Our Time is In His Hands

“My times are in Thy Hand.” Psalm 31:15

“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting for ANYONE to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” II Peter 3:8-9

Time is tickin’ away.. tick tick tickin’ away.

In our day when many people meet themselves coming and going, most people feel pushed for time. There are days when I wish time would stand still so I could get all the things done on my “To Do” List. Other times, it feels like time is moving at a snail’s pace and I can’t wait to get to the end of the day/week/month so I can do something I am looking forward to. We fill our conversations with phrases which convey the rush of our modern times. Along with the statements just mentioned, we speak of the peak or rush hour of the day, or we tell family members to get a move on because we don’t have all day. We regularly use words like urgent, priority, or pressing. How did those pioneers ever survive way back when they relied on telegraph, newspapers and delivering messages in person… today, not only do we have the cell phone, fax, email, and the Internet, but we have priority mail, even next-day AND same day delivery so we can send an important document or package thousands of miles away (usually accompanied with a hefty price tag to accommodate our rush).

With all our modern conveniences and technological advances we should have more leisure time than any period in history, but the opposite is really the case. For most people it’s run, run, run, go, go, go, and so much so most people seem to be out of breath. How ironic. If you pause and think about it, we are stuck in time here on earth. You have heard the phrase “Time marches on” and it is so true; everything is measured in time and if we are not careful, we will get ourselves under that unyielding task master called a “clock” and sacrifice our peace and joy and rest to try and keep up with the rat races of modern life. Keep in mind that there is one thing we all have in common and that is the same amount of time each day. God has allotted twenty-four hours to each one of us. It is not uncommon to hear comments like, “There just isn’t enough time in a day to do everything I need to do.” “I just don’t know where the time goes.” “I’ll try to find time, but I’m hard pressed for time at the present.” If we don’t stop and listen to ourselves, we will work ourselves right into the ground… and trust me, I’ve definitely been there many times myself!

The writer of Ecclesiastes 3 tells us that there is “time” for everything under the sun and a season for every activity under heaven, so why do we cram so much “stuff” into such limited time? We need to remember that God is OUTSIDE of time, and operates with an eternal perspective. Our verse in II Peter tells us that days and years are all the same to God, and when He may not be moving at a pace that we think He should, we need to remember that God is not slow, He has not forgotten, and He is not taking His good ole sweet time… He is SO patient with us, His Timing is PERFECT and we should rest in that amazing and freeing truth. He works all things together for good, and His heart is to continue to reach for those who are lost and perishing. There is nothing more important to God than His desire that NONE perish but ALL come to repentance and accept His free gift of eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ.

We need to slow down and understand that time is a resource and we should not waste the time God has given us, but we should also not trample it under our busy schedules and deadlines. Each morning, before your feet hit the ground running, simply open your heart to the Lord and thank Him for another day. Ask Him what HE wants to do with the 24 hour period you are entering into, and ask Him to direct you through your minutes of the day. The time God gives to us is to be given back to Him, so remember to focus on God’s timing and not yours…. You will experience much more peace and contentment when you set your “watch” to His!

Final thought: Don’t be so busy that you miss the little things in life that God places along your path. Take time to stop and smell the flowers! Close your eyes and listen to the wind. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that at the end of the day, you have done all you could do, then let it go! The psalmist wrote that “our times are in HIS Hand”, but please note: The times are ours, but the hand is His. All times are in the hand of the Timeless One, with whom a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day.

Shalom, sister Lahoma

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