How did time come to be?  Has time always existed?  How much time do you have?

The problem with time is that usually we feel we don't have enough of it! How many of us have said, "if I only had more time," or "where did the time go?" It certainly seems that the more we have to get done the less time we have to do it in. After doing things that we have to do, there seems to be very little time for the things we want to do.

Before the creation of matter (material universe) there was no such thing as  time. We read in:
Isa 57:15  For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,
whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place…….

God inhabits (lodges in, resides in, permanently stays, or dwells in) eternity.
The reason God lives in eternity is because He is eternal. When you see the name "LORD" with each letter capitalized in Old Testament Scripture, it is #3068 in Strong's concordance meaning "the self existent one or eternal."

Since man was only created in God's image and not composed of spirit or eternal as God is, God appointed the sun and moon to mark the passing of time. In Genesis 1:14, we read that God appointed the lights in the heavens to mark the passing of time.
Gen 1:14  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Why is it important for us to notice the passage of time? Because as physical human beings we do not yet dwell in eternity, we only have so much time. Through the creation of time God the Father has given to each and every man the ability to understand that his life is temporary. As long as we are subject to living on this earth, the sun and moon will be used to mark the passing of temporary life from us!

Psalms chapter 90 contains a prayer of Moses that gives us a perspective about time.
Psa 90:1-17  A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.  The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.  Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.  O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.  Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.  And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

There is so much in this chapter that we would do well to study and ask God
to give us the wisdom that is in it. At the beginning of the prayer, Moses
acknowledges God's eternal existence, and man's temporary existence
limited to approximately 70 years. God's people are being judged today, in
this age. How many days of judgment do we have left?  If we understand
that our days are numbered we are more likely to apply ourselves to wisdom.

In Psalms chapter 89, Ethan the Ezrahite wrote an instructive poem in which
he was concerned with God's treatment of him because he knew that he had
a short time.
Psa 89:46-48 
How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself forever? shall thy wrath burn like
fire?  Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in
vain? What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

Let's look at some other Scriptures in regard to how we should spend our time on this earth.

Ecc 7:16-18  Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise:
why shouldest thou destroy thyself? Be not over much wicked, neither be
thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time? It is good that thou
shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for
he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.


Ecc 8:5-8  Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a
wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. Because to every
purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great
upon him. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him
when it shall be? There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain
the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no
discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given
to it.

Jam 4:13-17  Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into
such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It
is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to
him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Eph 5:11-17  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things
which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made
manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore
he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as
wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not
unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Brethren, we live in an evil time.  The Bible tells us to (redeem) "buy up or
rescue from loss" the time we have. There is simply no time to waste! How
you spend your time now will determine whether you deserve to inhabit the
rest of eternity! How much time do you have left? You should discuss that
with God in prayer.  Ask him to help you use your time wisely. He will
teach you to properly number your days and apply your heart to wisdom.