October 14, 2014 (Tuesday)
Dickens began his “Tale of Two Cities” with, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” I suppose that sentence could be written of our own day as well. Every generation faces ups and downs, and they seem to be happening now. What can you say of your own “times?”
Whatever we may be able to say of this day, we should be able to pray, as David prayed long ago, “My times are in your hands” (Psalm 31:15 NIV).
This statement is true because of the very natures of man and God. God is creator and sustainer. He is all-powerful and knows all things. Neither the past, present nor future are mysterious to Him. He knows it all. He knows all about you and me as individuals. Yet the Lord invites us to make the decision to commit our times to Him. Our times, then, are in the hands of God because of the very nature of the case, but also because we have made a conscious decision to will it so. We have turned it all over to God. Or have we?
I ask the question because of what the Bible and our experience teach us about ourselves. The very first man and woman rebelled against God, each of them in effect saying “My times are in my own hands–not yours.” Those were our ancestors; we have inherited that sinful nature. We, too, have rebelled in our own way. As the New Testament reveals, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
As the hymn declares, “This is my Father’s world.” But all of us humans, like sheep, have gone astray. We have each turned to our own way (Isaiah 53). But God, who is Love, has made a way for you to commit your times to Him.
Today, if you feel the tug of God’s Holy Spirit upon your heart, yield to Him, for “If you openly admit by your own mouth that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and if you believe in your own heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 Phillips).
As a child of God, you are able to say with assurance, “My times are in His hands.”
For many years, I have sung with my fellow believers, the following song by Dick Baker (His Way Mine) Please join with me in singing it now, if only in your heart:
I place my life in the hands of God.
Those hands so scarred now outstretched for me.
Where ever it may be, over land, over sea,
May thy will sublime, O Thou God divine, be mine.
