Can we ask God to change the past (result)… and pray for things that have already happened?
2 v 1… yet again it was the hope that killed me. For a brief moment we had our hands firmly round that famous golden trophy and then it was snatched cruelly away. Did Argentina not understand that it was our time! After all they won it last time, surely we should share it around. That would be the ‘Christian’ thing to do. Waking up this morning to abject disappointment and dismay, I was about to stuff my England shirt back into the recesses of my wardrobe for another two long years, when a thought occurred to me… Was this really the end (no I am not talking about the pointless third place play off)? Could we perhaps do something to change the result, other than appealing to Donald Trump to interceded on our behalf and change the rules of the tournament? Maybe there was a chance of making the final after all!
What if I asked God to change the result? Surely, He has the power to go back in time and stop Thomas Tuchel bringing on the entire England defence at the same time. It has to be worth a try… doesn’t it!
God is after all outside of time and space. At least that is what I remember being told in my university lectures. God is transcendent and therefore beyond the confines of a temporal existence. Boethius, the early Christian Philosopher would go as far as saying that God sees all of time and space simultaneously. Others have argued that God immerses himself in time, for example, he is currently in 2026 with us, rather than also watching England’s last great footballing victor in 1966, saving St Paul’s cathedral from the Great Fire of London, trying to persuade Henry VIII not to divorce another wife and appearing to Emperor Constantine, at the same time.
Whatever way you look at it, the premise is the same. God is not bound by the limitations of a linear existence and therefore if He wanted to, He could go back in time and change the past.
England could have beaten Argentina (let’s forget the fact we didn’t deserve to win, God is unlikely to be interested in the outcome of a football match and even if He was, why would we assume He is an England fan?), I could have stepped over that wire rather than tripping up in front of my whole class as I did the other week. Whilst we are on the subject, I could have unforgotten my brother’s birthday, not gotten confused and accidently ordered ‘33’ A3 size photo frames to house my ‘3’ new pictures (I only have one wall to hang them all on) and turned up to the right meeting, at the right time in the right town.
It also means I could go back and pray for things after they have happened… especially if I forgot to do it at the time. The other day, a friend of mine asked me to pray for them. They were going for an interview for a new job and appreciated my support. As a good friend, I of course immediately said that I would and made a mental note to pray the next day, around the time they would be arriving for said interview.
Now I suspect you have already noted my mistake. Everyone is different, indeed, we are all created unique. Therefore we all have different strengths. Some people are good at sport, some at music, others at placing random objects in random places and calling it art. Some people are well organised, disciplined and logical and others, like me, are more creative, chaotic and last minute, especially with jobs I don’t want to do. It isn’t that I chose to be unorganised and forgetful, whatever my wife may think. In fact the opposite, I generally want to be on it, want to be well planned and am certainly well intentioned. I just don’t remember to do it.
I got to the end of another busy day at school. In education all days are busy and contrary to popular culture, we don’t spend the last 3 weeks of term showing videos, colouring in and winding casually down to the end of term. It was only as I packed away the mess left behind by Year 8 who don’t understand what a bin is for, or how to tuck a chair under a desk or why they shouldn’t bring paper aeroplanes into class, that I remembered the interview. I’d forgotten to prayer for them!
What if my prayers had been decisive? What if it had tipped the balance. What if, by asking God to interceded, he would have stepped in, calmed her nerves and made a difference. I was about to message her and see how it had gone (and not mention my failure to pray of course) when I had an idea. If God is outside of time, that surely I could still pray for my friend, still ask him to help her get the job and it would work just as well. After all God would have known that I was going to forget and remember too late, so surely he would have taken on board my prayers in the first place, knowing I was going to make them. Did this make sense? Was I just clutching at straws? I really didn’t know but I decided to give it a go. I prayed for her. This did at least in part assuage my feeling of guilt… momentarily. Afterwards I decided it was time to start using a diary, or a note pad, or some sort of organiser. If only I had an electronic device that I could carry around with me that has a calendar built into it and could give me reminders of when I need to do something!
This reminded me of a time I was teaching Year 12 and they had done badly in their mock exams:
“Can God change time?” There it was quietly asked from the background. A question that has baffled Philosophers, Theologians and Year 12 students for years. Number 16 on the list. Can God change time?
“Why would he want to?”
“To stop bad things happening,” Rosa J replied as the class stopped complaining and listened.
“But if he already knew they were going to happen then he could have stopped them at the time and didn’t, so why would he go back?”
Suddenly the class was filled with faces of students looking thoughtful.
After a few moments Liv B raised her hand, “If God could change the past, then I could pray for something to happen, even though I know it hasn’t happened.”
I nodded.
“Good,” she said and with that put her head on the desk.
“Liv what are you doing?” I asked, a little concerned. She looked like she had just passed out.
Finally, her head popped up, “Asking God to go back and change the mock exam. Did it work?”
We spent the rest of the lesson debating this issue, though every so often I saw looks of quiet concentration on a number of their faces. I think they were genuinely still trying to ask God to intercede on their behalf with the mock exam. He didn’t, the paper was still the same when I got home and looked at the pile of marking. Of course, I would think that even if God had changed time because presumably my memory would have been modified with it. So maybe He did after all.
Excerpt from 21 Questions by J.B. Harper
Conclusion:
I don’t think God did go back in time and change their grades. At least if He did, He wasn’t very generous with the remarks. Likewise, despite my early morning pleading He doesn’t seem to have changed last night’s result, though I haven’t given up hope, after all the final isn’t until Sunday. Plus judging by the continued sniggering of Year 10, my unfortunate incident with the wires, a hot cup of coffee and a hard floor, it still fresh in their minds. As for my friend well the good news is she got the job. She even thanked me for praying for her. I didn’t dare admit I forgot so I nodded, smiled and told her it was ‘no problem’. After all, technically I had prayed for, it was just a little late… but was it too late for God?
