But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hand… (Psalm 31:14-15a)
The first of the month doesn’t always fall on a weekday, and less still does it fall on a Monday. I’m a pro-Monday guy (sorry), so I feel like I’m getting a running start today. I can check off a lot of boxes right away. At least that’s what I hope.
In June, just ahead of the US Open, the World Golf Hall of Fame inducted five new members, including the late Peggy Kirk Bell, the beloved teacher and inspiration behind the Pine Needles Club in North Carolina. In speaking of her, one of Mrs. Bell’s daughters captured her mother’s love of the game when she explained of her mom, “She didn’t understand what people did in their spare time if they didn’t play golf.”
Not only on this well-positioned Monday, you and I often choose what will happen with our time. We can set out to accomplish much, play a round of golf, or take a day of rest if that’s what we need. Whatever the case, we should be looking to use our time in ways that make excellent sense and pay dividends for ourselves and for others.
But in spite of setting out to “redeem the time because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16), I must recognize one certainty: I am not the master of my days. I know this by way of Scripture:
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow…. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)
I know it, too, by way of experience. The phone rings several times on an already busy day, a meeting extends an hour beyond its planned duration, a doctor tells me of another test I must squeeze into my week. When I spent time teaching in a foreign country, we developed an expression to fit the unpredictable nature of matters in that locale: “Things take longer than they do.”
How God works the moments to fulfill the time as he would have it—and to teach and grow me along the way—are nothing I can predict.Psalm 31 previewed the words of Jesus on the cross. From this psalm, our Savior drew these surrendering words: “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” In his own context, David used the psalm to express his reliance on the Lord, especially when his enemies were dictating the hours of his life. He’d set out with one plan; they would turn him toward another.
But David sang of God’s sovereignty and pledged his devotion to the Lord. I see today as a day of opportunity, and I know God does, too. But how he works the moments to fulfill the time as he would have it—and to teach and grow me along the way—are nothing I can predict. All I can do is trust in him. Believe me, that’s a worthy all.
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Jeff Hopper
July 1, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.