My Times are in Your Hands

My Times are in Your Hands
Alistair Begg

"In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness. Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my
rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me."

In the opening verses of Psalm 31, it is apparent that the Psalmist is in
anguish. As we read on, he seems to find himself in a position of assurance
just a few verses later, but then quickly returns to a state of distress.

This cycle of pain and joy is not an unusual experience in our Christian
pilgrimage. Most of us are a jumble of emotions and a cross section of
experiences. The good, the bad, and the ugly wash over us regularly. The key
issue is what we do with these experiences: how does being a believer shape
the way in which we view these events and our world?

Verse 15 of Psalm 31 reads, "My times are in your hands." These six words
are the affirmation of the person who knows himself to be-despite disasters
and difficulties- under the care of Almighty God. It is this certainty that
will bring equilibrium to us in the span of events that would either inflate
our egos or crush our souls. As I have reflected on this verse, I have found
nine truths which emerge from the simple statement, "My times are in your
hands."

1) I am not trapped in the grip of blind force.
The blind impersonal force has been referred to simply as "nature" for
centuries, just as it is today. You only have to turn on the Weather Channel
to hear talk of Mother Nature and her forces.

This notion is more profoundly evident in the pantheistic ideas of earth
prayers that are frequently propounded not only at New Age gatherings, but
unfortunately, also in many church buildings. The idea that we are viewed as
individual cells in a single global organism that constitutes the earth. God
is not distinct from His creation, but instead, is part of it. Have you
embraced this philosophy too? If so, then how do you sleep at night? When
you wake up in the morning, what puts a spring in your step? Are you living
life trapped, caged by a blind, cold, merciless fate, destined to die and go
to an unknown eternal destination?

One of the most distinctive features of the Christian today is the way in
which we are able to articulate our view of the world. The believer says,
"My times are in your hands, and I am not trapped by a blind force."

2) I am not tossed about on the ocean of chance.
In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams' character reports the
successes of his past students and tells his current students to do their
best in the moment that they have.

In one sense, that is a very fine piece of advice- it is important to make
good use of our time. The underlying notion, though, is that we must make
good use of our time because yesterday's time is gone and there may be no
tomorrow.

Do you ever get that sense? The Christian must respond by saying, "My times
are in your hands. I'm not trapped by blind faith, and I am not tossed
around on the sea of chance."

3) I am being trained in the school of God's providence.
The Christian affirms the truth that God has not abandoned the world He
created - that is deism. Nor has He become absorbed by His creation, which
is pantheism.

Rather, the Christian believes God is distinct from what He has made, and He
is working out everything in relationship to His creation according to His
plan. By the same power and divine energy in which He created this universe,
He preserves all of His creatures. He operates in all that comes to pass in
the world, and He directs everything to its appointed end to bring
".everything into conformity with the purpose of His will and to conform
people to the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As strange as it
seems, the Sovereign Creator fashions everything in time and history to this
eventuality: He will redeem for Himself a people who are His very own.

What does this mean for us? We are not trapped in the grip of a blind force
or being tossed about by chance. It means we are being trained in the school
of God's providence. It means that our times are in His hands.

4) Prosperity should not be the occasion of pride.
A proud or arrogant individual is someone who has never come to grips with
providence. The person who delights in saying, "I did it my way," puffs out
his chest congratulating himself and is on the wrong end of discovering the
doctrine of God's providence.

The degree to which I boast of what I have achieved is an indication that I
have not come to terms with the fact that my times are in His hands. It is
an indication that I have not appreciated the words of Deuteronomy 8, which
clearly tells me that when I experience wealth, it is the Lord who gives us
the ability to produce it, and in doing so He confirms his covenant with us.
When the doctrine of providence takes root within our hearts, we begin to
say, "My times are in your hands." and we recognize that prosperity is no
occasion for pride.

5) Uncertainty should not be the occasion of panic.
What do you put your head on at night? Yes, a pillow, but what do you really
put your head on at night? The only thing we can put our heads on in order
to sleep is the providence of God.

