Text: “My times are in Thy hand; deliver me from the
hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.”
Psalm 31:15.
Good morning, Sovereignly
secured Christian! God gave you and I
ears on our hearts to hear the glorious Gospel of His Son, Jesus Christ. God gave you and I His gift of faith to
believe, trust, and receive Salvation through Christ’s full Atonement Sacrifice
on the Cross. God has kept you and I
from the destroyer’s power - the influences of the world, the flesh and the
Devil - throughout all the years since He saved us; and He has promised to
strengthen, keep and deliver us from every evil and harm. It was in His Sovereign power to do all these
things, and at all times according to His own Sovereign grace. Therefore, we are indeed, ‘Sovereignly
secured Christians’! Hallelujah!
“They that observe lying
vanities forsake their own mercy. But I
(Jonah in the belly of the great fish) will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice
of thanksgiving; I will pay that I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord. And
the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” (Jonah 2:9-10)
What ‘great fishes’ belly’ are
you or I in today, Christian friend? Does
all around us seem lost and buried in the midst of the bowels of this
anti-Christian world? Is trouble, and
anxieties, and constant fierce oppositions threatening to swamp us; to drown
our witness for the Living Lord God? If
so, remember this: we are secured by a truly Sovereign and ever-faithful Lord
God Almighty. NOTHING can pluck us from
His Hand. Hallelujah! In Christ Jesus, we are invincible! Glory to His Name!
“My sheep hear My voice, and I
know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them Eternal life (not
temporary, or transient life!); and they shall never perish neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. My
Father, which gave them me (in Divine Election), is greater than all; and no man is
able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.
I and My Father are ONE.” (John
10:27-30)
Not one hair falls out of the
true Christian believer’s head unknown to the Lord God - our times are, at all
times, in His hand. Praise His Holy and
gracious Name!
Verse 15. “My times are in Thy hand. It is said there is a moon to
control the tides of every sea; is there not a Master Power for souls? It may not always be so, apparently, in the
more earthly lives, but it is so in the Heavenly; not more surely does the moon
sway tides than God sways souls. The
hand of Jesus is the hand which rules our times. He regulates our life-clock. Christ for us and Christ in us. My times in His hand. My life can be no more in vain than was my
Saviour’s life in vain. (E. Paxton Hood
1820-1885, in Dark Sayings on a Harp )
Verse 15. “Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies,
and from them that persecute me. It is lawful to desire escape from
persecution if it be the Lord’s will.”
(C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 152)
We are NOT Supernaturally
called to be all time martyrs, going like lambs to the slaughter, at every drop
of the hat. No! The Lord often makes a ’way of escape…’ for
us, His people - but it behooves us to personally take that ’…way of escape…’
offered, not to either run headlong into temptation and sin; or to go
mindlessly into life’s furnaces without
discerning the Lord’s will whether we should suffer, or escape from it.
“There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, Who will not
suffer (allow) you to be tempted (tested) above that ye are able; but will with
the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
“In Damascus the governor
under Artetas the king kept the city of Damascus with a garrison, desirous to
apprehend me (Paul); and through a window in a basket was I let down by the
wall, and escaped his hands.” (2
Corinthians 11: 32-33)
Therefore, we learn that there
is a balance of discernment to be made by each of us personally, for every
situation and circumstance we encounter in life, as to whether we must take a
resolute stand, or take a prudent way of escape from danger and harm. The Lord grants wisdom and direction for us,
especially in times of obvious danger.
“Behold, I send you forth as
sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as
doves.” (Matthew 10:16)
Whether the genuine,
Spiritually regenerate, Christian lives or dies - is at all times in the
Sovereign hand of the Living Lord God - and His will is always perfect for us.
“For none of us liveth for
himself, and no man dieth to himself.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die
unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose,
and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living.” (Romans 14:7-9)
“The Lord knoweth how to
deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of
judgment to be punished.” (2 Peter 2:9)
Thought: It is clear to all discerning Bible students
that the Lord God is a Sovereign Lord God, Ruler over all things, Creator of
all things; and a Sovereign deliverer from all sin. Our times, all our times/circumstances, are
in His Hand.
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