There is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? No man has power over the wind to contain it. Just so, no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. ~Ecclesiastes 8:6-8
Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Do not fret—it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. ~Psalm 37:5-9
“Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days. Let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth. The span of my years is as nothing before You. Each man’s life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro. He bustles about, but only in vain. He heaps up wealth not knowing who will get it. But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in You. ~Psalm 39:4-8
The Scripture texts for today should cause us to reflect upon how little control over ourselves we actually have. There really is only one control that we have, a choice. Which direction will we seek our control from? When we choose what we think is ourselves, we are in rebellion toward God. Our hearts are yielded to the control of evil. We may think that we are in control of ourselves and our destinies, but that is an illusion that is intended to keep us from seeking the right way.
This is what tempted Adam and Eve. The thought that they could be like God enticed them. They began to believe that this Being who strolled with them in the garden in the cool of the evening was actually holding back and not being completely honest with them in all they had the potential to become. Their unconditional trust was shaken, so they chose the other path, the path of rebellion, of self-determination.
“As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.” That is what it has taken, a spiritual war, to set us free so that we could make a choice again. Ultimately, we do not control our lives. It is when we surrender to our creator, the true one who gave us this life in the first place, it is only then that we can be free. The One who is really in control is for our good and for true freedom.
When we are in rebellion against Him we are being used. We are encouraged to be ourselves, but it is a lie. We still do not have the control we want. We are puppets of satan. Such puppets are blind to the struggle Paul talks about in Romans 7 when he says: “So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” (Romans 7:21-25) That’s the free spirit trying to cut the puppet strings and finding that only God can make us real.
Paul voices well everyone’s struggle over the question of who will control our lives. We cannot control our time of entry or exit from this life. “No man has power over the wind to contain it. Just so, no one has power over the day of his death.” Thinking we do is more of the illusion of self-determination. We wish for an end to the suffering, when it is ours to endure. This worldly thinking even pushes for legal physician assisted suicide, as if that could set a sinner free from suffering!
But when we are in God’s hands, we can know that He is working all things for our good. “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in You.” That is the prayer of someone completely submitted to His control. “Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”
Prayer: Lord, You know best! My hope is in You. I started out trying to make my own decisions, shunning your wisdom, even not believing You were real, or maybe just pretending. But now I know that that the devil’s lie, his version of “freedom” only leads to death! Thank You for setting me free from that snare of deception! I will live for You and I will truly live forever!! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: Have Thine Own Way
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