“My times are in your hand . . .”

Every time I read the newspaper or open the news app on my computer, I am dismayed at so many horrible reports. Not only are people killing people, accidents and mishaps also take lives. Many people are afraid to go places because of so many threats in the world.

In the Old Testament, David’s safety concern centered on enemies who persecuted him. He asked God, “You are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. (Psalm 31:1; 3-4) Later, he wrote God’s answer to his prayer:

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” (Psalm 37:1–6)

God comforted David by telling him his enemies would not live forever; their days were numbered. This is sometimes a comfort for me too. Wicked people are no different than anyone else. They cannot harm others forever.

The psalm goes on in that theme, but also reminds readers that God will bless His people even while their enemies are alive. He says . . .

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. The Lord knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever; they are not put to shame in evil times; in the days of famine they have abundance. But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish—like smoke they vanish away. The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives; for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.” (Psalm 37:7–25)

Our struggles with the ‘right now’ and our inability to see the eternal outcome often includes comparisons. We feel we have ‘so little’ compared to the ‘abundance’ of wicked people, or are ill rather than healthy, sad rather than happy, but God repeatedly promises to take care of His people. Our times are in His hand.

As Fortner says, all the ups and downs of life, including health and sickness, prosperity and adversity, wealth and poverty, happiness and sorrow — are in the hands of our Lord and Redeemer. He appoints the length of our days and the darkness of our nights according to will. He is wise. Our times of refreshing are also in His hands.

We face the simple perils of aging and God comforts me with the fact that “my life will not close until the hand of my Father’s love closes it. I shall not die before my time and I shall not be forgotten and left on the stage of time too long.”

^^^^^^^

Oh Lord Jesus, how I thank You that not only are my times are in Your hands, so is everything else. All that happens in my life (and in this world) are in Your hands. I can cast all anxieties on You, because You care for me. (1 Peter 5:7) You keep me in perfect peace when my mind leans on You. I can trust in You forever, for You, the Lord God, are an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:3–4)

Nothing to worry about . . .

When the disciples realized that Jesus would soon leave them, He said to them,

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me . . . . I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” (John 14:1; 18–20)

“Let not” tells me that it is possible to be bound up in troubling issues that should be met by faith, not by an anxious and worried heart — and I have a choice in that matter!

Peter wrote, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6–7)

“Humble yourselves” tells me that pride can be the source of a troubled heart. Instead of letting the circumstances of life put me in fear, I’m to trust the Lord. I also have a choice in that issue!

Job is a good example. When the calamities started in his life . . .

“Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:20–22)

Grumbling is a sin. When I whine, I’m showing an attitude that I think God does not know what He is doing; that I know better than God how my world and the world in general should be managed.

Of course unbelief is at the root of worry, anxiety and fear. Jesus points to His Father who cares for me and if I believe what He says, how can I fret?

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:25–33)

That root of unbelief can produce spouts of covetous, envy, and self-pity. It isn’t easy to be content when blessings seem to be withheld, but contentment can be learned. Paul said, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” (Philippians 4:11)

I learn how to be content by several methods. One is being thankful for what I have. As someone said, if I don’t know what to be thankful for, I just need to take my pulse.

Another method remembering life is short and ‘more and bigger’ is not necessarily better — for me or anyone else. Letting God renew my mind as I read and study His word. He changes my values. God’s values are eternal and I can focus on that rather than the stuff that does not last.

Another application is self-denial that gets involved doing things for others out of my love for God. This is far more important and helpful than self-pity. Besides, freedom from a fearful and anxious heart is far better than anything I could selfishly desire and do for myself.

Jesus, You have blessed me beyond all expectations. I have all I need here and all I need in order to spend eternity with You. You have taught me how to be content and the value of self-denial. You have also given me many opportunities to deny myself and serve others with joy. Thank You!

Stop stewing . . .

A crock pot is a handy appliance. When I make a stew in a regular pot, I have to stir it often or it will burn on the bottom. That means my mind has to be on that stew all the time. But when the stew is in the crock pot, I don’t have to stir it, or lift the lid. I can just forget about it with no worries. At the end of the day, it is ready to eat.

My life with Christ is supposed to be like that. I don’t need to stir the stew, just entrust it to the Lord. He is taking care of everything and I can go about the day without worries.

Another analogy is living like a child who trusts his parents and is happily enjoying life. She makes her requests and leaves the answers to her father who loves her. She is not anxious about anything.

These analogies are great, but do they work? Yes, they do. I’ve an issue that at one time used to plague my thoughts first thing in the morning and most of the day. It was something I could not fix or do anything about. I didn’t want to think about it, or even pray about it because that would still keep it in my head.

Finally, I asked God to take it out of my mind. Sometimes it still pops up when I wake, but at the end of the day I am overjoyed because it was gone the whole day. This is what it means to rest in Jesus and this is His invitation to do just that:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

That rest is as Chambers describes — a heart full of peace that is not stressed at all, particularly with self-consciousness. That means to not be bothered with thinking about who I am, what I am doing, how I am performing, or anything that “by slow degrees will awaken self-pity.”

Self-pity is from the devil and is a sure way to take my focus off Jesus. This kind of thinking runs something like this: ‘Well, I am not understood; this is a thing they ought to apologize for; that is a point I really must have cleared up’ and has many other variations.  

Instead, I am to come to Jesus and leave all of my concerns with Him, being conscious only of Him, His power and presence with me and His ability to take care of any problems that plague my mind and heart.

This resting in Jesus means that I am not always asking about the will of God because I am already in it. Resting in Him is an attitude, a deep assurance that He is hearing and answering my prayers. I can go about my day with a calm spirit, not fretting, not stirring the stew, yet with a slight excitement that my prayers are being answered. It is like the stew in the crock pot — I can smell it cooking!

By myself, I cannot overcome nagging thoughts. My efforts remind me of the teacher who told her class not to think about apples or not to think about recess. If nothing else is given to occupy their minds, they cannot help but dwell on the apples or on recess.

My something else thought is Jesus. He says, “Come to me . . . learn of me . . . focus on my light burden” and in doing that, my mind is given the sweet rest of His peace, the “perfection of activity that is never conscious of itself.”

Sustained

It is just after 5:00 a.m. and we are sitting in the airport at Greenville, South Carolina. Our holiday was the most relaxing, stress-free week we have had for many years. Our daughter and her new husband treated us with grace and generosity. The weather was perfect, food good, bed comfortable, lots of laughter. 
 

Now we are heading home to a long to-do list that includes another wedding, but also a move from our large home to a smaller one. Just thinking about the tasks ahead could give me a headache, yet the Lord knows. This is the verse that He arranged to be in my devotional reading for today:

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55:22)

I know that the Lord will not pack and carry the moving boxes, nor will He let me back out of my responsibilities, but He will take the burden of them, the anxiety and worry part of them, and give me His peace and joy. He will also give me His gracious attitude so that all that must be done can be accomplished with a smile and a light heart.

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Jesus, it is for this wonderful and thoughtful care that I love You with all my heart. Grant a safe flight, I pray, and keep reminding me that I am never alone. I do not have to carry the weight of my world – You will do it for me.