He holds all my days in His hands. . . .

This week has been crammed with events. When added to the usual, this results in fatigue for me, sometimes confusion, and even disappointment in what seems to be many wasted hours and years. I have a birthday in a couple days and have reached an age when that number is large and hard to believe.

Today’s devotional was instruction in defending the gospel of grace which is not a problem at the moment, so I opened a book called “Everyday Prayers” and was so blessed to read it.

First, God guided me to remember that from before I was born He saw me and thought about me. His knowledge and presence has always been with me:

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. (Psalm 139:16–18)

Part of my dreams and early morning thoughts were about regrets, things I wish I could do over, but the next verse was this one, and it brought tears and joy. God says:

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. (Joel 2:25)

Years ago, I presented a devotional at a senior’s home in Saskatchewan, an area known for its invasions of grasshoppers. I used this verse to encourage those aging people regarding their regrets. Now God uses it to bless me. Such a wonderful promise.

Then the writer wrote that this day is his birthday “and the number just keeps getting bigger. Yet as ‘vast’ and ‘great’ as the sum of my years seems to me today, vaster and greater are my thoughts of you. The number of my years is calculated merely in terms of decades, but if I tried to ‘do the math’ concerning your glory and grace, I’d have to count every grain of sand on every beach that has ever existed. With David I can honestly say, “How precious to me are your thoughts.” Again, I am blessed. The birthdays keep coming, but is that not better than dreading each one? Greater than wishing I could turn back the clock?

The prayer writer also wrote more, which is so easy to personalize. . . . 

“Father, keep on rescuing me from all wrong thinking about you. Keep showing me how little I really see and understand about the greatness of your love for me in Jesus. . . .  May the gospel keep on getting bigger and bigger and bigger. It’s a source of incredible peace and freedom to know that you’ve ordained all of my days for me. That feels not like unfair fatalism but rather Fatherly affection. I’ll not live one day more or one day less than you decree, by your sovereign purposes and eternal pleasure.”

He also wrote about wanting to turn back the clock for a do-over for certain parts of his life. Me too, but again, God “restores years eaten away by locusts.” It is a far better choice to rest in His love rather than be depressed with my regrets. He even commits to make all things new.

I can echo this writer’s prayer as well:

PRAY: Oh Jesus, every day, week, month, or year you may add to my life be full of a greater grasp of Your love that will never let go of me. Grant me the strength to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and fill me each day with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:18–19) This I ask in Your matchless and merciful name. Amen.

Seized and Held Securely

 

Thinking about how God grabbed hold of me and keeps me in His grip, I tried SEIZE and found that in the Bible that word is mostly about human activity, some of it commanded by God. For instance, Joshua 8:7: “Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand.”

After finding a few more verses that tell how God seizes people, I tried HOLD and even though it’s meaning is slightly different, it also is about human activity, some commanded by God. For example, 2 Chronicles 20:17: “You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

Some verses tell how God treats those who defy Him. Isaiah uses seize in several places such as this vivid image about those who suppose they are secure:

Isaiah 22:17–19. “Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station.”

However, God also holds tightly to His people. He says in Isaiah 41:13, “For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you.’ ”

However, God’s power to seize His enemies is repeated by the prophets. In Zephaniah 3:6–9, He says:

“I have cut off nations; their battlements are in ruins; I have laid waste their streets so that no one walks in them; their cities have been made desolate, without a man, without an inhabitant. I said, ‘Surely you will fear me; you will accept correction. Then your dwelling would not be cut off according to all that I have appointed against you.’ But all the more they were eager to make all their deeds corrupt. Therefore wait for me for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord.”

The psalmists seemed to understand God’s power to seize and hold both evil people and those who trust Him:

Psalm 59:5–9. “You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations; spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. There they are, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips— for ‘Who,’ they think, ‘will hear us?’ But you, O Lord, laugh at them; you hold all the nations in derision. O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress.”

Psalm 73:23–26. “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 139:9–10. “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”

When Jesus came, the people were at first seized with amazement and glorified God, but later did what had to happen; they crucified Him. After His resurrection and ascension into heaven, He wrote to seven churches saying to one: “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown . . . .”

He also sent an angel to seize Satan and bind him in a pit. Such is the power of God!

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. From Scripture I can hear God saying to me: “Because she holds fast to me in love, I will deliver her; I will protect her, because she knows my name. When she calls to me, I will answer her; I will be with her in trouble; I will rescue her and honor her. With long life I will satisfy her and show her my salvation.” Because of His power to hold me, I must say with Hosea, “By the help of my God, I will hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for my God.”