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What can make you lie down and sleep in peace in these turbulent times is knowing and resting in the truth that your times, your past, present and future, are in the hands of the good God who loves you with an everlasting love. And when He is your refuge and fortress, you can be safe, and also progress to move forward, even in a time when the world around you is at a stand still. It is why, even as the psalmist prays, knowing and being led forward in His will and plan for your life, can bring you good success, as you continue to meditate upon it, and make it your heartfelt prayer, Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; And may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. [Psalm 143:10]
For, even in a time of lack, His gracious supply can be your experience, just as Isaac was led in a time of famine, to sow and reap in abundant fullness, as he listened and obeyed the will of God. [Genesis 26:12] And it was grace that was the enabling and empowering of the Macedonian church, which saw them being generous and joyful even in a time of need to be able to contribute towards the need of others. [2 Corinthians 8:1-5] It can become possible in your life too, when grace reveals to you, what a privilege it is, to be a part of God’s all encompassing plan, that covers your past, present and even your upcoming future, ensuring it’s goodness and peace. It is a promise of God that you can hold on to, a promise that also comes with a procedure. And it is what the apostle Paul lays out as a spreadsheet, as he talks about his own life, saying, One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. [Philippians 3:13]
Thus, there is one thing that you need to focus upon, and that is, on moving forward. It becomes possible, as you leave behind your painful memories of your past, dealing with them in a godly way, which is to reckon and realize that your sins, your sorrow and pain, have all been carried away, on the Cross of Calvary. It frees you then, to move forward into your future. And even if does not birth much enthusiasm in you, as you consider your past, it only needs a godly perspective of it, in order to be led forward. For, it was a divine intervention and interpretation, of her troubled life that led Hagar, when she was driven by circumstances, to flee to a hot desert that offered her no succor or rest. She knew where she had come from, but to the subsequent query of the Angel of God, she had no answer, for she had no clue about what lay ahead. She did not know where she was going, or what her future destination was going to be. [Genesis 16:8] And sadly, to many, this could be their life cycle. For, it is with a godly perspective, one that is inspiring, that you can move forward in life, even though your current climate or circumstance may speak against it.
Your times are in His hand:
You may not know what tomorrow, or your future holds for you, but you know the One who holds your tomorrow. What could be safer and better than being rightly connected to the source of your good future?! Let the promise of God’s word therefore, map your times ahead, the unknown that lies in front of you, to say as the psalmist does, ‘My times are in Your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies; And from those who persecute me. [Psalm 31:1] The redemptive work that you experienced in your past, freeing you from bondage to sin and Satan, came from Him. And, He will do so even in your future, is the confident trust that you can have, when you focus on the One ho holds your tomorrow, and your Ever present Helper, who is with you, even now, to lead you ahead. And, concerning your future, He has prepared your path, as Paul describes, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God prepared before hand that we should walk in them. [Ephesians 2:10]
There are no sudden and unexpected calamities that can surprise God, for He is a God of fore knowledge, and fore thought. And He has already prepared the works of your future. Therefore, when you are connected to Him, you will not stumble, or be at a loss, not knowing what to do, or not having the means to do it. It is the very reason for your new birth; for the mighty and Everlasting God, has plans that are of welfare and not harm, already prepared for you. As He has spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, ‘I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope’. [Jeremiah 29:11]
And, the more you know the One, who knows the good plans that He has for you, the less anxious you will be about your future. Instead, you will be able to say like the apostle Paul, ‘I am thoroughly convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him’. Therefore, focus on the God who is in control, and the truth that nothing can separate you from His love for you, but that in all things you will overwhelmingly conquer. And for it to happen, there is the need to spend more and more time with God, the One who knows the good plans that He has for your future. There is also the need to forget your former things, and not dwell on your past. It is then that you can move forward, reaching out to take hold of what lies ahead. And God has also prescribed the path to it.
You will see what is new:
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past; [Isaiah 43:18] The Lord’s path is always one of growth, or a moving forward in His will and plan for your future, one that is forever good. And you cannot move forward, when you are constantly plagued by thoughts concerning your past. But when and how can you do it? It becomes possible, as the Lord goes on to counsel, by making a good exchange; that of putting away the old, and what has been, by shifting your focus to be on what lies ahead of you, the out working of what He is accomplishing in your life, something new, that can make you rejoice, and stand in awe of the miraculous and wonder working God. For, His words to you are, See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness; And streams in the wasteland. [Isaiah 43:19]
Your future in His Hands, is going to be a wonderful transformation of your life’s scenario; one that you can fully enter in though, only when you leave behind your past; one that may have kept you in needless shackles and fear. He is a God who will carry you through in your future to the very end. People may leave you high and dry at the first scent of trouble, but not the faithful and unchanging God whose purposes can never be thwarted. Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job, more than his former. [Job 42:12] And it will be your blessed experience too.
