“My Times Are In Your Hand”

"My Times Are In Your Hand"

(No. 2205)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 17, 1891,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"My times are in Your hand." Psalm 31:15.

DAVID was sad–his life was spent with grief and his years with
sighing. His sorrow had wasted his strength and even his bones were
consumed within him. Cruel enemies pursued him with malicious craft,
even seeking his life. At such a time he used the best resource of
grief, for he says in verse 14, "But I trusted in You, O Lord." He had
no other refuge but that which he found in faith in the Lord, his God.
If enemies slandered him, he did not render railing for railing. If
they devised to take away his life, he did not meet violence with
violence, but he calmly trusted in the Lord. They ran here and there,
using all kinds of nets and traps to make the man of God their victim,
but he met all their inventions with the one simple defense of trust in
God. Many are the fiery darts of the Wicked One, but our shield is one.
The shield of faith not only quenches fiery darts, but it breaks arrows
of steel. Though the javelins of the foe were dipped in the venom of
Hell, yet our one shield of faith would hold us harmless, casting them
off from us!

Thus David had the grand resource of faith in the hour of danger. Note
well that he uttered a glorious claim, the greatest claim that man has
ever made–"I said, You are my God." He that can say, "This kingdom is
mine," makes a royal claim! He that can say, "This mountain of silver
is mine," makes a wealthy claim. But he that can say to the Lord, "You
are my God," has said more than all monarchs and millionaires can
reach! If this God is your God by His gift of Himself to you, what more
can you have? If Jehovah has been made your own by an act of
appropriating faith, what more can be conceived of? You have not the
world, but you have the Maker of the world–and that is far more! There
is no measuring the greatness of his treasure who has God to be his All
in All!

Having thus taken to the best resource by trusting in Jehovah and
having made the grandest claim possible by saying, "You are my God,"
the Psalmist now stays himself upon a grand old doctrine, one of the
most wonderful that was ever revealed to men. He sings, "My times are
in Your hand." This to him was a most cheering fact–he had no fear as
to his circumstances, since all things were in the Divine hands. He was
not shut up unto the hands of the enemy, but his feet stood in a large
room, for he was in a space large enough for the ocean, seeing the Lord
had placed him in the hollow of His hand! To be entirely at the
disposal of God is life and liberty for us.

The great Truth of God is this–all that concerns the Believer is in
the hands of the Almighty God. "My times"– these change and shift–but
they change only in accordance with unchanging love and they shift only
according to the purpose of One with whom is no variableness nor shadow
of a turning! "My times," that is to say, my ups and my downs, my
health and my sickness, my poverty and my wealth–all those are in the
hands of the Lord who arranges and appoints according to His holy will,
the length of my days and the darkness of my nights! Storms and calms
vary the seasons at the Divine appointment. Whether times are reviving
or depressing remains with Him who is Lord both of time and of
eternity–and we are glad it is so!

We assent to the statement, "My times are in Your hand," as to their
result. Whatever is to come out of our life is in our heavenly Father's
hands. He guards the vine of life and He also protects the clusters
which shall be produced thereby. If life is as a field, the field is
under the hand of the great Husbandman and the harvest of that field is
also with Him! The ultimate results of His works of Grace upon us and
of His education of us in this life are in the highest hands! We are
not in our own hands, nor in the hands of earthly teachers, but we are
under the skillful operation of hands which make nothing in vain! The
close of life is not decided by the sharp knife of the fates, but by
the hands of Love. We shall not die before our time, neither shall we
be forgotten and left upon the stage too long!

Not only are we, ourselves, in the hand of the Lord, but all that
surrounds us. Our times make up a kind of atmosphere of existence–and
all this is under Divine arrangement. We dwell within the palm of God's
hand. We are absolutely at His disposal and all our circumstances are
arranged by Him in all their details. We are comforted to have it so.

How came the Psalmist's times to be thus in God's hands? I should
answer, first, that they were there in the order of nature, according
to the eternal purpose and decree of God. All things are ordained of
God and are settled by Him, according to His wise and holy
predestination. Whatever happens here happens not by chance, but
according to the counsel of the Most High! The acts and deeds of men
below, though left wholly to their own wills, are the counterpart of
that which is written in the purpose of Heaven. The open acts of
Providence, here below, tally exactly with that which is written in the
secret Book which no eye of man or angel as yet has scanned. This
eternal purpose superintended our birth. "In your Book all my members
were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
was none of them." In your Book, every footstep of every creature is
recorded before the creature is made! God has mapped out the pathway of
every man who traverses the plains of life. Some may doubt this, but
all agree that God foresees all things–and how can they be certainly
foreseen unless they are certain to be?. It is no mean comfort to a man
of God that he feels that, by Divine arrangement and sacred
predestination, his times are in the hands of God!

