As we begin a new year, we can look toward what lies ahead with confidence and assurance knowing that we are not alone. We don’t have to fight our battles alone, because the great I AM is still with us just as He was with Moses so long ago.
The future holds many uncertainties. We never know from one day to the next what life may bring. God didn’t give us a crystal ball whereby we can look into it and see what life may bring.
The scriptures say that we walk by faith and not by sight. We should walk daily with the Lord, trusting Him to walk with us and take care of our needs.
Life gets away from us so quickly. There are those times when we may wish life came with its own remote control where we could manipulate the time and events in time at our own leisure and pace.
When we want to enjoy things in our past and want to relive them, we could hit the rewind button. If we find ourselves in a tough situation and want to make a quick escape, all we have to do is to hit the fast-forward button.
If we just want to take a time out and take a break from the hustle and bustle of daily living, we could hit the pause button. If we are enjoying life as it comes to us, we can keep it on play.
But our life does not come with such a device and we can be glad it doesn’t, because we would be messing with it all of the time. Only God controls time and the passing of it is in His hands.
We must live life as it comes to us and make the most of every opportunity given to us. This is how the Lord wants us to live and to get the most out of it.
We have heard it said that time waits for no man. Time has only been stopped once, according to biblical history, and that was in the days of Joshua when he was warring against the Amorites at Gibeon as recorded in the 10th chapter in Joshua. Joshua was in full battle mode when time was running out. Even late in the day as it was, there was still work to be done and a battle to be won.
As time was getting away from him, he was faithful and courageous enough to extend time until the work was done, and the Lord answered his request. He said in the sight of all Israel, “Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon.”
The Bible goes on to say, “And the sun held its place in the sky, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is this not written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day” (Joshua 10:13).
Talk about a long day, this was indeed the longest day in history and it proves the length that the Lord will go to ensure that the job gets done.
It was so important to the Lord to defend His people and to protect them from their foes that He was willing to stop the rotation of the earth around the sun for that small space of time. The Bible says there was no other day like it or will there ever be.
We know that the Lord can do great and awesome things if we just recognize them as such. If He can bring the whole world to a stand-still for a whole day, should we have any doubt of what He will do for us who call Him Father?
God can and will change our circumstances if we allow Him to do so. But it starts with us. He has already done the hard part. More than 2,000 years ago He was born in the little city of Bethlehem.
He was King of kings but He lowered Himself to a servant and walked with the common man of His day and time. Although He was the Son of God in every way and aspect, He pointed man and women to the Father and gave glory to Him in everything He did and said.
While He made His abode here on earth, He never denied who He was or why He came to earth. He taught people the ways of God and how He expected them to live. He performed many wonderful miracles that gave indisputable proof that He was indeed who He claimed to be.
But even though many believed Him, there were those in the religious community who refused to believe. They felt threatened by Him and sought ways to get rid of Him once and for all.
They were more comfortable in their centuries-old religious traditions than knowing the real truth about God. Even today we see many who take tradition over knowing truth about God and His Son who He sent into the world to save us from our sins.
God wants us to have the best that life has to offer, but He wants us to understand that it does not come in terms of riches and having everything we could ever want or need.
But it comes in resting in Him as our Lord and Savior in knowing His peace which passes all understanding.
Until next week — God bless.
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