“But I trust in you, LORD. I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands.”
It is shaping up to be a very good day . . . but I didn’t start out with that perspective.
I was up early this morning, what would pass as “burning the midnight oil” to my night owl friends. No worries. I was awake. I was alert. Contacts in. Coffee brewed.
I had writing aspirations on my mind, but that is when things slowed down.
I had nothing to write about. Well . . . I did . . . somewhere. Was it a line from a recent book, a thought from our pastor’s Sunday message, a note to one of our grands, an insight God gave me in a quiet time of reading his Word?
There was an idea out there somewhere, but at that moment it was as elusive as that pesky fly I tried to chase down in our kitchen yesterday.
So now an hour had passed, it was still very early, but the clock was ticking. I was getting miffed. No way did I want to walk into my office having gazed at a truckload of sand pass through my hour glass with nothing to show for it.
“Don’t get stuck” is my motto in moments like this. But I was stuck. So I grabbed my March journal (which I had started to review yesterday, but failed to finish), and there I found it. It was just a few pages beyond some musings on a “Happy Saturday,” a thought or two about George Müller and God’s goodness, the ‘66 Cutlass “To Do” list, and my reflections about leadership books that have shaped me.
The entry was Saturday, March 19. It was Spring Break at LBC, and I was at our Arkansas getaway. I had come to Arkansas with much to accomplish, but now it was Saturday (time to head back to PA) and I was feeling “things have not gone according to plan!” Here’s my entry for that morning:
My calendar note for today reads: “Return to PA (taking my time).”
I laugh! Having devoted part of Wednesday, lots of Thursday, and all of Friday attempting to get the Cutlass drivable, [it is now] 4:30 a.m. and it is still sitting in my shop. I have six hours to “get me to that point,” Starlink is not totally installed, there are 9 notes to write to the grands, a Heber run to make, the house to clean, packing to do, readying the car, etc . . . . I don’t think there is going to be anything resembling “taking my time” in the equation.
“But I trust in you, LORD.
I say, ‘You are my God.’
My times are in your hands.”
Psalm 31:14-15
It’s going to be a good day!
That day and this day, I found myself in the Psalms. The Psalms give us “the moods of faith.” They remind us that life with the Father is not one big happy dance. Some days we sing the dirge. That’s okay. He is working in those moments too.
The Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann, notes that many of the Psalms have three distinct movements: Orientation (to God), Disorientation (from God), Reorientation (to God).
We see elements of this in Psalm 31.
David calls God his “rock,” his “strong fortress,” his “trust,” his “deliverer.” This is what Brueggemann calls, “orientation.” But then things go south (disorientation): Distress, sorrow, grief, groaning, and affliction mark his life. He sings, “I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.” Then “reorientation”: But I trust in you, Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands.”
David recognizes all the good things God has stored up for him. His lips burst with praise and he exhorts us, “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”
Always a fan of Charles Spurgeon, I appreciate what the “Prince of Preachers” has to say about Psalm 31:
The dedication to the chief musician proves that this song of mingled measures and alternate strains of grief and woe was intended for public singing, and thus a deathblow is given to the notion that nothing but praise should be sung.
I need that. All too often, my prayer is (though, I would not say it this way), “God, give me the happy dance.” In other words, “A good day is my day, my way!” But what God shows me through David and this particularly “woeful” Psalm, is that my life does not need to go according to plan (my plan) to experience a good day.
What matters are those hands!
Take a minute and read Psalm 31. All the outward signs pointed to David being in the hands of his enemies (31:4, 6-8), but David had committed his spirit into God’s hands (31:5), and there he found rest, confidence, praise, and joy (31:14-15).
Some days we get to dance the happy dance, other days we sing the dirge. The key is not the dance or the mood, but the hands that carry us through the good, the bad, and the ugly (and all the emotions that come along for the ride).
Today may not be shaping up into what you thought either: A war in Ukraine, political unrest at home, volatile markets, rising inflation, a wayward son or daughter, a poor night’s sleep, a tough challenge at school or work; transitions, troubles, and disappointments aplenty.
Nothing trite! Neither is this truth: Your times are in his hands. And that is why (even in the disappointing times) you can say, “It’s going to be a good day!”