May I please God to bless us
together this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the book
of Psalms and Psalm 31 and we'll read the first clause in verse
15. The book of Psalms chapter 31 and I'm reading the first
clause in verse 15. My times are in thy hand. It's a very short, but a very
pertinent and a very true statement. And surely, as we may be able
to commit our way unto the Lord, such a truth will be a consolation
and will be a help to us as we realize that everything in our
little life from beginning to end is ordained by Almighty God. Nothing occurs which is not known
by our God. And therefore, how true it is,
our times are in the hand of our God. David was able, therefore, to
be able to make these glorious statements we have in this chapter
when he says in the previous verse I but I trusted in thee
O Lord and he's referring to that situation he mentions before
he says for I've heard the slander of many fear was on every side
while they took counsel together against me They devised to take
away my life. Well, we know, don't we, a little
bit of the history of David's life, how they did, how King
Saul endeavoured on so many occasions to take away his life, even by
throwing javelin at him. But, you see, God had a time
to deliver David, and it was through these deliverances and
through these blessings you may remember the confidence that
David had when as a young lad before Goliath and he came before
the king and the king asked him about himself and he made this
wonderful statement he will deliver me now that was said in confidence
of the help from his God whose times were in his hand. And he
was able to record and to tell the deliverances that he'd had
when he slew the lion and the bear. Yes, God had been with
him and therefore he was able to have that confidence and come
and say, yes, he will deliver me. And you know, it's just the
same today in our little lives. As God may give us that faith
in him to believe that whatever situation we may find ourselves
in, and sometimes they're very difficult, and we may not be
able to see the outcome, we may not be able to see the way through.
And yet, to come as David did, when he said, but I trusted in
thee, O Lord, I said, thou art my God. And because of that,
He was able to declare, my times are in thy hand. Every detail. Well, tonight you know how needful
it is that we may have that grace to realize that all our times
are in the hand of our God. And you see, the Lord has a perfect
plan for each one of us. How we always need to bow down
before that when we think the plan's not working out very well. And we think, well, perhaps the
Lord has forgotten me. Perhaps I'm cast out. Well, David had these scenes,
didn't he? When he was being chased around,
he might have thought God had forgotten him. But he hadn't. And he was able to confess, therefore,
that my times are in thy hand. and with that confidence of what
he had before, he was able to come and pray, deliver me from
the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute me. Well,
we know that our great enemy is of course, the devil. And
that great enemy will endeavor to defeat us and endeavor to
produce in our minds doubts that God does not have a favor toward
us because we might say well he hasn't heard and he hasn't
answered my prayers well perhaps the Lord has answered our prayers
and we haven't appreciated it he may have answered it in a
very different way sometimes we pray for blessings we don't
always know what a blessing means It may be that a blessing to
us is not appreciated because it isn't worked out in the way
that we wanted it to be worked out, the way we thought it would
be worked out. But it is so when the Lord puts
his hand upon us, sometimes those blessings are worked out in a
negative way and not in a positive way. And when they are worked
out in a negative way, what does it do? If we are a true believer,
it will make us search our hearts, and make us realize that our
times are in God's hand. Perhaps we've been trying to
produce a solution, and produce an answer, and produce a blessing,
and we don't know what the future hold God does. God knows what
all the future is. He knows the end from the beginning
and how important this is. That we have a right understanding
of that. To know therefore that things will work out well. My
times are in thy hand. It's not something that God doesn't
know about. We're not walking in an unknown way to God. We
may be walking in what appears to be an unknown way to us. But
not to our God. And so to have that confidence
that David had here when he said, I trusted in thee, oh Lord, I
said, thou art my God. What a blessing that is, isn't
it? To come to that position and be able to claim the great
God as our God. And we can do that as we have
the evidence of God's gracious work in our heart. and what he's done for us. He
may have hedged up our way. Poor old Jeremiah. He wasn't
very convinced that God was with him. He wasn't very convinced
that the Lord's times were, his times were in the hand of his
God. He thought everything was against him. But it wasn't. Just the same as dear old Jacob
of old, wasn't it? You know when he was told about
his sons and the one being left behind in Egypt and then the
demand that Benjamin should go down next time what did he say? all these things are against me but he was mistaken
he was wrong and sometimes it may appear like that in our lives
things may appear to be going in a wrong direction We don't
see the blessings that we anticipated, the blessings that we expected,
the blessings that we wanted. It wasn't so in Jacob's life,
was it, at that time? All these things were against
him. It appeared so, didn't it? But God's purposes were being
wonderfully worked out in such a way that poor old Jacob could
never have envisaged He could never have envisaged that it
was necessary for his son Joseph to be sold to the Midianites
and go down into Egypt for all those years. All those years. And we read of Joseph, don't
we? Until the word of the Lord came, it tried him. It was a
testing time for him. He'd had those dreams. He'd had
those promises. No doubt expected them to happen
pretty quickly, but years passed by. Years of difficulty, years
in prison, years in chains, but the Lord appeared for him. And what a wonderful and sudden
deliverance it was, wasn't it? One day in prison, The next day
elevated to the next in the throne, to Pharaoh. So the Lord does
great things. The Lord does more than we can
ask or even think. Jacob would never have envisaged
that when Joseph dreamed those dreams and told him of it, that
one day he would be brought to bow down before his son in Egypt. Well, the truth is, his times,
Joseph's times, and our times, are in the hand of Almighty God. And of course, they were worked
out for the honor and glory of God. What cause there was, wasn't
there? For praise and thanksgiving.