The Puritans said providence is a soft pillow for anxious heads. Most of us
face anxiety at some time. I usually can trace my occasions of worry to a
loss of confidence in the doctrine of providence. I may be prepared to say,
My times are in your hands." but I am not always prepared to live in the
light of that truth.

When trouble comes, the only place I can lay my head is on the knowledge
that somehow in the mysterious purposes of Almighty God, my times are in His
hands. These evil times in which I live have not taken Him by surprise.
These dark and dreadful days have not overwhelmed me because I know that He
is still at the tiller.

6) Adversity must not become the occasion of self-pity.
Most of us have lived through cries of anguish and pools of tears. The fact
is, though, that with the passage of time or the change in circumstances, we
may be able to look back over our shoulders and begin to recognize that
there is no trying or tragic circumstance that God has not sovereignly
permitted.

He is sovereignly involved in the life cycle of the sparrow and, therefore,
He is profoundly involved in the circumstances of those whom He has made the
special objects of His love. As a result, we can be assured that even in the
face of difficulty the fatherly providence of God has permitted these
things, and He has done so for our good and His glory. He will sustain us
and watch over us in the midst of them. One day, He will make clear to us
what now we see through a glass dimly.

7) There is a responsibility to be faced.
Now, this little phrase in Psalm 31:15 does not relieve us of the need to
accept personal responsibility for our lives. Although the Lord is ruling
over all things according to His purpose, you and I are still responsible to
Him for all that we are and all that we do. Therefore, we must be sensible
in our decision-making and righteous in our planning.

I often meet people whose reaction to the events of life is to sit down and
wait for the Lord to act. That is not a good plan. On the other hand, some
people are totally frantic in their endeavors. They are trying to take care
of everything, as if somehow the destiny of the world depended upon them.
Every so often, though, I will meet someone who has a fragrance about him or
her, a busied restfulness, because they recognize that the providence of God
does not remove them from the realm of responsibility.

8) Humility must be fostered.
When Pharaoh needed his dream interpreted, he asked for Joseph because he
heard that Joseph was skilled in this task. Joseph's reply in Genesis 41:16
was quite humble: "I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God will
give Pharaoh the answer he desires."

Unlike Joseph, we usually want people to know about us and our skills rather
than the Almighty God. At every level our lives are utterly dependent upon
God- instead of drawing attention to ourselves and displaying pride in our
power and achievements, we should humbly acknowledge our total trust in
God's providential rule.

9) There is a security to be found.
This is the great security in life: "my times are in your hands." The humble
believer fearlessly commits himself to God instead of living in the fearful
expectation of what fate may bring, and instead of viewing the world as
tumbleweeds blown in the winds of chance. Calvin says, "His solace is to
know that his heavenly Father so holds all things in His power, so rules by
His authority and will, so governs by His wisdom that nothing can befall
except He determine it."

That is not to say that we like everything that happens. It is to say,
though, that we do not need to be concerned that we contracted some sickness
we were not supposed to get. Here is the security- our Father has it under
control.

We are not at the mercy of arbitrary impersonal forces. We are in the hands
of our heavenly Father. He is the one who says to us at this moment, "Come
to me all of you who are weary and are heavy laden. Come to me with all your
burdens and all your fears and all your panics and all your anxieties and
all your heartaches and all your disappointments. I want you to come to me
and take my yoke upon you. Live underneath my jurisdiction, live underneath
my hand, because my yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find
rest for your souls."

Is this not a message for us today? "My times are in your hands." My Father
knows best.

*** Hummm, Think About It ***
"Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud."
"The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the
wise forgive but do not forget."
"If your lips you'd keep from slips
/ Five things observe with care
/ To whom you speak / of whom you speak
/ and how and when and where."
*ASAP (Always Say A Prayer)

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Every Abortion: 1 Dead, 1 Wounded, and Untold Collateral Damage
Only GOD is truly AWESOME! pm

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