GOD RULES SUPREMELY OVER THE UNIVERSE AND OUR LIVES
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“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1 –
The wisdom Solomon is imparting to us in this passage is that God is sovereign over His creation and all created beings. His providential hand guides our lives through all its times and seasons. We may think we are in control… yet nothing is out of His control.
God is timeless. He dwells outside of time as we know it. Humans are bound by time. Our lives are ordered by time and time is ordered by God.
Jesus entered the constraints of time on earth to fulfill the will of God. The time of His arrival was precise… a time pinpointed in human history before the foundation of the world.
God opened time and entered as a Man. He set aside His glorified body and became one of His created beings. He never ceased to be God … yet He became a Man bound by time. The duration of Jesus’ life on earth was exact…with a purpose of eternal significance. His span of time on earth was fully thought out from beginning to end in the mind of God.
So it is with us. Our Creator measures out our time on earth. Our life was fully planned out in His mind before we were even conceived. No one is a mistake in His eyes. Every life has value… a gem to be treasured. And no one is sent into this world without a purpose.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11
God chose the time we would enter this world… and He has chosen the time we will return to Him. He has a purpose and plan for every living being on earth… as He has had for every person who has ever lived throughout human history.
Our Lord planned for each of us to be born at a precise moment in His timeline. We are meant to touch the lives of those whom He puts in our path. We would not have the same impact had we been born a hundred years earlier… a year earlier… or even a day earlier. He has a divine plan laid out for us… even though we may attempt to alter or control it ourselves.
God did not create us to sit on the sidelines of life… to sit idly and let His plans for us pass by. He did not create us to pursue our own agendas… to go our own chosen way… to blaze our own trail. God has a time set for us to live… to live for Him… to have an impact for His kingdom.
“Who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” – Esther 4:14
What would have happened had the biblical greats been born at a different time in history? Would they have had the same impact for God’s kingdom? Was not Moses meant to lead the Israelites to freedom? Was not Esther meant to save the Jewish nation? Was not Paul meant to spread the hope of Jesus to the Gentiles? All stepped up in faith for their time on earth and followed the will of God.
Heroes and heroines of faith come from all walks of life. We may feel as if we are mere pinpoints of light in the universe… yet we are created to be rays of sunshine in our world for the time God has given us… to shine the Light of Christ into the lives of people only we can reach.
It is true that God’s supreme plan will prevail whether or not He has our cooperation. Yet we dare not miss the opportunity and privilege of being a part of it… of playing a key role that He has designed just for us to play in His supreme plan.
“Jesus replied, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.’” – Acts 1:7
Our Creator God marks out time in His created world by seasons. Our lives are marked by seasons too. In our span of life, we travel through seasons from youth to old age… the spring, summer, fall and winter of our time on earth.
Our days are seasonal as well. We can have days of newness… new experiences, new opportunities, new joys. These are our spring days when all is filled with hope. We can have days when our life is flowing in a pattern of peace. These are our summer days… times of comfort, sunshine and cheer… when nothing dims our faith and hope.
Our autumn days are times of change… not always welcome change. Trials and trouble come upon us like autumn frost that test our faith. Our winter days are bleak times when the cold winds and blizzards of adversity linger on with no end in sight… times when our faith may falter.
Yet all seasons are controlled by our loving God… seasons of the earth, seasons of our lives, seasons of our days. All are divinely ordained and orchestrated by Him. We were not made to comprehend all the mysteries of His ways. We are to rest in the promise that the hope of spring is ever on the horizon.
Whether times or seasons in our lives, we place our total faith in the providence of God. For He is the One who reigns sovereign… the Almighty One who rules the universe with all power and authority in absolute supremacy.
