Many of us can feel as if somehow we have been demoted and overlooked by life, when in fact, every step we take and every move we make is so carefully planned; God Himself is orchestrating all our circumstances and endeavors.

We are obsessive compulsive servants, sometimes slaves, to our electronic devices; we are slaves to our watches, smart phones, i-pods, alarm clocks, and calendars. And a few of us allow these man-made gadgets to rule our days, pushing us forward hurriedly, pressuring us to do more and do it faster.

Wherever we are we find ourselves watching the clock relentlessly tick away as reminders of how far we have yet to go and how little time we have to get there. No wonder people are so impatient. Our impatience has caused companies and corporations to invent and/or create different products that are designed to “over dramatically” assist us in maintaining and managing our time each day.

Yet with these brand new pretty and shiny gadgets designed to help maximize our time God’s children still appear at times to be stumbling through life. Many of us feel as if somehow we have been demoted and overlooked by life, when in fact, every step we take and every move we make is carefully planned; God Himself is orchestrating all our circumstances and endeavors.

When we need to stop for moment to realize God is in control (Psalm 46:10-11). Recall, No matter how bad things may look at any moment—God is in control!

Psalm 31:14-16 ESV

¹⁴ But I trust in you, O Lord;
    I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵ My times are in your hand;
    rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
¹⁶ Make your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your steadfast love!

The Word of God for the Children of God. In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Here in the 31st Psalm, David is declaring that his entire life is in God’s hands. He makes it known in no uncertain terms that it is God’s timing and not his; it is God’s call upon his life goes according to God’s calendar and not his.

Notice that David says, “But I trust in you…” his life was being threatened, to have someone threatening your very life would be extremely scary, it would indeed place most of us on edge for sure—but David says I’m really worried about it because no one can harm me unless God allows it.

David seems to refer back to the 23rd Psalm a little bit when he says, “You are my God” just like you are my Shepherd, and because of this I shall fear no evil.

When we consider the all too often politically incorrect fact that our times are in God’s hands, we also need to try to understand that His time is never going to be our time. Because God often moves slower than we do, yet God always has us at the right place at the right time and absolutely nothing slips out of His hand.

With God, there is never a wasted moment—He knows beforehand what we will face and go through; He is there before we get there in order to work it out for us. This is why David was so confident, this is why he said, “But I trust in you…” What if we all could be like David in times of trouble? The answer is…we surely can. David was not the only one who knew that their time was in God’s hands.

Job 14:1-6 English Standard Version

Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All

14 “Man who is born of a woman
    is few of days and full of trouble.
² He comes out like a flower and withers;
    he flees like a shadow and continues not.
³ And do you open your eyes on such a one
    and bring me into judgment with you?
⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
    There is not one.
⁵ Since his days are determined,
    and the number of his months is with you,
    and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
⁶ look away from him and leave him alone,^[a]
    that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.

Have we ever been where Job walked? When it seems as if time is just wasting away—and we have not made the progress we thought we should have made by now? Job was suffering physically, mentally and spiritually and he had no idea what was happening to him and why it was happening to him or when it ends.

By the time we reach the 14th chapter of Job we see that Job was starting to panic. He panics not only because of what he was going through, he panics because time was passing by and there was no remedy in sight—now I did not say there was no remedy, but I did say that the remedy was not in sight. When we are walking through a dense dark valley and we do not see the Light at the end of the valley. It can and quite often does cause us to long to be in a panic.

Although Job was in his panic mode, although he was indeed suffering he never once blamed God for his suffering and he also knew that God provided his only hope for restoration. He knew whatever it was he was going through he still was in God’s hands. We ourselves simply need to get to a place in our lives where when pain, suffering, and trouble come we do not panic when we do not find all our answers on our “smart phones”. We have to say like, “But I trust in God…”

We must trust the providence of God and we must trust His timing. We all want good things to happen in our lives, but too often we want it right now…not later. When it doesn’t happen that way, we are tempted to ask, “When, God, when?”

Most of us need to grow in the area of trusting God instead of focusing on the “when” question. If you’re missing joy and peace, you’re not trusting God. If your mind feels worn out all the time, maybe you’re not trusting God enough. If we feel moved to take things into our own hands, are certainly not trusting God.

What if Job tried to handle his situation on his own? What if he had followed his wife’s and his so-called friends foolish advice? The devil would have been given bragging rights and God would have actually lost the challenge. But God knew Job; it was God who brought Job’s name up in the first place.

Question. Can God trust you and I in the manner he trusted Job do to the right thing? We who feel that the end of time is upon us do have a tendency to push things to force things and flail and fight in an attempt to make things happen.

You remember the often told story of the little boy who was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it.