1. You will arise and stand:
You may have friends and acquaintances, who could be like Job’s, and so can be more aptly described as Job’s comforters! For their prognosis in a time of sickness, when ill health pulls you down, could be anything but encouraging. It was Job’s experience, and it was what the psalmist went through too, ‘An evil disease’, they say, ‘clings to him; And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more’. [Psalm 41:8] But you will arise and stand, for your times are in His hands. Yes, you may be surrounded by enemies, who want to keep you down, but God will give you the faith, to overcome it all with the weapon of His word, as it is written, ‘Do not gloat over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, The Lord will be a light to me’. [Micah 7:8]
And in the light of His truth, you will know and declare, that your God, will plead your cause, to bring you out of darkness, that you may see, and also receive, His righteousness, and justice. What has been denied to you, what is rightfully yours, will certainly come to you, when it is the Lord who is unjust and upright, who holds your future.
2. You will see restoration of all your loss:
It was the locust then and the virus now, that is causing immense loss and pain, as the economic turnaround seems years away. And your honest and sincere efforts could have ended with no financial recompense, as you continue to struggle to make both ends meet. But the Lord will make up and repay all that you have lost in your recent past, on account of it, for no labor in Him will be in vain. Therefore, even as the world around you is writing off this year as an economic disaster, the Lord will deal wondrously with you, even as it is written, ‘You shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied; And praise the Name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you- My people shall never be put to shame. [Joel 2:26]
You will never be put to shame, for you have a God who causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, and are called according to His purposes. [Romans 8:28] He is the God who is great in counsel and mighty in deed, and He works in ways that are too magnificent for the human mind to ever comprehend. And you can only stand in awe and thankfulness at the wonder of it all, knowing that He will do so even in your own life.
Hard labour without wages – but the Lord made up:
It was their rightful wages that the Israelites were denied, as they labored as slaves, in Egypt. For centuries it was their hard lot, to toil without any recompense. But the Lord made it up to them, in the course of a single night, when they were miraculously redeemed by His mighty Hand of deliverance. And it was the favor of God upon them, that on asking of it from their neighbors, they also received the silver and gold with which they departed. [Exodus 12:36] They left in royal splendour, praising the Name of the Lord their God, who had dealt wondrously with them.
Therefore, where you serve at present, maybe a tough workplace, with inadequate recompense, and lack of appreciation. But, in your work, whatever it may be, with honesty and sincerity, when you do it unto the Lord, from Him comes your reward. He watches over you, and looks with favor, upon your every effort; and He is never unjust. He will make it up to you.
3. You will be satisfied by His mercy:
And what He restores in your life, in your times that are in His hands, includes more than just a financial recompense and reward. For He desires that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. He answered the earnest prayer of Moses, therefore, unto Him, that said, Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, The years in which we have seen evil. [Psalm 90:15] And how it all happens is also made clear by Moses, for his petition unto the Lord, prior to it is, Oh satisfy us early with Your mercy; That we may rejoice and be glad all our days. [vs 14]
It is all by His mercy, one that comes anew to you each morning, His mercies by which you are not consumed, but satisfied, and can rejoice and be glad in your inner being, to experience an emotional healing, a prospering of your soul. For, painful emotions, is very often what accompanies affliction that lasts for days, and even years, in the lives of some. But, by His stripes you have been healed, is the wonderful truth of the Cross, even as it is written in the word. [1 Peter 2:24] And when the Lord walked on the earth, He displayed in His healing of the afflicted what He was going to accomplish on the Cross, to make it a very present reality even now, for your times and mine are in His hands. When affliction is long.
a. 38 years:
It was the lot of the paralyzed man by the pool of Bethesda as he lay in the same prone position, for years and years, thirty eight in fact. [John 5:1-9] In terms of stages of his life, he could have moved from the youth of his past, to the seniority of his present, with only a bedridden old age to look forward to. But his future became something wonderfully different, when the Lord intervened in his present, to redeem him from his past. He was miraculously healed, as he obeyed the Lord’s command, to take up his mat and walk. God put a full stop to affliction, to start a new chapter. A problem could be dragging on endlessly in your life, to remain still a problem, that is threatening to invade your future, but the Lord’s word to you, in His mercy and compassion, promises to you an ending of your past affliction, and a new future that is good.
