WHAT WAS IS - AND - WHAT IS WAS

by CharlesRobey
(Trussville, AL USA)

A somewhat confusing blog title, wouldn't you say? So just what is the concept of reality in this statement? Paradoxically, the past and the future is both infinitely quantifiable and infinitely elusive.

So might you be thinking in terms of “it is what it is” as an indication that people are increasingly resisting the temptation to force things into categories, to be comfortable with the unknown? If so, let us move on into the grip of this blog.

And whether or not you believe in dreams, especially divine relation dreams, you should find this blog somewhat intriguing. Hope you like it!

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them." (Ecc. 1:9-11)

Oftentimes, I will lie in bed at night and gaze through my bedroom window into the light of the same bright star. What a marvelous sight in the sky! And as always, this bright, serene star displays God's power and glory, and puts me quietly into my sleep world.

However, at this particular time and as an aftermath of my calm sleep experience, I found myself apparently in an abrupt dream world. As I laid there, all of a sudden this ghostly character appeared standing by the foot of my bed.

"Who are you, and what is your purpose here?" I shouted out in panic mode.

"Well, I'm simply a figure of the heavens. I have heard of your obvious adulation of the heavenly stars, and I have come to help. Do you not know about this bright star that holds your attention night after night?" he asked.

"No, I don't, other than it seems to always be alone in the heavens, and shining brightly. And it always seems to mesmerize me."

"This star is known as the North Star. It is located near the north celestial pole, the point around which the entire northern sky turns. It's not the brightest star in the night sky. But once you find it, you'll see it in the sky every night."

Then, all of a sudden, this man seemed to want to change the subject to prove a point, which he did."Do you know that the star that you see nightly is not what's happening now, but what has happened years ago? In other words, what was is and what is was," he persisted.

"How confusing can you be? What do you mean? And just exactly what is your authority Mr. Star Gazer?" I replied rather sarcastically.

He continued, "You are simply seeing the light from many years ago. It takes many, many years for the light of this star to reach your sight. In other words, you are now seeing the past.

He then explained, "From an astronomical standpoint, if this star were to be 100 light years away from earth, the light coming from the star would take roughly 100 years to reach earth. Can you just imagine a star sitting in the sky 100 light years away from you? Is our God not awesome? Our God simply spoke the entire universe in place. And yes, He did it all in six days, then sit down and rested (Genesis 2:1-4). As He was well pleased with His work." (Genesis 1:31)

Again I asked, "Just how do you know all of this?"

"I was there when the heavens were formed", he politely replied. (Colossians 1:16)

"Well OK, Mr. Star Gazer," I was again being a little cynical, "what does this dream lesson on the heavens have to do with me, here in the 21st Century?"

My remark seemed to upset this strange man, who was seemingly from outer space. He then rebutted by asking a number of questions.

"Do you not attend church? Do you not realize the power of almighty God? Do you not know Who created this vast universe of ours?"

To all these questions I answered in the affirmative. He then asked if I would take time to read the Nineteenth Psalm.

Then, as if by divine direction, this strange man started his spiritual dissertation. "You seem to be drawing a paradox from this star timeline to that of your own life. It seems as if you are relying on the consistency of this night star to sooth the perplexities of the day and put you to sleep. However, you should never dwell on past history to help you today."

You should not dwell on life's past, but look forward to the future. You can do this by walking by faith, and not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7) God will sustain you in the difficulties of life. Just as your faith in the reliability of God's North Star, night after night, always being there for your peaceful sight does."

'In other words, much like the North Star, faith gives you that reality and proof of things unseen, treating them as if they were already objects of sight rather than of hope," he concluded. (Hebrews 11:1,6)

"So the only way to see the truth is to see without sight but by faith. If I will live by faith and faith alone, I will always see reality," I concluded.

"Simply live beyond your five senses, beyond your seeing, beyond your touch, beyond your hearing, beyond your sensing. Just live by faith, the faith of the unseen God," he responded.

Without any further explanation, the strange man disappeared. He faded from my view as quickly as did my dream. And shining through my bedroom window and on to my Bible lying on my nightstand, seemingly by divine direction, by was the light from that bright star, a miracle in itself. I immediately rose and to my amazement, a particular Scripture was highlighted, which read,

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." (Hebrews 13:2)

So was this real? Had I been in the presence of one of God's angels? You be the judge. What do you think?

Author's Postscript (Taken from -curious-astro.cornell.edu)

"Why do people sometimes say that when we look at stars that are very far away that we are "looking back in time"?

This is because of the finite speed of light. When we look at objects that are very large distances away from us, the light that is hitting us now will have started from the object quite a long time ago, so in effect we aren't looking at what the object looks like now but what it looked like some time ago when the light was emitted.

For example, Proxima Centauri, which is the closest star to us (other than the Sun), is about 4 light-years away. This means that the light we see from it now left the star about 4 years ago."

So as communicated in this blog, when I looked to see the North Star through my bedroom window, I am in fact looking back in time.

Lesson learned, I can't do anything about the past, but I can surely learn from the present in changing the future. (1 John 1:9) Amen!