Introspection: If I Only Had a Time Machine

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

If I Only Had a Time Machine

Scripture:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart."

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (TNIV)

There is hope for me yet
Because God won’t forget
All the plans He’s made for me
I have to wait and see
He’s not finished with me yet

From "Wait and See" by Brandon Heath

When I was younger, one of my favorite computer games was Buried in Time. In this game, the player takes on the role of a time traveler who jumps back to various points in the past to investigate changes made to the course of history. It was the player's job to find all changes made to the past and to figure out who made the changes.

One of the game's antagonists was a sea-dwelling alien who sought to obtain a time machine for himself. Embittered by the physical limitations of his species and the dependence on other alien races that resulted, his desire was to go back in time to change the evolutionary history of his race. He wanted his people not to be confined to the seas. He wanted his people not to be dependent on other races for technology, but to be conquerors. He wanted his species to be "better" than it was.

So many times I have desired to go back in time to change my own personal evolution so that I could be someone "better" than who I am. So often I think that if I could change key points in my own history I could be someone besides an unmarried introvert who often questions his career choice. So often I say to myself, "If only." If only I had spent more time with other children when I was young, I would not be so shy and quiet now. If only I had had a better attitude in high school, I would have made the most of that time and would be better off for it. If only I had been more open-minded back in college, I might truly know my calling in life.

Judging from conversations I have had with others, I think most people have these kinds of thoughts. I think that as people grow older, gain more life experience, and become wiser for the wear, they start to look back on their past and see mistakes they have made or paths they should have taken. If only they had made different choices, their life would be better now. Maybe you, the reader, feel this way too.

In the Biblical history of Israel, the Israelites make a lot of bad choices. Eventually they are conquered by enemy nations and find themselves in exile. During this time marked with despair and regret, the prophet Jeremiah reminds the Israelites that God has a plan and a purpose for them, and that God is always there for them if they just call out to Him and seek Him wholeheartedly.

I believe that what God had to say to the exiled Israelites applies for each of us as well. No matter what mistakes we have made, God is always there for us if we seek Him. No matter what wrong turns we have made on our journey of life, God has a plan and a purpose for each of us. No matter what we are going through, we can find hope and joy in the Lord. Even if our lives did not turn out the way we wanted, God knows what is best for us.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, writes "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose."¹ I am not quite convinced that everything happens for a reason, but I am convinced that God can bring something good out of anything that happens. Life will not always be like we want it to be. We are going to make mistakes. We are going to hurt other people, and other people are going to hurt us. Despite our mistakes and our disappointments, we can have the confidence that God will make everything to work out for the best.

It is impossible to change the past, no matter how much we desire to do so. Time machines exist only in books, movies, and video games. Instead of wishing that we could go back in time to rewrite our pasts, let's start looking to God to write our futures.


Notes:
1 - Romans 8:28

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