Romans 8,28 in Light of God's Timelessness

 In last night's BSF class, we became focused on what it means that God transcends time and space. I pointed out that the Bible is the only text where God is portrayed in such a way that we could never have imagined it; He existed before time, during time, and outside of time. This God, Jehovah, had to have revealed Himself in a way that a 3-dimensional being like man could make sense of Him. 

Waking up this morning, I was drawn to Romans 8:28, the popular verse that reads, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (NIV). I thought, if God is outside of time then He knows who is going to love Him, and it made me think of the work He did long before I loved Him. I encourage every believer to frequently reflect on the work God has done for them, not only since conversion, but before. 

To clarify, my Born Again Date was November 20, 2001. I was a 37 year old skeptic, a Doubting Thomas, for all the years prior. So how was God proving Romans 8:28 in me? The obvious and more central to God's work on me was my obsession with the philosophy of Wittgenstein that came out of an elective course in my Political Science Major that I didn't even finish. But the learning out of that class, Wittgenstein's methodology of how to attack truth statements, became an invaluable takeaway. In short, Wittgenstein's methodology was very linguistic, attacking the statements at the root to see if the root is connected to something, then working through the chain of logic. Identifying the deep meanings of the words and their context was key. I have every Wittgenstein book, and, he truly was one of the most boring writers ever. One of my favorites is "On Certainty", printed from a journal he kept in which he took 120 pages to document how he knew he had a hand. Boring, but absolutely brilliant. "Philosophic Investigations" and "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" are required reading and also brilliantly boring. The Tractatus is in the public domain and is available free HERE. 

To explain God's role in my early philosophical development, Wittgenstein was my John the Baptist. He was weird. He dressed funny and only ate cheese and crackers. I couldn't get enough of him and I can't explain why, outside of being God's work. In my early 30s, I began a goal of trying to prove the Bible false, and I reverted back to Wittgenstein's methodology to show the Bible couldn't possibly be true. My confidence was based on a flawed interpretation that rested on man, being flawed, was not capable of a flawless text describing an entity, the Creator, who would be flawless by default. They would have to have made a mistake or many mistakes, and I just had to find them.

I did have an idea that, if a Creator God was described in the Bible, He'd have to check off certain boxes. I seriously doubted that such a God would be interested in us idiots, minuscule and insignificant as we are. But as I dived deeper and deeper into the Bible, I had moment after moment of astonishment as Jehovah/Jesus/Ruach-Holy Spirit checked all the boxes. I began going to church with my wife and infant daughter and found it surprisingly educational. 

The year 2000 was key as a financial difficulty - opening a second restaurant that was doomed - drove me into praying regularly. Also that year, my wife started in BSF with the Matthew study. Being from Venezuela, her English was not very advanced so I helped her with the homework. The profound questions startled me and the next Spring, my wife sent me to join the Fort Lauderdale Evening Men's BSF class. 

It was in the Life of Moses study that I finally surrendered. Exodus 3:14 in particular found me and pierced me through. I don't think I'd ever read that verse. "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Isrealites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" That immediately brought me back to something Wittgenstein had said when he mocked DeCartes' philosophical bedrock, "I think therefore I am." Wittgenstein said, "That's a Hell of a place to start! The only person who could say that and have it be true would be God". Mind. Blown. 

A few weeks later, I met Jesus in a vision and woke to the Holy Spirit hovering above my bed in the fourth hour after midnight on November 20,2001. I had gone to sleep in an awful mood as, at that time, everything was a struggle. The economy hadn't recovered from 9/11 and my restaurant was limping along. I told God, "I know you are running the universe, but you're doing a damn lousy job of it!" Thankfully, He chose to ignore that second part. He only heard a sincere heart cry out, "I KNOW you are running the universe." 

In that God gives us the very faith to believe, all of this is His work. I could write books about the way He has worked all things for good in my life. He gave me a mother who loved unconditionally. He gave me a wife who made me go to church and then BSF. He drew me to love many movies and songs that had a Christian message. He gave me a childhood church that had "God is love" in large neon letters on their tower; I could see it from my bedroom window from birth to 8 years old when we moved away. He works on me every day through the Holy Spirit that lives in me. 

So God works all things for those who love Him - and are going to love Him - who are called according to His purpose - because He is not limited by time. I can't forget that second part, the calling to purpose, I stand convicted that I have a lot more to do for Him on this old Earth.