TUESDAY 9th
Psalm 31
NIV (v15) – ‘My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me.’
ESV (v15) – ‘My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!’
During all of David’s adversary, hardship, etc, he makes this short statement in verse 15 ‘My times are in your hands . . .’ it was a recognition that God was in control and that in regard to his life God knew the end from the beginning, he acknowledged that he wasn’t in this world by chance, but that God had purposed and planned all things. In a later Psalm David says, ‘For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 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.’ (139:13-16) In Job 14:1-5 we read ‘Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass . . .’
These few verses should be a reminder to us that life is ours because God has given it to us, and he has also determined our number of days, he knew before we were born the moment of our birth, he knew the span for which our life would last, and he knows the day in which he has already determined that we shall die. It should remind us that life is special, and therefore we should make the most out of the time that God has ordained for us, and we have two choices, either to live for self, or to live for the glory of God. Living for self may seem to bring pleasure and a sense of excitement and fulfilment, but in the end it will all be temporary, here today and gone tomorrow, but choosing to live for God will bring satisfaction both in this life and also for eternity.
But there is also a clear ethical implication in our realising that our time is in God’s hand especially regarding abortion, euthanasia, and suicide. We are reminded in Job again that it is the Lord who gives and the Lord who takes away, they are words we are very familiar with in regard to the fact that Job acknowledges that it was God who had given him all that he had, his family, home, possessions and the Lord had the right to also take them away, but the same verse has always been applied to life as well, God gives it and God takes it away, therefore when a life has been given in the womb, man has no authority to take it away, thus abortion is clearly a violation of the command of God and is murder, and so also when we come to end of life, it is God who brings life to an end and so to end it voluntarily either through euthanasia or suicide again is a violation against God and his purpose.
It doesn’t mean that we should be insensitive in any way to any that have violated the law of God and the Biblical principle of the sanctity of life, we must act compassionately realising that behind all that goes on is an enemy, who seeks to destroy life, and to frustrate all that God has purposed, we are living in a fallen world, men and women are fallen, they have no time for God and the role of God in the granting of life, and even when a believer falls into especially the realm of suicidal thoughts and even attempts, it is the enemy seeking to destroy and we need to pray fervently against the activity of Satan in this realm and pray earnestly for any who are struggling in this area, for it is a real battle that goes on in this world in which we are living.
Let us remind ourselves that although the enemy seeks to kill and to destroy, Jesus said I have come that you may have life, life in all its fulness. That means we can live the best for God today as we chose to make our lives matter, and we do this by surrendering to his will, and the purpose he has ordained for us to fulfil, this will lead to eternal reward.