Heavenly time

Three days ago i chose to fast from my devices for a few hours.  It began after Pilates, while i was sitting in a big chair overlooking our backyard, and i pondered the idols i typically hold in my hands.
 
The makers of our phones and tablets intentionally designed them so we would depend upon them for everything.  We use them to see, to hear, to think and even to pray.  They remind us of things, give us insight about things, and are increasingly becoming the main way we connect with people and the world.   They have become the main lens through which we see ourselves and others, and are powerfully shaping what we believe and how we think and act.  Now our devices are training us to talk and listen to them like we talk and listen to humans.  The more we submit to them, the more we treat our devices not just as a person, but as God – the source and fulfillment of all things.
 
Many of us who call ourselves Christians already abide in our devices way more faithfully than we abide in Jesus.   We depend upon them, spend time with them, are guided by them and engage with others and the world through them, way more extensively than we do so with God.   In ancient times God was extremely offended by carved blocks of wood His people made that took His place in their hearts and lives.   These days the devices we cling to are way more intimate and powerful than any of the idols our ancestors crafted, and that cannot possibly sit well with God!
 
That device-free morning while i was abiding in His Spirit, i pondered some of those places in the Bible where God calls us to turn toward Him.
 
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.   Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  Colossians 3:1-3
 
As i actually began to do that, my heart and my mind were filled with His.    i looked at my trials, and the trials of His beloved, through the lens of my faith, and my thoughts and my prayers soon came into alignment with His tenderly victorious heart!
 
But then i strayed, by imagining all sorts of things i could do when my heavenly time ended and my devices were back in my hands.   Realizing i was getting ahead of myself and leaping far ahead of God, i tried to imagine what i could do to keep my device-free momentum rolling forward.   i didn’t realize i was falling into legalism; i thought i was simply imagining how i might do various things without using my phone or tablet.   But through that line of thinking i had unwittingly lowered my gaze from heaven to earth, and my thoughts and my prayers fell out of alignment with God’s.
 
On my way into the kitchen i passed our little grandfather clock, which began chiming out of synch with the time on its face.
 
“That’s odd,” i mused, consulting the time on the microwave.  “The grandfather clock’s hands point to the right time, but it’s chime is seven minutes late.”   Yet both had been in synch an hour earlier when our exercise session had ended.
 
The chime continued to sound seven minutes late for another hour or two, until i finished a brief walk around the block.   When i came back inside, i picked up my phone just as the clock struck noon, which the time on the clock’s face also showed.
 
Both the chime and the time had come back in synch with my phone.   “God, this isn’t a coincidence, is it?” i asked.    “You are in this, aren’t You?”
 
“I Am,” He smiled, without saying anything more.
 
When i shared what had happened with Karen, she suggested i adjust the dials on the back of the clock.   But that didn’t make sense, because there wasn’t any way to adjust the chime apart from the time.   And besides, the chime had already adjusted itself.
 
When i shared what had happened with a friend, he quickly observed that seven is a Biblical number.
 
“Oh that’s right!”  i exclaimed.  “i wonder what it means?”
 
Part of me wanted to Google the Biblical significance of seven, but another part of me considered that out of bounds.  If the riddle was about living beyond my devices, how could it be solved by consulting my devices?   i knew God had something He wanted to show me, so i asked Him to solve the riddle.
 
“I will,” He smiled, again without offering a clue.
 
Though both parts of the clock were still agreeing with each other when i went to bed that night, i was still scratching my head over what had happened.  i concluded the riddle must have something to do with abiding in heavenly time.  But there had to be more than i understood, so again i pressed into God.  The next morning, after admiring the picture of his newborn a buddy had just texted me, i put down my phone and got up to make Karen some coffee.  Though it was already past nine it was still a tad dark, so i detoured into the dining room to raise the blinds.   Just then the grandfather clock chimed – seven minutes again off schedule!
 
Because the clock was just inches from my ear, it felt like God Himself was tapping me on the shoulder, and that filled my heart with joy!  i laughed and i laughed and then i laughed some more, because God was fully present with me in the moment and i knew He was teaching me something profound, in a delightfully creative way.
 
Yet i couldn’t put what He was saying into words, and the more i tried to define it the more it became apparent that my heart was out of synch with His.   Which, given the seven minute lapse between the chime and the time, suggested our disconnect was the missing clue!   But only after i fully repented from my impatience by waiting upon Him was i able to hear what He was saying.   And that took a lot longer – three days longer - than i expected or preferred.  Here’s the gist of what God eventually said:
 
My ways aren’t your ways and the world’s timing isn’t Mine.  You shouldn’t be surprised that time shifts when you lay down your devices, for I have already spoken to you about that - you must slow down to speed up!
 
The more you follow Me into secret places the more you’ll find yourself out of synch with the world and everything it.  But that doesn’t mean you’re falling behind; it means that your heart and mind are catching up with Mine.  For time is your servant, as it is Mine.
 
When you abide in My heart, what you hear won’t always jive with what you see.   Yet you hear clearly because you live by faith in My voice.  So trust your ears and I will give you the eyes of My heart.   For I don’t look at what people look at; I look at people’s hearts.   By abiding in Me you’ll see through My eyes, pray in My Spirit and love as I love, even when you have no words.
 
Praise God that i’m finally hearing Him clearly again, and He didn’t leave me to my own devices!  And praise Jesus all the more, that He’s still teaching me to obey what He says!