I am an art historian by profession and I work in a museum.  The past is my business.  I’m supposed to know something about it and to be able to teach about it.

If I had one, therefore, the temptation to use a time machine would be very great indeed.  Imagine the thrill of being able to meet my hero, Donatello, the greatest sculptor who ever lived, to separate the facts from the myths.  It would be some sort of Jim-themed nerd-heaven.

If I were a scientist, the temptation would be just as great, but perhaps to head for the future, to see where today’s research might take us.  Again – a geek’s dream come true. 

But it would also be a nightmare.  Imagine the disappointment of discovering that the facts were less interesting than the myth, or the frustration of realising that today’s research was just a blind alley.

The fact is, the desire to skip backwards and forwards in time doesn’t just say something about our curiosity and sense of adventure – it also suggests dissatisfaction with what we have and what we can make of it now.

The Bible has an interesting take on the question of satisfaction.  It doesn’t tell us simply to get our heads down and settle for what we have now, like it or not.  Quite the opposite. The bible teaches that God is working actively and always to provide us with everything we need, to satisfy us so we can live our lives to the full, neither regretting the past nor hankering after the possibilities of the future.

The prophet Isaiah wrote that, ‘The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places.’ 

In Jeremiah, we read that God, ‘will satisfy the weary’.

The psalmist tells us that God ‘opens his hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing’, while Paul wrote to his friends in Philippi that, ‘God will satisfy every need of yours’.

If I had a time machine then I’d probably leave it well alone. I’m doing my best to be satisfied with here, now, today.  And God, I think, is helping me.

I do need help with this.

The picture is the Boy Silas on the shore at Kimmeridge in Dorset one weekend the two of us camped at Swanage. It was cold.