But David's times were in God's hand in another sense, namely, that he
had, by faith, committed them all to God. Observe carefully the 5th
verse–"Into Your hand I commit my spirit: You have redeemed me, O Lord
God of Truth." In life we use the words which our Lord so patiently
used in death–we hand over our spirits to the hands of God. If our
lives were not appointed of Heaven, we would wish they were. If there
were no overruling Providence, we would crave for one. We would merge
our own wills in the will of the great God and cry, "Not as we will,
but as You will." It would be a hideous thought to us if any one point
of our life story were left to chance, or to the frivolities of our own
fancy. But with joyful hope we fall back upon the eternal foresight and
the Infallible Wisdom of God and cry, "You shall choose our inheritance
for us." We would beg Him to take our times into His hands, even if
they were not there.

Moreover, Beloved Brothers and Sisters, our times are in the Lord's
hands because we are one with Christ Jesus. "We are members of His
body, of His flesh and of His bones." Everything that concerns Christ
touches the great Father's heart. He thinks more of Jesus than of all
the world! Therefore it follows that when we become one with Jesus, we
become conspicuous objects of the Father's care! He takes us in hand
for the sake of His dear Son! He that loves the Head, loves all the
members of the mystical body! We cannot conceive of the dear Redeemer
as ever being out of the Father's mind– neither can any of us who are
in Christ be away from the Father's active, loving care–our times are
always in His hands. All His eternal purposes work towards the
glorifying of the Son and quite as surely they work together for the
good of those who are in His Son. The purposes which concern our Lord
and ourselves are so intertwisted as never to be separated!

To have our times in God's hands must mean not only that they are at
God's disposal, but that they are arranged by the highest wisdom. God's
hand never errs and if our times are in His hand, those times are
ordered rightly. We need not puzzle our brains to understand the
dispensations of Providence–a much easier and wiser course is open to
us, namely–to believe the hands of the Lord work all things for the
best. Sit still, O child, at your great Father's feet, and let Him do
as seems Him good! When you cannot comprehend Him, know that a babe
cannot understand the wisdom of its parent. Your Father comprehends all
things, though you do not–let His wisdom be enough for you! Everything
in the hand of God is where it may be left without anxiety and it is
where it will be carried through to a prosperous issue. Things prosper
which are in His hands.

"My times are in Your hand," is an assurance that none can disturb, or
pervert, or poison. In that hand we rest as securely as rests a babe
upon its mother's breast. Where could our interests be so well secured
as in the eternal hands? What a blessing it is to see, by the eye of
faith, all things that concern you grasped in the hands of God! What
peace as to every matter which could cause anxiety flows into the soul
when we see all our hopes built upon so stable a foundation and
preserved by such supreme power! "My times are in your hand!"

Before I go into this subject, to show the sweetness of this
confidence, I pray every Christian here to read the text and take it in
the singular, and not as we sang it just now–

"Our times are in Your hand, Whatever they may be,

Pleasing or painful, dark or bright, As best may seem to Thee."

We find it in the Psalm, "My times are in Your hand." This does not
exclude the whole body of the saints enjoying this safety together,
but, after all, the Truth of God is sweetest when each man tastes the
flavor of it for himself. Come, let each man take to himself this
Doctrine of the Supreme Appointment of God and believe that it stands
true as to his own case, "My times are in Your hand." The wings of the
cherubim cover me. The Lord Jesus loved me and gave Himself for me–and
my times are in those hands which were nailed to the Cross for my
redemption! What will be the effect of such a faith, if it is clear,
personal and enduring? This shall be our subject at this season. May
the Holy Spirit help us!

