“You are my God. My times are in Your hands.” Psalm 31:15 NIV
“You are in good hands, when you and your times are in God’s hands!”
A national insurance company advertises, “you are in good hands” with their company, and calls their employees “the ‘good hands’ people.” My goal is not to affirm or discredit their claim. The thing I can state confidently is this: You are in good hands, when you and your times are in God’s hands!
Last night one million people gathered in New York’s Times Square, as did similar if smaller numbers who congregated in places around the world, to count down the final seconds of an old year and celebrate the beginnings of a New Year. Why are we always so eager to see the old year exit? However difficult the previous year has seemed, there comes an indiscouragable optimism that the new one will be better. However good it has been for some, there is an anticipation that a new year can be better yet.
Jesus told the story of a very wealthy, successful man whose prideful inventory showed he had enough, and to spare. He projected a favorable future for himself, until God spoke, “Tonight your soul shall be required of you!” See Luke 12:16-21. His future was not in his own hands as he thought. Jesus told another story of a man who “died and was buried . . in hell where he was in torment, he looked up . .” Luke 16:19-31 NIV. Sadly, he waited until it was too late.
The Bible asks haunting questions, “What makes (you) think that (you) can escape if (you) are indifferent to this great salvation that was announced by the Lord Jesus Himself? . . what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Hebrews 2:3 NLT/Mark 8:34-38 NKJV. How do you answer those questions?
When David sinned and faced the judgment of God for his disobedience, he preferred to trust himself to God’s hands, than into the hands of men. See 1 Chronicles 21:1-13 NIV. David found it is never too late to place yourself in God’s hands, and so can you.
The message is simple: as long as there is life, it is never too late – never too late to change your life, to change your mind, to change your habits, to change your attitudes, to change your marriage and family, to change your direction and destination. But once life is over, you have no second chances. How you choose to live here and now determines the eternity you will experience then.
The Bible plainly states, “Indeed God is ready to help you right now; today is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT. Why wait another day, another second? See John 10:28-29 NIV.
Another translation (Hebrews 2:3) reads, “. . if we neglect so great a salvation?” Have you ever heard of benign neglect? That is not so much your choosing the wrong thing, but simply neglecting to choose the right thing. That easily happens in everyday matters of finance and health, or marriage and family. It is tragic when it happens in spiritual matters that are truly life and death – matters of eternal import and consequence.
When you realize that your “times are in God’s hands,” you can be assured your future is bright and possibilities are limitless. In God’s hands, you are safe and blessed, and it is never too late for that to be true of you. See Luke 15:11-24.
My prayer for you is: place your life in good hands – God’s hands – and leave it there.