When Jacob came to realize what had happened, and it was true,
when he saw the wagons come to pick him up, oh yes, his spirit
was renewed. He rejoiced then in that hope
of seeing his son and being united to him again. Well, my time is
in thy hand. And so they were in Jacob's case,
and so they were in Joseph's case. And we need perhaps to
be encouraged by these familiar statements, familiar truths in
the Word of God. Sometimes we read them and we
don't actually recognize the wonderful application they have
in our lives. See, these things are not recorded
by chance. They're recorded for the help
and the benefit and the strengthening of God's people. Because we should
not expect that we're going to sail through this life in a calm
sea. No, the Word of God doesn't encourage
that at all, does it? But it does encourage us to know
this great truth, my times are in thy hand. It does encourage
us to believe that that which God has ordained for us will
be good, and that he will watch over us and he will help us and
he will bring us safely through life and safely to glory at last. That's why we have such a statement
like this, but I trusted in thee. Oh Lord, I said, thou art my
God. And we know that Joseph did in
that prison. He still trusted in the Lord. It was tested, wasn't it? His
religion was tested. And we should not be surprised
if our religion is tested. You see, if the Lord graciously
gives us a promise, and I often think promises are few and far
between those that really emanate from God. But those promises
which God gives to us will be tested as to the reality of them. And what a good thing that is. Because perhaps we've had what
we thought were promises. In my life, I've had what I thought
were promises. Never came to pass. They weren't from God. They were just my own theory,
my own thinking. And I suppose I analyzed it and
think, well that would be rather nice and that would be good and
I can believe that would happen. It never did. But you see, God's
promises will be tested. and will be tried. And what would
happen is this. You and I will lose that which
we perhaps added to it. We may perhaps have enhanced
the promise. We may have put our own interpretation
on it. Perhaps we need to therefore
just stand back and sit back and meditate and ponder the actual
promise, what it really said. not what we thought it said,
not what we assumed it said. My times are in thy hand. What
a blessing that is, isn't it? What a comfort that should be
to all of us to know that we have a kind and gracious God
who doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve, but who makes all his goodness
to pass before us in the way. And really going alongside such
a word as this, we can think of that verse in the 23rd Psalm
where we read, surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. That wasn't a vain confidence,
was it? No, that was a good confidence in his God, that was trusting
in his God, believing in his God. He trusted in the Lord and
he says, my times are in thy hand. Well, no doubt we've read
this many times, but I wonder if we really, really believed
it in our heart. Yes, our times, my time, all
our times are in thy hand. And therefore, if that is so,
we can press on, believing that whatever the Lord has for us
in His life will be for our eternal good. How often we need to weigh
things up in the balances of eternity. We're apt to weigh
things up in a time balance, aren't we? And that's why we
come to a wrong conclusion. You see, if we weigh things up
in the balances of eternity, then it brings us into a right
consideration, a right realization of the great truths of Almighty
God. And then we should perhaps understand
David's desire in his prayer when he goes on to say, make
thy face to shine upon thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. There's no time placed on that
statement, is there? He doesn't say, make thy face
to shine upon me today or tomorrow. He just says, make thy face to
shine upon thy servant. I believe, you know, if we're
blessed with living faith to pray such a prayer as that, it
will be answered. We'll be answered in God's time
and in God's way. And God's time is when we need
it. God's time is when we really
need the blessing, when we really need him to shine upon us. Then you see the Lord comes. Again, you can think of examples
in scripture. You can think of Abraham. when
he was told to go and offer up Isaac. What a test that was of
his faith. Was there any deliverance? Was
there any end in view? No, there wasn't really. And
yet, you see, he was able to say to his servants that they
would come again. Well, they would come again. What faith there was He didn't
know how the deliverance would come, but he had that confidence. My times are in thy hand. And when did the Lord make his
face to shine upon Abraham? When he was in the very act of
carrying out that command of almighty God to slay his precious
son that had been that gift from God. God came. He made his place to
shine upon him. There was deliverance. There
