Can Time be Slowed Down?

I believe God stretches time for me. Not metaphorically, but literally.

Photo created by 3D artist Marcell Szoke and borrowed from his site.

This belief started when I committed myself to consistent morning devotions in the last few years. I don’t know about you, but the word devotions has been so overused in the Christian world it almost rubs me the wrong way. It makes me think of Bible camps songs (“Read your Bible, pray every day, and you’ll grow, grow, grow.”) What I mean by devotion is time spent meeting with God. I usually try to read His Word, but, thanks to our busy culture, there is always the pressure of ‘too little time’.

I didn’t have time to sit and read for an hour, or even a half hour, or even five minutes because I needed to be at this place, do this one thing, call that one person. So I started skipping morning time and my spiritual strength would deflate within a single day. Sound familiar? I know we’ve all been there. I’ve been there more than once. More than a hundred times, actually. In fact, I’m still there fairly often, but now I have a different perspective.

Instead of continuing to skip out or delay my time with God, I started asking Him to stretch time so I could do devotions. If he did it for Hezekiah (2 Kings 20), He could do it for me, right? No matter the busyness of the day, I would make myself sit down and read. There has not yet been a moment when I thought, “Gosh, if only I hadn’t done my devotions, I would have had time to …”

I admit, I have weak faith. I find it hard to believe God will do things for me or that His love is truly unconditional. But this is one area of my faith that never wavers. I know God would rather stop time so I’ll visit with Him than keep it going and miss out on time together. And He does it. There have been countless times when I finish what felt like an hour of reading, I look at the clock, and only twenty minutes have passed. The most important moment for me is choosing to read and then trust and pray He will stretch time whereas before, I used to skip and pray He would make time later. This is the difference between my having an active faith versus an apathetic faith.

I’m still inconsistent with my devotions. Many days where I have to be somewhere very early I don’t even look at my Bible and that’s okay. I enter into the day knowing I’ll be weaker, but trusting God is still there to strengthen me when I finally sit down (or stand up, lay down, dance around, etc.) with Him.

What about you? Do you find it hard to stay consistent with spending time with God? Have you ever thought to ask Him to slow time for you?

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Nadine Brandes on