We Can Trust The Timing Of God's Providence

There are many examples of the providence of God’s time in the Bible. Just imagine for a moment you are an impartial observer watching a ram wandering aimlessly in a wilderness. As you look on, the careless ram catches his horns in a thick bush. Naturally the frustrated ram struggles desperately to free himself, but to no avail. What possible eternal significance could such an ordinary and mundane happening have?

But then you hear a noise and turn to see a terrifying scene. A young lad lying trussed up atop a pile of wood upon a crude stone altar. He lies quietly and calmly awaiting his fate. Standing over him is the towering figure of his father with his sacrificial knife poised to make the fatal thrust! Just as you are about to cry out in horror, you hear an angelic voice calling out to the man; bringing his attention to the struggling ram. You know the rest of the story. The exquisite providential timing of God provides the sacrifice at just the moment it was needed. Not a moment too soon nor a second too late.

Just imagine for a moment a lowly and insignificant donkey wandering around in a wild and arid land. All at once a lion lurking behind a bush leaps; giving out a mighty roar he pounces upon his helpless and hapless victim. Later, the vultures come and pick the bones clean. Days and months pass. The bones are washed clean by rains and bleached and hardened by the hot sun. Then one day a mighty man of God finds himself surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by an army of a fierce warrior race. In that moment of looming death and disaster, he desperately glances around for some weapon to fend off his enemies. The tough and weathered bones of the donkey immediately catch his eye. He runs toward his enemy; sweeping up the jawbone of the donkey. The Spirit of the Lord is upon him as he slays one thousand of God’s enemies. Again, the delicate providential timing of God provides the right weapon, in the right place at the right time!

Then there’s cache of small stones laid down by the creative hand of God and worn smooth by the flowing waters of a beautiful brook. In the heat of a mighty contest, a young shepherd lad thrusts his hand into the cool water and his strong fingers close around five smooth stones. Just the crude ammunition he needs to slay a ferocious giant who has been defying God and his people. Someone has said he had four stones left over for the giant’s brothers as well!

We could speak further of another small donkey standing ready to bear real royalty into a city one joyous and triumphant day. We could also recall the momentous day a Roman soldier went out and felled a tree that would become a rugged, cruel cross.

Are any of these accidents? Or are they reassuring examples of the tremendous providence of God given to us in the Word of God to reassure us that we can trust the timing of God?

In my childhood, baking day was always a day we looked forward to; especially the Christmas baking days. In a large rural family, it would not be unusual to have at least a dozen different cakes and pies prepared and ready for the holiday season. My mouth still waters at the thought. Hanging out in the kitchen as much as I could, I soon became aware of the various ingredients going into the different sorts of cakes and pies. A few of these were sweet and pleasing to the taste, but a number of the ingredients, when tasted alone, were too salty, sour, dry, tart, bitter or tasteless to please the palate.

But a minor miracle inevitably occurred. My Mom would mix all these single unsavoury ingredients, stir them together for just the right amount of time, place them in a greased pan, heat them at the right temperature for the right amount of time. And presto! A beautiful and tasty cake would emerge.

Many of the ingredients of the Christian life, when experienced alone, sometimes seem too salty, sour, bitter or tasteless. But let the Master baker mix these together in the right combination over a period or time and bake them in the oven of His everlasting love. He promises that a beautiful conclusion will inevitably come to pass. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.” (Ro. 8:28)

A Brighter Day

(See the 21st Chapter  of Revelation)

As we are now well into the twenty-first century, we can but look back and marvel at the technological changes that marked the twentieth century. The century saw the invention and development of many of the processes and products that have revolutionised man’s existence. I have been blessed to personally witness many of these changes.

We have gone from the horse and buggy to jet liners and space travel. Man has travelled to the moon more quickly than he previously travelled across a continent. The computer has replaced the slide rule. The internet and information highway have turned the whole world into a global village. Television has transformed civilisation, and not necessarily for the better.

With all these "improvements," it would seem that we should be able to say that man stands on the doorstep of a bigger, better and brighter future. Surely we have reason to be optimistic. Could we be entering a new millennium of hope and peace?

But if we look around us and make a reality check, we must ask ourselves, what does man have to look forward to in the future? Environmentalists, demographers, sociologists, economists, geo-politicians and military analysts, all speak of the possibility of a future filled with environmental disasters, population pressures, social and economic breakdown and regional wars and strife and terrorism on an unimaginable and unprecedented scale.

Who can deny that every indicator one might use to measure man’s real prospects of achieving true peace, happiness and success in the future seems to give a negative reading?   All this might make one think of the statement of an English realist who said, "In the long run, we will all be dead." Or the statement of the French scientist, Pierre Berchelt, who said in 1860, "Within a hundred years man will know what the atom is. It is my belief that when science reaches this stage God will come down to earth with His big ring of keys and will say to humanity, "Gentlemen, it’s closing time:" Or the response of the lad who was asked what he hoped to be in twenty years. He simply replied, "Alive.!"

It’s Our

Happy Hope

That Makes All

The Difference

I am sure that in the midst of all this it is fair to say that hope springs eternal in the human heart. So let us speak of hope. A real and happy hope. A hope that makes the difference. Of course, man’s only hope lies in a future created and shaped by God. This hope will find its ultimate fulfilment in that city whose builder and maker is God. A prepared place for a prepared people. A place populated by those who have escaped the surly and sinful bonds of this earth and soared to a city where sin no longer abounds nor harms or hurts have their sway.

Where death and disaster no longer damage and destroy the dreams and delights of even the most hopeful. Where the tears of terrible trials and traumas will be turned to tears of tremendous joy and triumph. Where the darkness of wickedness and evil will be forever vanquished; because such can no longer exist in the city that is Lighted by the eternal Son. This hope of a brighter tomorrow brings light in the shadows and darkness of today’s world.

A Mothers Day Tribute To My Wife And Others Like Her

There is one person in your church who knows your preacher’s life.

She’s wept and smiled and prayed for him, and that is your preacher’s wife.

She knows your prophet’s weakest point and knows his greatest power.

She’s heard him speak in trumpet tone, in his greatest triumph hour.

She’s heard him groaning in his soul when bitter raged the strife.

As hand in hand she knelt with him— for she’s your preacher’s wife.

The crowd has seen him in his strength when glistening his drawn sword.

As underneath God’s banner folds he faced the devil’s horde.

But she knows deep within her heart that scarce an hour before.

She helped him pray for strength from God behind a closed door

You tell your tales of prophets brave, who walked across the world,

And changed the course of history by burning words they hurled,

And I will tell how back of them some women lived their lives,

Who wept with them and smiled with them—they were the preacher’s wives.

- Author Unknown