The little boy got a large jar from his mother and put plants to eat, and a stick to climb on, in the jar. Every day he watched the caterpillar and brought it new plants to eat. One day the caterpillar climbed up the stick and started acting strangely. The boy worriedly called his mother who came and understood that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon. The mother explained to the boy how the caterpillar was going to go through a metamorphosis and become a butterfly.

The little boy was so very thrilled to hear about the changes his caterpillar would go through. With great anticipation he watched his caterpillar every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day it happened, a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle to come out.

At first the boy was excited, but soon he became concerned. The butterfly was struggling so hard to get out! It looked like it couldn’t break free! It looked desperate! It looked like it was making no progress! The boy was so concerned he decided to help. He ran to get scissors, and then walked back (because he had learned not to run with scissors…). He snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and the butterfly quickly emerged!

As the new butterfly came out the boy was surprised. It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, they would enlarge and they would expand outward to support the swollen body. He knew that in time the body would shrink and the butterfly’s wings would expand. Except, it was not so.

But nothing happened. The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never had the chance to be what it was designed to be. It never was able to fly.

As the boy tried to figure out what had gone wrong he learned later from his mother that the butterfly was SUPPOSED to struggle. In fact, the butterfly’s struggle to push its way through the tiny opening of the cocoon pushes the fluid out of its body and into its wings. Without the struggle for life, the butterfly would never, ever fly. The boy’s good intentions badly hurt the butterfly—our good intentions can do the very same thing to us, when we decide to work on our time instead of God’s time. Job knew that his times was in God’s hands!

His Priestly Prayer, Jesus knew His time on earth was in His Father’s hands.

John 17:1-5 English Standard Version

The High Priestly Prayer

17 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ² since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Jesus knew His time on earth was in His Father’s hands. Three times Jesus prophesied that he would be betrayed, arrested, crucified and then buried. In the garden, when the soldiers came for him and Peter lopped off Malchus’ ear;

John 18:10-11 English Standard Version

¹⁰ Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant^[a] and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) ¹¹ So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

The truth of the whole matter is that Our lifetimes are 100% in God’s hands!

Ecclesiastes 3:9-15 English Standard Version

The God-Given Task

⁹ What gain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹² I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; ¹³ also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.

¹⁴ I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. ¹⁵ That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away.^[a]

Saying, “My times are in your hands.” David was expressing his belief that all of life’s circumstances are under God’s control. Knowing that God loves and cares for us enables us to keep steady in our faith regardless of our circumstances. It faithfully, hopefully, ever so prayerfully keeps us from our sinning foolishly by taking God’s matters into our own tiny hands or “resenting God’s timetable.”

We are suppose to serve God because He is God…Not just because He heals our sickness…not because He forgives us of our sins…not because He supplies our daily needs…but just like David, Job, and God’s own Son, Jesus. We are to 100% love Him and serve Him just because He is God. We should never have to worry about being in God’s will—in times of trouble, suffering and distress being in God’s will is the absolute best place to be. And what a blessing it is to know that your times, my times, our days, and our services are all in God’s hands. Amen.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, let us now Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You for the encouragement and lessons I can lean from the beautiful pictures of Jesus that are found in the book of Psalms. I trust in You and pray mightily that day by day my soul may rest in Christ. Thank you for being my God and my my Father, My Lord and my Saviour, Alleluia! Amen.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent and the theme is “Hope in the Darkness.” We will take some time for ourselves, something we’re often not very good at doing. The reality is God cares deeply for you before you can do anything for him, and he wants that truth to settle deeply into our hearts today. We will be exploring what it means to have vision for ourselves holistically. How do we set ourselves up for success emotionally, physically and spiritually? The truth is you matter, and it’s my prayer you are strengthened and encouraged today.

Psalm 25:1-10 Names of God Bible

By David.

¹ To you, O Yahweh, I lift my soul.
² I trust you, O my Elohim.
    Do not let me be put to shame.
    Do not let my enemies triumph over me.
³ No one who waits for you will ever be put to shame,
    but all who are unfaithful will be put to shame.
⁴ Make your ways known to me, O Yahweh,
    and teach me your paths.
⁵ Lead me in your truth and teach me
    because you are Elohim, my savior.
        I wait all day long for you.
⁶ Remember, O Yahweh, your compassionate and merciful deeds.
    They have existed from eternity.
⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth or my rebellious ways.
    Remember me, O Yahweh, in keeping with your mercy and your goodness.

⁸ Yahweh is good and decent.
    That is why he teaches sinners the way they should live.
⁹ He leads humble people to do what is right,
    and he teaches them his way.
¹⁰ Every path of Yahweh is one of mercy and truth
    for those who cling to his promise^[b] and written instructions.

