IT'S NEVER TOO LATE
DAY 76 I'm not sure what happened this morning. I turned my alarm off at 7am and put my head back on my pillow. When I rolled over again, it was 9:30!!! What happened to the time?
I may have lost two and a half hours of my day, but I am thankful that I never have to worry that even a second slips away from the hand of God. Today's Bible reading was a great reminder that while I am confined by time (and space) God is not. He controls time and everything that orbits within it. The book of Luke, while it is a narrative, is also a picture of God working precisely according to His own time table. This chapter, which begins the story of Jesus public ministry, starts by marking time.
Luke3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
Jesus will begin his work, not on just "any old day." Just as he began his precise presence in the midst of humanity when certain characters are in place at a very specific time according to the will of God, so too He begins his mission of redemption and of teaching about the Kingdom of God.
2 At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness.3 Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.
John was about 30. Jesus was about 30. They had both been in their precise places for their missions as adults for 10 years. Looking back, could we ask what God was waiting for? As John Wayne would say, "Come on; We're burnin' daylight." Why not have a 20 year old Jesus and a 20 year old John put God's plan in motion? Hadn't Israel waited long enough for a Messiah? They were certainly eager.
15 Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah.
Their expectations did not change God's timetable. It was an agenda He had been working from the beginning of time as we know it. And Luke documents the trail all the way back through time with a recounting of the generations that preceded Jesus in his own family line.
23 Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry. Jesus was known as the son of Joseph.
Joseph was the son of Heli.
24 Heli was the son of Matthat.
Matthat was the son of Levi.
Levi was the son of Melki.
The list continues through 76 ancestors, both the notable and the obscure. I don't know Rhesa or Semein, or Cosam Or Rue; but I certainly recall the lives of his forefathers David, Boaz, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Shem, Noah, Methuselah and Enoch. And each one, at their appointed time, was at the place of God's choosing in history, in time and space, and according to God's will. The list traveled back in time to the very beginning of our time to a son that started it all on earth.
38 Kenan was the son of Enosh.[j]
Enosh was the son of Seth.
Seth was the son of Adam.
Adam was the son of God.
Time separated the son Adam from the Son Jesus. Time that God controlled. It has been in the power of Almighty God to inaugurate His plan at any moment. He was not waiting for some circumstance beyond His control to "happen" so that He could act. All of creation moves according to His timetable. He set the number of generation between Adam and the only Son who could save all of God's sons. He put the kings, the rulers and the priests in place. He gave a son to a barren daughter decades past her prime according to the time He would give a message to the messenger, John. Time is His and all things move in time to serve His will. God is never late for His own very important dates.
I am thankful to be reminded of that truth; and what was true then is true now. Time did not stop serving God after He accomplished His will with Jesus Messiah. Time still bows to His purposes. And it is equally true that God still places His servants in the time, space and place in history of His choice for His purpose.... even me and you.
Oh how I needed this truth when I often feel that time is getting the better of me. Let's face it, in the game of chicken, time has the advantage with mere mortals. It is easy to fear that time will tick away before we can accomplish, reach, serve, grow, achieve.... just fill in the blank. It is inevitable we would feel that way.... after all, time doesn't bow to us.
BUT... I can have this assurance; As long as I am spending my life serving God's purposes, I don't have to fear that Time will slip away too fast. God always accomplishes that which He sets out to accomplish, at the proper time, according to His own choosing... and Time has no choice but to yield to the will of God. If I am yielding, too, Time and I will get along just fine.
Day 76
Luke 3
Psalm 61
Psalm 62
Proverbs 11:16-19
Luke3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— 2 during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
Jesus will begin his work, not on just "any old day." Just as he began his precise presence in the midst of humanity when certain characters are in place at a very specific time according to the will of God, so too He begins his mission of redemption and of teaching about the Kingdom of God.
2 At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness.3 Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.
John was about 30. Jesus was about 30. They had both been in their precise places for their missions as adults for 10 years. Looking back, could we ask what God was waiting for? As John Wayne would say, "Come on; We're burnin' daylight." Why not have a 20 year old Jesus and a 20 year old John put God's plan in motion? Hadn't Israel waited long enough for a Messiah? They were certainly eager.
15 Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah.
Their expectations did not change God's timetable. It was an agenda He had been working from the beginning of time as we know it. And Luke documents the trail all the way back through time with a recounting of the generations that preceded Jesus in his own family line.
23 Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry. Jesus was known as the son of Joseph.
Joseph was the son of Heli.
24 Heli was the son of Matthat.
Matthat was the son of Levi.
Levi was the son of Melki.
The list continues through 76 ancestors, both the notable and the obscure. I don't know Rhesa or Semein, or Cosam Or Rue; but I certainly recall the lives of his forefathers David, Boaz, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Shem, Noah, Methuselah and Enoch. And each one, at their appointed time, was at the place of God's choosing in history, in time and space, and according to God's will. The list traveled back in time to the very beginning of our time to a son that started it all on earth.
38 Kenan was the son of Enosh.[j]
Enosh was the son of Seth.
Seth was the son of Adam.
Adam was the son of God.
I am thankful to be reminded of that truth; and what was true then is true now. Time did not stop serving God after He accomplished His will with Jesus Messiah. Time still bows to His purposes. And it is equally true that God still places His servants in the time, space and place in history of His choice for His purpose.... even me and you.
Oh how I needed this truth when I often feel that time is getting the better of me. Let's face it, in the game of chicken, time has the advantage with mere mortals. It is easy to fear that time will tick away before we can accomplish, reach, serve, grow, achieve.... just fill in the blank. It is inevitable we would feel that way.... after all, time doesn't bow to us.
BUT... I can have this assurance; As long as I am spending my life serving God's purposes, I don't have to fear that Time will slip away too fast. God always accomplishes that which He sets out to accomplish, at the proper time, according to His own choosing... and Time has no choice but to yield to the will of God. If I am yielding, too, Time and I will get along just fine.
Day 76
Luke 3
Psalm 61
Psalm 62
Proverbs 11:16-19
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