QuoteProject
Almost certainly God is not in time. His life does not consist of moments one following another...Ten-thirty-- and every other moment from the beginning of the world--is always Present for Him. If you like to put it this way, He has all eternity in which to listen to the split second of prayer put up by a pilot as his plane crashes in flames.
C. S. Lewis
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that God exists outside of time, experiencing all moments simultaneously.

C. S. Lewis reflects on the nature of God's existence, proposing that unlike humans who perceive time as a sequence of moments, God transcends time and experiences every moment at once. This idea brings comfort, suggesting that even in dire circumstances, such as a pilot's prayer during a crisis, God is always present and aware, able to hear and respond without the limitations of human temporal experience.

Themes

GodTimeEternityPrayerPresence

In practice

Example use cases

In a sermon about the nature of God, this quote can illustrate God's eternal presence.

More from C. S. Lewis

A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.
C. S. LewisRead
I enjoyed my breakfast this morning, and I think that was a good thing and do not think it was condemned by God. But I do not think myself a good man for enjoying it.
C. S. LewisRead
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C. S. LewisRead
Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
C. S. LewisRead
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
C. S. LewisRead
The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred
C. S. LewisRead

Similar quotes

Ringing assurance that we are not alone... That we are assisted and defended by a powerful and glorious order of invisible Beings.
Billy GrahamRead
The sacred is in the ordinary...it is to be found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family, in one's own backyard...travel may be a flight from confronting the scared--this lesson can be easily lost. To be looking elsewhere for miracles is to me a sure sign of ignorance that everything is miraculous.
Abraham MaslowRead
Ultimately, there is no entity called 'government'; there are only people forming themselves into groups called 'governments' and acting in a 'governmental' manner.
Murray RothbardRead
The Anthropocentic Age - the first age in which humankind is the dominant species on the planet - cuts both ways: it is up to us to destroy or save the planet. We certainly have the ability.
Craig VenterRead
I think in our time, you know, so much of the information we get is pre-polarized. Fiction has a way of reminding us that we actually are very similar in our emotions and our neurology and our desires and our fears, so I think it's a nice way to neutralize that polarization.
George SaundersRead
The whole underside of our society has always been violence and still is. Churches, laws - everybody seems to think that man is a noble savage. But he's only an animal. A meat-eating, talking animal. Recognize it. He also has grace and love and beauty. But don't say to me we're not violent.
Sam PeckinpahRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by C. S. Lewis | QuoteProject