What time is it? By Anne Elmer
A terrific little booster shot of encouragement and hope to start the new year …even if your name isn’t Esther.
What times are these?
Difficult times, a time of recession, times of change, the end times?
So much is being said at the moment about the times we are living in that I felt nudged to read once more that beautiful passage in Ecclesiastes 3 which begins
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.
The God who lives outside time, (that concept is too big for my imagination) wants us to understand that everything has its time. What time is it for you at the moment? If you are living in good times personally and spiritually then be strengthened and prepared for the next season, because surely it will come. If you are going through a difficult time, then be encouraged because it will have its season and its close. God uses the times and seasons in our lives to test us, and train us.
One thing you can be sure of, whatever time you think it is, is that He has a plan for your life, that you are alive today because God wants it that way. (Read Psalm 139 to be reassured.) He knows where you are living, who is around you, and it is more than probable that he has put you right there.
What time are you living in? I would say, you are living in your time; the time for you. Yes our seasons of life change, but Jesus’ words don’t. He still says to His followers, “Go in my name and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19) He still tells us to heal the sick, cast out demons and speak in other tongues. (Mark 16:16-18) He still invites us, as He did Peter, to get out of the boat. (Matthew 14:29).
Maybe you don’t agree, maybe you are thinking, “the Lord says ‘Be still and know that I am God’” and of course you are right, but that time too will pass. And even if we are being still, then we must still pray without ceasing, (1 Thess 5:17) for those who ill treat us, (Luke 6:28), for those in authority, (1 Tim 2:2) and many, many more.
Maybe your argument is that you are a nobody who can do nothing worthwhile. My friend, you are not a nobody, you are important in God’s kingdom. You are not an accident; God wants you here, now, today. You are not here because somewhere in your family line a contraceptive pill was forgotten or someone drank too much, or someone was abused. You are not here because way back in the generations something secret happened in a hidden place. No! You are here today because God has a plan for your life. Just look back through 2 or 3 generations, and see what lengths God went to in order to secure your birth.
In my own life here in Western Europe, my parents and grandparents survived two world wars. My paternal grandfather had a very serious accident in a stone quarry blast. This took his sight, but his life was preserved. By chance? No, by the will of God for a future generation. My maternal grandfather survived many accidents working in a coal mine. Was he just very lucky? No. God wanted him to give life to my mother, so that I and my children and my grandchildren would be born. I haven’t mentioned plane crashes, road accidents, and all the other dangers God protects us from in order to fulfill His purposes.
What times are these? They are your times, they are my times. It is time for us to be the people God is calling us to be. Let’s do it in His strength, in His name, and in His time.