b. 12 years:
It was what happened in the life of the woman who came in faith, amid the thronging multitude, to touch the hem of the Master’s robe, believing and knowing that she would be healed of her problem, one that had drained all her resources, mentally and financially. And on that one miraculous day, she was healed of her long running affliction, and also hear the Savior’s blessed words that bid her to go in peace and be made whole. [Luke 8:43-48] And, scrolling it down to the present ,to the days of sorrow that may have persisted on and on, in your life, even this day, God can change it, to make you go forward with joy as you believe and rest in the truth that your times are in His hands.
C. 18 years:
She was bowed down, unable to lift herself up, by a spirit of infirmity for eighteen long years. And it could have broken and crushed her more than just physically, until on that day in the synagogue, the Lord called her, to lay His healing hand on her, to loose her of her chains, lifting her up in life, as He endorsed her position, as ‘a daughter of Abraham’, with God as Father. Satan, had no hold on her, from that day on, as she rejoiced to reach forward to a glorious future. [Luke 13:10-17] And He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will He not, together with Him give you all that you need in life? [Romans 8:32] He certainly will, even as you entrust your future into His safe hands, and bring about a marvelous change in you, that will see you bowed down no more. He will lift you up, to expect and also experience a good future.
The former and the latter:
Comparisons are odious, it has been said; but it invariably happens! And to the one who is basking in his past achievements, his former glory, to be critical and pessimistic concerning the present and what is yet to come, God has wise counsel to offer in His word, through the rebuilding of the Temple of God in Jerusalem. For, there were people who chose to keep recounting what a magnificent edifice, the former temple, that was constructed by King Solomon was. And instead of forgetting the former, they chose to linger in it. But God spoke through the prophet Haggai, to point out what the need of the hour was, giving also the assurance of His presence, and the working of His Spirit, in carrying out the task of rebuilding the Temple. They had to look ahead, to progress in the path that God, had already prepared for them, in order to see the coming glory of His Temple.
The path ahead:
‘Yet now, be strong, Zerubbabel’ , says the Lord, and be strong, Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land’, says the Lord, ‘be strong and work’. [Haggai 2:4]
The promise and the power:
‘’For I am with you’, says the Lord of hosts. ‘My Spirit remains among you, do not fear’. [Haggai 2:4,5] In blessed assurance, the people could embark on their work, for they now knew that all that was needed would be made available to them, all by His gracious favor upon them.
The provision:
And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, so that you having all things at all times will abound in every good work. [2 Corinthians 9:8] It all then came together to see a majestic and good ending. For, a greater glory, the demonstration of His power, was the prophetic blessing of the Lord of Hosts, ‘the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former’ [vs 9] He also added another dimension to it, the promise of wholeness, ‘And in this place I will give peace’, says the Lord of Hosts. [vs 9]
And today, His peace comes to you when you are a child of God, for your body then is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And finding your rest in His promise, you can progress ahead and reach forward to lay hold of His plan for you. Your latter, and more glorious days are ahead of you! Not the time to give up, Times of weariness come to one and all, even as it did to the prophet Elijah. But then, even as he experienced, you too have a God who never gives up on you. He strengthens and sustains you, to point the road ahead, your path to latter glory that is greater.
‘You have a long way to go’:
It was the Lord’s promise to Elijah, a promise filled with His power, for it strengthened him to run for forty days. [1 kings 19:8] His future in the hand of God, had many things yet to be accomplished and it was the truth that revived and strengthened him. ‘You must stand before Caesar’. [Acts 27:24] When Paul and those in the boat with him, had given up all hope of survival in the stormy sea, it was the promise of God that came to him, to assure him of His goodness and protection, and His good purposes that still lay ahead in his life.
And even in your life, the God who has carried you so safely thus far, will carry you until the very end, to the place where He wants you to be. He will never give up on you, and His purposes and plan for your life. Fixing your eyes upon Christ, you can reach forward with joy into the future, for ‘Your times are in His hands’!. Giving thanks unto the Father, for His word that has come to you in season, may you be enriched, encouraged, and empowered by it, to move forward in His plan for your life, by His amazing grace, And may you see His goodness and mercy follow you, all the days of your life.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
