As I look back over 2020…
…I have to admit that the pandemic, the unrest across the country, the bitter divisions in America and even within the wider church, all caught me by surprise. I mean, I understand that this is a broken world and that times can be hard. But when the pandemic broke, and the lockdowns happened I felt like Charlie Brown standing on his pitchers mound in the pouring rain.
“Hey! Where did everybody go? It’s just a little drizzle“ and meanwhile Snoopy paddles by in a canoe.
There is one verse of the Bible that helped me many times and I commend it to you. Psalm 31:15 says, “My times are in your hand.” Perhaps it might help you to memorize and speak this word to yourself and to God over and over again, as I did on behalf of myself, my family, and my church.
Ultimately this is rooted in the Christian doctrine of “the providence of God.“ It’s not an easy doctrine for some people to affirm, although it makes great sense to me.
The Heidelberg catechism questions 27 and 28, I believe, are very helpful:
Q 27: What do you understand by the providence of God?
A: Providence is the Almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty - all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand.
And then they the writers explore the benefits of knowing and believing in the providence of God.
Q 28: How does the knowledge of God‘s creation and providence help us?
A: We can be patient when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing will separate us from his love. All creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move or be moved.
You see, the Christian is different from the non-Christian in the way that the believer views the passing of time and the ordering of the events of life. We do not believe in blind cold forces of fate. Nor do we believe that we are merely tossed about on an ocean of chance – a random existence in a random universe with atoms just bumping into each other.
I do not minimize suffering in peoples lives. I weep with them. And yet as we study the Bible together we believe that God, even behind what Jeremiah Burroughs calls “a frowning providence“ has a purpose in history and in our lives. I often remember that Joseph said in Genesis 45: 7 “And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth to keep alive for you many survivors.” God’s providential plan brought blessing to Joseph and the nations.
Jesus taught in Matthew 10:29-31 “Not one sparrow will fall to the ground apart from your father. But even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.“
So I commend to you Psalm 31:15 as a watchword for you to speak to yourself and to God: “My times are in your hand.“ Perhaps this will help you and me to be patient and trusting when things go against us, thankful when things go well, and trusting for the future that nothing will separate us from the love of God.
Occasionally I will turn to this hymn by Samuel Rodigast, written in 1765. But to read it, or sing it, or listen to it, I usually need a quiet undistracting place.
1. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Holy His will abideth.
I will be still whate’er He does,
And follow where He guideth.
He is my God,
Though dark my road.
He holds me that I shall not fall
Wherefore to Him I leave it all
2. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
He never will deceive me
He leads me by the proper path,
I know He will not leave me
I take, content,
What He hath sent
His hand can turn my griefs away
And patiently I wait His day
3. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup in drinking
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all unshrinking
My God is true,
Each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart
And pain and sorrow shall depart
4. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Here shall my stand be taken
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken
My Father’s care
Is round me there
He holds me that I shall not fall
And so to Him I leave it all
Musing’s from Pastor John, December 27, Click to Email Pastor John
Click Below for Pastor John’s sermon from December 27, “My Times Are In Your Hand.” Psalm 31:15