Our Times: “My times are in thy hand.” Psalm 31:15. There are certain moments in life when circumstances slow us down and force us to think about things we might otherwise pass over. Most days we move along assuming tomorrow will look very much like today. We plan and we grow accustomed to the ordinary rhythm of our days. Yet it often takes only a single moment for everything to change. When that happens, the simple words of Scripture begin to speak with a clarity we may not have noticed before. Psalm 103:15-16.
We live in a world of sin, and life keeps moving forward whether we are ready for it or not. In many ways we remain as small and insignificant as ever. Yet somehow we cannot help but believe that the Lord is ordering all things wisely. The trouble is that our view of these things is often very narrow. Our thoughts naturally turn inward, and we tend to see life only from where we are standing. Proverbs 16:9.
When something comes upon us, our first thought is often, “this can’t possibly be good.” We wonder why it happened at all. But the truth is we tend to look at events only from our own standpoint, as if the whole world somehow revolves around us. We forget that every life is sustained by the Lord’s daily mercies and unfolds according to a wisdom far beyond our understanding. Lamentations 3:22-23. In reality, we’re not nearly as important as we sometimes imagine. There are billions of people in this world. Why should we expect to be treated any differently than the rest, or imagine that our lives should unfold differently than anyone else’s? Some people appear better than we are, others far worse. Some are rich, some are poor, and some live as though they are poor simply because they fail to recognize the daily mercies God places into their hands. And yet when something touches our own lives, it suddenly feels very personal. We begin asking questions we might never ask when the same thing happens to someone else.
When events like this interrupt the ordinary course of our lives, they have a way of bringing us back down to where we belong, reminding us how small, insignificant, and utterly dependent we really are. Life can change in a moment; one day everything seems normal, and the next day everything looks different. Perhaps that is exactly where the Lord would have us – brought low enough to see that our hope must be outside of us. And as that begins to settle in, the message of Christ becomes very precious. Romans 5:6. MPJ