was Moses impaired? God doesn’t think so but what was socially seen as a handicap was in fact a gift from God that allowed Moses to fulfill his call. We can never look at our handicaps as a form of defect but we should accept everything we are as a gift from God.
Acts 7: 22 KJV "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds." In the New Century Version, it reads as follows: "The Egyptians taught Moses everything they knew, and he was a powerful man in what he said and did."
So we know that not only Moses was educated but also he was powerful in words. Moses functioned at a different “Tempo”.
3. Time and Seasons
God has a season for everything; Jesus came at the right time.
Galatians 4: 4
but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
God has a right time and a right tempo for everything. In Scripture this is called “Season”
Seasons
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
1* For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
4. God is Patient
2 Peter 3:8–9
‘But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.’
God is patient with us but is it possible to exhaust God’s patience? What would it take to make God wash his hands of us completely? Can we disappoint God to the degree that He will finally say, “enough is enough” and just give up on us?
Our sins can frustrate, anger, and disappoint God. But the one thing they cannot do is deny His desire to see us redeemed and restored through Jesus Christ.
Do you ever worry that your sin or rebellion has caused God to completely abandon you? Have you experienced God’s forgiveness even after you were sure He had given up on you?
God is patient and He is calling you today for repentance. Maybe you don’t have a lot of patience and your life is really busy. When we are too busy we lose the notion of tempo. Time seems to move faster.
Conclusion
God is slow to anger but we can abuse His patience. He gives us extra time so we can repent from our sins but we need to respect Him and know that he is the Master of Time.
So many believers have plenty of free time but refuse to use any of it for God. Forgetting that the good is ever the enemy of the best, they commit all their spare moments to good works. Being too busy for God has serious consequences.
Other people have very little extra time. Yet, surprisingly, some of these hear and answer the call to seek the Lord. How do they do it? Where do they find the time to abide with Jesus in the secret place? They don't find it, they make it.
Matthew 6:33 "Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness"
If you decide to put God-first something wonderful occurs.
If you give time to the Lord, He gives them more time to give. Jesus revealed an amazing spiritual law, that believers who make good use of what they have will be given more.
Matthew 25:29 "For unto every one that hath shall be given [more], and he shall have abundance." And, He continues, those who do not use what they have will lose it: "but from him that hath not [used what he hath] shall be taken away even that which he hath."
Do you want to extend your lifetime? Give time to God!
Deuteronomy 5:33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
Can you just slow down and listen to God?
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Altar Call: God’s clock is ticking and he is patiently waiting for you!
Always make time for God! He is always available to you and He will aid you in whatever it is you may be going through. Just hold on and know that God is able to do all things for you. Rely on Jesus Christ to heal you, to deliver you, to set you free from those things that hinder you. Slow down your TEMPO and take time to seek God while you can find him.
