-Strength for Today- “Time in the Hands of God.” - Psalm 31:14-15.
Time is one of the most precious things we have today. It’s the progression of events from “the past” into “the future.” Time is “one dimensional.” It’s possible “for time to move forward,” but “never backwards.” Yet, many misused that “measured” or “measurable” period, staring “unappreciatively” at “the valueless accomplishment” of their “own selfish ambition.”
But “time in the hand of God,” had its "restoratively measured purpose,” whereas the hand of God reached down in time to fulfill the “absoluteness of His purpose,” (Genesis 3:15), and that was for “the fallen human race,” “to embrace Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior.”
And to the absoluteness of that purpose, the Apostle Paul wrote: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” -Galatians 4:4-7.
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So, in this passage, we’re shown that God’s “sovereign active response” was “divinely passive,” in that (1) “He sent His Son” (verses.4,5), (2) He, in the person of His Son became flesh, and (3) God sent the Spirit of His Son, (verse 6), so that those who believe by faith will become His sons (verses 6,7).
We live “chronologically twenty-four hours a day.” Yet, God gives us “the opportunity of experiencing” what He had in mind “back in eternity pass,” when “the concept of time was created. - Genesis 1:14-19. So, time is the viewed as “the prophetic appointment of God,” which ushered “the inclusiveness of His grace,” which is an outward expression of His “unconditional love” that every humankind can have when they “embrace that resurrected moment,” when Jesus secured for our salvation.
Along the “stream of time,” and “before the sun cast its light on earth,” God determined “that Jesus Christ would come to earth” and “become the timepiece of human history!” He’s “the very One for whom time exists.” The “sun rises and sets” and “the moon waxes” and “wanes to the glory of Jesus Christ.” And as “the supreme figure of human history,” He gives time its “context” and “meaning.” That means, if you’re “in Christ,” saved “by His work,” your life “has meaning.” Because “God’s purpose for you didn’t hinge on you getting it all right” The Good News is “Jesus got it right,” and “when He got it right,” “Our Father which art in heaven,” “transferred His Son’s perfection to us!”
Author: Plez Lovelady, Jr., PhD