The Word of God for the Children of God. In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Psalm 25 is a plea from the depth of a suffering soul to the God in whom the speaker trusts for deliverance and mercy. Yet despite this trust, the text is a cry of utmost desperation. It points directly and decisively to our longing for God not only to deliver us from our troubles, also for God’s light to reveal us fully.

As we enter into this season Advent, we wait for God to see us through the darkness, reveal Himself, to bestow the mercy that we trust God alone to give.

While this reading is limited to verses 1-10, considering the entire Psalm provides a richer understanding of the Psalmist’s prayer.

In many ways, Psalm 25 is a brilliantly woven text. The Psalm as a whole appears to be two prayers woven together: one expressing the experience of a suffering individual who feels the absence of God, and the other expressing a community’s trust in God’s direction and deliverance. The individual and communal voices alternate, with verses 1-7, 11-12, and 16-21 voicing the individual, and verses 8-10, 13-15, and 22 voicing the community. It may be that two prayers were interwoven in this way for use in a worship context.

The result of this interweaving is a compelling prayer that contains all the elements of a lament:

• Petition: As we see from the first two verses, this Psalm is addressed to God, calling upon God to hear the sufferer’s plea. The speaker pleads for God’s attention to and for deliverance from suffering (verses 1-3 and 16-21), and also for forgiveness of sins of the past, which seem to be haunting the speaker and contributing to that affliction (verse 6-7 and 11-12).

Woven together with this plea is a petition for instruction in following the right path (verses 4-5 and 8-10). While mercy is utterly dependent on God and not on our own deserving, the Psalmist knows that such mercy is most often found by his walking the way that God has provided within the covenant community (verses 10, 13-15).

• Complaint: While we do not have here a clear description of the precise nature and source of the Psalmist’s suffering, it is clear, however, the situation is dire; the Psalm is rife with the language of shame, guilt, loneliness, and affliction. Whatever the cause of the individual’s suffering, a significant piece of the pain expressed here is the Psalmist’s idea, God’s apparent absence in the midst of it.

This absence of God is a source of shame for the speaker, who is persecuted for maintaining faith in a God who seems either unwilling or apparently unable to respond (verse 2-3 and 20). Indeed, for the Psalmist persecution is a “violent hatred” (verse 19) that further intensifies the very acute pain of the experience.

The Psalm is the Psalmists very heartfelt Appeal to God’s character: Here, the speaker takes this complaint to God precisely because God is the one who can be trusted to provide deliverance. In verses 6-7, 11, and 18, the Psalmist calls on God to make known the steadfast love that characterizes the Divine Reality.

Here we see another example of the brilliant weaving of this Psalm: the appeal unto God’s character is interwoven with a particular plea for forgiveness. “Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and of your steadfast love . . . Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!” (verses 6-7).

It is as if the speaker is saying, “Remember, God, both who you are and who I am, and forget the sin that seems to stand between us.” The natures of God and of the sin filled, sin darkened human being both seem hidden under deep suffering and deeper shame, and only God’s attention to the afflicted can restore them.

Statements of confidence in God, and promise of sacrifice or praise: These final two elements of Psalms of lament are less explicit and frequent here than in other such Psalms (see Psalm 22).

The speaker asserts his sure and certain trust in God (verse 2), maintains the goodness and uprightness of the Lord (verse 8), and repeats the refrain of waiting for God to respond, implying assurance God’s response will surely and certainly, directly and decisively, timely and succinctly come (verses 3, 5, 21).

The speaker praises God for the sureness of God’s instruction (verses 8-10). But the overlying theme of this lament remains that of the perception of suffering, God’s divine absence; the Psalmist’s faith remains interwoven with fear and doubt, the Psalm ends with a plea for the redemption of all Israel (verse 22).

Advent often seems to come to us as a pinhole of light surrounded by darkness.

The world, with its suffering, its violence, its ruthlessness, at times seems so dark, and the light at tunnels end seems so puny. We want it to be enough, but we’re not really convinced it will be. We fear the light that God has promised won’t really shine in the darkest corners of our world, or of ourselves. And it is only dimly, through that pinhole of light, that we see ourselves, reduced to our shortcomings, and we long for God to look past those faults and really see us.

With the Psalmist, as a community and as individuals, we pray, “See me, God, and show me that mercy and steadfast love for which I long, and which I can receive only from you.” As the season of Advent begins, our hope begins as we cry the lament of Psalm 25, and we wait for the salvation that we know is ours.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Let us raise up our souls unto the Lord our God, and enter into a time of prayer.

“O my God, in You I trust, do not let me be ashamed; do not let my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed; those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed.”  

Thank You, Father, that I can place my complete trust in You to keep my soul pure and holy. As we move forth into this season of Advent, Continue to guide me so that I will never be ashamed of my behavior, words or thoughts. I praise You that if I will wait for You and seek after Your heart, I will never be ashamed.

In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.