was that ram caught in a thicket by its horns. There was the sacrifice. But what had occurred? David had trusted in the Lord. Sorry, Abraham had trusted in
the Lord. And what had he really worked
out? My times are in thy hand. Every
detail. Again, we have these wonderful
evidences, don't we? In the word of God, these wonderful
accounts, which should be so encouraging to us today. We live
on the earth today. You may not have to, perhaps,
accords to carry out such situations, but there will be times of testing
in our life. There will be times of testing
to prove whether we do love the Lord or no. That's a great question,
you know. Do we love the Lord or no? And
we will need to have an answer. We won't end up with a false
religion. We don't want to end and find
that we were deceived. We want to know that we do love
the Lord. And that will be evidence to
us when we know that God has loved us. And that will be evidenced
when we see the Lord going before us. When we see the Lord appearing
for us. When we see the Lord hearing
prayer. and able to say, yes, my times are in thy hand. I'm
in a safe place. The Lord has not left me. He
has not forsaken me. And you see, we read this, make
thy face to shine upon thy servant and save me for thy mercy's sake. Well, David was a saved man. And as we view the work of God
in our heart, realizing that our times are in his hand, and
these times will prove to us and bring us into that situation
where we do have the evidence that we are one of the Lords
as the Lord leads us into all truth as it is in Jesus. Now, the reality is, But those
who are not born again in the Spirit of God do not really appreciate
the Lord Jesus Christ. They put Him down. They don't
raise Him up. They don't count Him as God.
They count Him as some other just good person. But you see,
the blessing of the work of God in our heart is to show us the
glory of the Savior and the glory of His work. the glory of his
finished work. And without that finished work,
there will be no hope. And therefore our hope is fixed
upon what Christ has done. Now then, this surely directs
us to my times in thy hand. The Lord leads us into these
truths in his time and in his way. Yes, often it's in a different
way. to what we expect. You know,
sometimes we expect that the Lord brings us into great illness
or something that it's surely going to work out for our spiritual
good. Well, it sometimes does. And
we should be thankful for it. But there are those times also
when we're so moved by the Lord's goodness to us. His love toward
us. And we have some little comprehension
of how great that was when he came into this world to die,
that sin atoning death on Calvary's cross. Now, the Spirit of God
leads us into those paths. What will we say? My times are
in thy hand and I'm thankful for it. Naturally speaking, we
would not walk in those paths. Our natural mind our sinful mind,
which it is by nature, would not walk in those paths. But,
of course, they are most blessed paths. And why is that? Because it brings us into union
and it brings us into communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. And what times they are, aren't
they? What times are blessing? My times are in thy hand, And
David goes on to say, let me not be ashamed, O Lord. Surely that should be our prayer.
We don't want to be ashamed, do we, of the Lord. We want to
honour Him in what He's done. Remember in those solemn words
we read, those that honour me I will honour, and those that
despise me shall be lightly esteemed. And if we're really ashamed of
Jesus, it means that we are not esteeming him and therefore we
should be lightly esteemed ourselves. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord. You see, David was concerned
about that. And the Lord will lead us then. My times are in
thy hand in this way so that we are concerned that we will
not be ashamed. Perhaps we have been ashamed.
And perhaps we're ashamed of our position, of being ashamed.
Well, the Lord is merciful and the Lord is gracious. The Lord
does not deal with us as our sins deserve. And he says, let
me not be ashamed, O Lord, for I've called upon thee. Perhaps we've had to call upon
the Lord for forgiveness that we may not be dealt with as our
sins deserve. If we were dealt with as our
sins deserve, we would perish, wouldn't we? We would perish. You know, it's a mercy to know
the Lord deals with his children in love and mercy. He draws them,
draws them to himself, draws them by his compassion towards
them. As Solomon said, draw me, we
will run after thee. Oh, it's wonderful to know the
drawing power of the Savior. My times are in thy hand. The time of the Lord comes and
produces that in our hearts, that drawing power. He draws
us to himself. You know, when we're drawn to
him, what does it do? it draws us away from the vanities
of this world. Our flesh goes after the poor,
perishing vanities of time. But it's a wonderful blessing
if the Lord draws us to Himself, and that's not of ourselves.
