Ran out of time? Not enough of it for what you want to do? It happens.

But think about when there was no time at all.

Before there was such a thing as time, there was God, who invented time.

Before the mountains were born

Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,

Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Oh. There never was a time when there was not God. He is the really real. The rest is, what? Entirely His doing, for one thing. A sometime thing.

He made it. The people in it are in His image, capable of relating to Him, interracting with Him. No puppet master is He, pulling strings.

This man’s reaction is on the mark:

I find the idea of eternity mind-boggling and emotionally overwhelming, but it doesn’t leave me trembling with fear . . . The reason?

Eternity is one of the most beautiful attributes of the God I worship. Without a God who possesses an eternal nature, we would be condemned to . . . fear and . . . despair. The Bible says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

Indeed.

The idea of eternity runs like a lofty mountain range through the Bible. Everywhere you turn, you find it. In fact, all our treasured biblical doctrines and truths would collapse without the reality of an everlasting God.

Romans 1:20 speaks of “His eternal power and Godhead.” Romans 9:5 calls Him “the eternally blessed God.” Ephesians 3:11 speaks of His eternal purpose, and 1 Timothy 1:17 calls Him “the King eternal, immortal, invisible.” Genesis 21:33 says He is the “Everlasting God.” Psalm 100 says, “The Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” (verse 5).

Yes, yes, yes. We should think about God more. Gives us a sense of grandeur, no one to fool with, someone to depend on. And trust. We should think about Him with confidence, at the same time eaten up with awe, but surrendering none of the intimacy.

Some strict-observant Jews do not even write the word. “G-d” is the word they write, lest anyone besmirch it.

As for Catholics, there’s one particular reminder of what we believe God hath wrought through His son, His vehicle for giving people a piece of Himself. Sanctifying grace is the Catholic term. Sanctus, “Holy,” is the word sung in triplicate in the middle of mass.

A young preacher at St. John Cantius, Chicago, a few weeks ago emphasized this business of sharing God’s life, won for people by God’s Son, whereby the being that knew no beginning shares with those who needed one. Catholics call it sanctifying grace.