Our Little Window of Time

Every last one of us has an appointment with death, just as we had an appointment with birth. Every day we live is one that was ordained for us, a day God fashioned for us and that He always intended for us to live. You are alive today because God always intended it so. “…And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Ps 139:16).

Thinking about his life and God’s intimate involvement with all of it, the psalmist was certain that his life was no accident of some mindless Fate. He was sure that his tiny existence that began in his mother’s womb was part of Yahweh’s great plan for His seemingly infinite creation. Although small as a particle of dust and seemingly as insignificant, his life mattered to God.

Before any of them actually arrive in time, “the days fashioned” for us existed in God’s mind. All of our days from birth to death were ordained, intended for us. Beyond anything we can imagine or control Almighty God’s plan is at work, unfolding through what we call history. We are living tomorrow’s history today; what we do (and leave undone) becomes part of the story. The story is being written and we who know God and His love must do all the good we can—however little it may seem in our eyes.

Time will come when time will be done—until then, there is a window of opportunity during which we may work the works of God. We work His works by believing—by grace believing in “Him whom God has sent” (Jn 6:28). Believing and seeking to please Jesus, we find joy in doing His will and substantial measures of misery in everything else. Our doing flows from our believing. If we live despising what is and grieving over what is not, we squander “the days fashioned” for us and give them one at a time to the devil’s sly servant, Demon Despair. Every day thus given away is time unredeemed (Eph 5:15) and life lost.

The works of God cry out to be done; where are workers who will live out their faith? Cups of cool water must yet be given and received; thirsty people are fainting. Kind deeds must still surprise an unkind world in which sin has soured so many poor souls. Relationships must yet be valued and nurtured, for loneliness kills men and women deader than bullets and bombs. True words must still be spoken in love so that our brothers will be strengthened for another day’s service to the King. Gospel words must yet be lifted up so that hopeless and condemned souls may find, as we once found, eternal life and peace with God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. –TSA