That's the work of the Spirit of God. And what a wonderful
evidence it is. If we're drawn to Him, We desire
him. And perhaps we desire to be able
to come in with Solomon when he was able to describe the bride
of Christ when he said, he is altogether lovely. And he is
the cheapest among 10,000. Men would think we're out of
our mind. thinking of such things. But
what a blessing it is when the Spirit of God confirms these
things to us. And what it is, He reveals Himself
to us, as it is not unto the world, in that wonderful way. Yes, my times are in my hand. God has times for these blessings. And it's right to seek after
them, but it's right to be patient for them also. And David waited
in me patiently for the Lord. The Lord did hear him. The Lord
hadn't ignored him. And it tells us, didn't it, in
the 40th Psalm, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined
unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a
rock, and established my goings, and there was a good effect."
You know what the good effect was? He put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear,
and shall trust in the Lord. What a gracious effect, wasn't
that? Yes, these times, In the day we was referring to my times
and not by hand a time like this Yes, when he was in a horrible
pit He couldn't get himself out of it Sometimes we're we may
have got ourselves into a horrible pit And it's pretty grim and
we realized we've got ourselves into it you've only got ourselves
to blame You can't get out We need the Lord to come and lift
us out and to bring us out. Just what David experienced here.
He brought me up. The Lord came. The Lord delivered
him. My times are in thy hand. You see, there was a time to
deliver David out of this pit. The time perhaps to deliver us
out of the pit, but The truth and the reality is, if we are
in a pit, and if the Lord delivers us out of the pit, if it's the
Lord's work, there will be an effect. And the effect is like
it says here, this new song. New song in my mouth, even praise
unto our God. We'll have something to talk
about, won't we? We'll have something to speak about. We desire, in
the name of our God, to be honoured and glorified. You know how many
times in the book of Psalms we read of David praising God. My times are in thy hand. Can
we not praise God for that truth? Can we not be thankful that our
lives are not just luck and chance, that anything is going to happen?
No, it's not. The Lord, the gracious Saviour,
has died for his people. My friends, that blood has not
been shed in vain. That blood has been shed to redeem. Redeem his people. Redeem them
from the wrath to come. Redeem them from all their sins.
To bring them into that place of blessing and that place of
favour when They're able to find the Lord is near, the Lord is
with them, and the Lord has gone before. The Lord has gone before
his people, hasn't he? He tells us, doesn't he? I go
to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am there, ye may be also. my times are in thy hand, so
they are." And again, the psalmist goes on to say, oh how great
is thy goodness. And I'm sure that's a truth,
an expression which the children of God are able to say, oh how
great is thy goodness. which thou hast given to me,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee. And of course,
the fear of the Lord is that which the Lord gives. It's all
to his honor and glory, isn't it? Which thou hast wrought for
them that trust in thee before the sons of men. You see, it was worked out. It
was graciously planned. this great goodness of the Lord. And surely tonight, we just ponder
our little lives. And if we're able to observe
the Lord's goodness, the Lord's mercy, the Lord's favor, the
Lord's love toward us, must we not say, oh, how great is thy
goodness? It is great, isn't it? Great's
a big word, isn't it? But the goodness of God is great,
very great. Especially when we consider how
that applies to us in our spiritual life. So utterly unworthy. Just like the Apostle Paul said,
the chief of sinners. Yes, left to ourselves nothing
good. How good is the Lord. He should
look upon us. He should have looked upon us
and called us in his way, in his time. My times are in thy
hand. You know the Solomon in Ecclesiastes,
he makes much of this referring to the times and he tells us
to everything There is a season and a time to every purpose under
the heaven. A purpose of God toward his people. A purpose of love. A purpose
to reveal himself unto them. And so he says, a time to be
born. A time to be born naturally.
A time to be born spiritually. a time to die, a time to plant,
and a time to pluck up that which is planted. Remembering these
words, my times are in thy hands. See, all these times are in accordance
with the Lord's will and purpose for it, but to the child of God
we know they will occur, they will be for their benefit, and
God's name will be honored and glorified. A time to kill, a
time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up,
a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time
to dance, a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather
stones together, a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to
cast away, a time to rend and a time to sow, a time to keep
silence and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to
hate, a time of war and a time of peace. Well there are many
times there aren't there? And no doubt in measure we understand
what Solomon was declaring We know that Solomon desired to
find out that which was right and that which was wrong. Surely
here, in explaining these times, he'd worked them out and found
them out in his own lives. And so may we indeed work them
out and find them out in our little lives. You know Job. Job was a man who had much to
consider, didn't he? to be able to come and say, my
times in thy hand with regard to Job, they weren't easy times,
were they? And he had to pass through. But
God would deliver him. God would not leave him. God
would not forsake him. But what a testing time Job had. And he tells us in the 14th chapter,
seeing his days are determined. The number of his months are
with thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds
and he cannot pass. The Lord has set our bounds. It's wonderful, isn't it? He knows where we shall live. He knows what we should do. He
knows where we shall be directed. He knows where we should be blessed.
He knows what he would do with us. And so, so did Joe. was able to speak in these words
and seeing his days are determined. Every day in our life is determined
by God. You know, the more we understand
the great truths of God, the more comforting they are, aren't
they? We get worked up, don't we, sometimes. And we get ill
at ease. And we get annoyed. We get frustrated. God's purposes move on. They're not frustrated. They
won't fail. They will come to pass in God's
way and in God's time. And didn't they do so in Job's
case? And we must not forget to realize
that in Job's case, there was very much teaching. And the teaching
came down to Job So that he came and said, he
made two very significant statements. First one, the 40th of Job, he
tells us this. Behold, this is before the Lord,
remember? The Lord had been speaking to him. And as it is, God takes
us aside and speaks to us. In one of these times, Job answered
the Lord and said, behold, I am vile. What should I answer thee? I would lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will
not answer, yea, twice, but I will proceed no further." How easy
it is to complain to God, isn't it? Because God hasn't done that
which we expected and that which we thought we needed. Well, Job
comes and confesses his attitude. I am vile. yes what a wonderful
thing it is when we come to that and then in the 42nd chapter
again Job answers and it's so important to realize that you
know there were the three friends of Job they sat with him and
they spoke to him and they gave him lectures and then it was
Elihu who came and spoke and it didn't really have any real
effect until the Lord spoke and when the Lord spoke Job wasn't
able to bring any arguments to justify himself then, he fell
down, he bowed down. And therefore in the 42nd Psalm,
42nd chapter we read, he says, I know that thou canst do everything,
and that no thought can be withholden from me. Who is he that hideth
counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew
not. Here I beseech thee, and I will
speak. I will demand of thee, and declare
thou unto me. I heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, and now mine eye seeth thee. The eye of faith
looks and sees the Lord. And he tells us this then, wherefore,
I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Now there was to be a time of
wonderful deliverance. He was told to pray for his friends,
which he did, and through doing that, you see, his captivity
was turned. And what a wonderful blessing
Job entered into. It's good to think of the Lord's
servants in this way, the servant Job and Abraham and Jacob and
David himself. My times are in thy hand. Deliver
me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute
me. Well, as we commence by saying
yes, the devil is our great enemy who will persecute us. Yes, he
will, and he'll say, there, your religion's no good. You see,
you don't get any answers to your prayers. Well, we need to
ponder that and just see whether the Lord has answered, perhaps
in a different way to what we expected. And sometimes, of course,
the Lord answers in a negative way, not what we expected. Nonetheless, if it is the Lord
answering, we should be thankful for it. and so deliver me from
the hand of my enemies and from them that persecute me." Well,
David had confidence in his God, didn't he? And he was delivered
from the enemy. He was delivered from Pharaoh
on so many occasions, wasn't he? Wonderful deliverances he
had. The Lord went before him. We can believe today that we
come and we worship the same God who goes before his people. And David, of course, as we know,
ended up well, didn't he? Yes, he ended up well. The Lord
blessed him in his end. He had many hardships, many hard
lessons to learn, but he ended up well. And all God's people
end up well. You see, our life here below
is one of preparation for glory. And that preparation means that
we are to be molded and shaped and to be fit for our eternal
inheritance. And we may find, therefore, that
we need a lot of shaping, a lot of chiseling perhaps, sharp corners
knocked off, perhaps a lot of filing done to smooth this out. So the Lord prepares his people
for glory. David was prepared for glory. All of his people are prepared
for glory. And I believe one of those preparations is to give
us to understand the great truth of these words and to thank God
for them and that my times are in thy hand and to believe therefore
the Lord has prepared the way and the way is the right way.
And he's leading us, taking us as it were by our hand and leading
us on safely, safely at last to glory. And may we have the
evidence that we're walking with the Lord and the Lord has blessed
us. And if he has blessed us, he
will continue to be with us. As he says, I will not leave
thee nor forsake thee. Therefore we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man should
do unto me. Amen.