I. A clear conviction that our times are in the hand of God WILL CREATE
WITHIN US A SENSE OF THE NEARNESS OF GOD. If the hand of God is laid
upon all our surroundings, God, Himself, is near us. Our Puritan
fathers walked with God the more readily because they believed in God
as arranging everythingin their daily business and domestic life. They
saw Him in the history of the nation and in all the events which
transpired. The tendency of this age is to get further and further from
God. Men will scarcely tolerate a Creator, now, but everything must be
evolved. To get God one stage further back is the ambition of modern
philosophy, whereas, if we were wise–we would labor to clear out all
obstacles and leave a clear channel for drawing near to God–and for
God to draw near to us. When we see that in His hands are all our ways,
we feel that God is real and near.

"My times are in Your hand." Then there is nothing left to chance.
Events happen not to man by a fortune which has no order or purpose in
it. "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord." Chance is a heathenish idea which the teaching of the
Word has cast down, even as the Ark threw down Dagon and broke him in
pieces. Blessed is that man who has done with chance, who never speaks
of luck, but believes that from the least, even to the greatest, all
things are ordained of the Lord. We dare not leave out the least event!
The creeping of an aphid upon a rosebud is as surely arranged by the
decree of Providence as the march of a pestilence through a nation.
Believe this, for if the least is omitted from the supreme government,
so may the next be, and the next, till nothing is left in the Divine
hands. There is no place for chance, since God fills all things.

"My times are in Your hand" is an assurance which also puts an end to
the grim idea of an iron fate compelling all things. Have you the
notion that fate grinds on like an enormous wheel, ruthlessly crushing
everything that lies in its way, not pausing for pity, nor turning
aside for mercy? Remember, if you liken Providence to a wheel, it must
be a wheel which is full of eyes! Its every revolution is in wisdom and
goodness! God's eyes leave nothing blind in Providence, but fill all
things with sight. God works all things according to His purpose, but
then He Himself works them. There is all the difference between the
lone machinery of fixed fate and the Presence of a gracious, loving
Spirit ruling all things. Things happen as He plans them, but He
Himself is there to make them happen, to moderate, guide and secure
results! Our great joy is not, "My times are in the wheel of destiny,"
but, "My times are in Your hand." With a living, loving God to
superintend all things, we feel ourselves at home, resting near our
Father's heart.

"My times are in Your hand." Does not this reveal the condescension of
the Lord? He has all Heaven to worship Him and all worlds to govern,
and yet, "my times"–the times of such an inconsiderable and unworthy
person as I am– are in His hands! Now, what is man that it should be
so? Wonder of wonders, that God should not only think of me, but should
make my concerns His concerns and take my matters into His hands! He
has the stars in His hands and yet He puts us there. He deigns to take
in hand the passing interests of obscure men and lowly women!

Beloved, God is near His people with all His attributes, His wisdom,
His power, His faithfulness, His immutability and these are, under
oath, to work for the good of those who put their trust in Him. "All
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose." Yes, God considers our times and
thinks them over, with His heart and soul planning to do us good. That
august mind, out of which all things spring, bows itself to us and
those eternal wings, which cover the universe, also brood over us and
our household, and our daily needs and woes! Our God sits not still as
a listless spectator of our griefs, suffering us to be drifted like
waifs upon the waters of circumstance, but is busily occupying Himself
at all times for the defense and perfecting of His children. He leads
us that He may bring us home to the place where His flock shall rest
forever.

What a bliss this is! Our times, in all their needs and aspects, are in
God's hands and, therefore, God is always caring for us! How near it
brings God to us and us to God! Child of God, go not tomorrow into the
field, lamenting that God is

not there! He will bless your going out. Come not home to your chamber,
crying, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!" He will bless your
coming in! Go not to your bed, dreaming that you are left an
orphan–neither wake up in the morning with a sense of loneliness upon
you–you are not alone, for the Father is with you!

Will you not feel how good it is that God should come so close to you
and handle your bread and your water, and bless your bed and your
board? Are you not happy to be allowed to come so close to God, as to
say, "My times are in Your hand"? There is a great deal in this first
point as to the nearness of the Lord–and if you will turn it over–you
will see more and more that a conviction that our times are in God's
hand tends to create a happy and holy sense of the nearness of God to
us.

II. THIS TRUTH IS A COMPLETE ANSWER TO MANY A TEMPTATION. You know how
craftily Satan will

urge a temptation. He says, "Now you have a large family and your chief
duty is to provide for them. Your position brings with it many needs.
Here is a plan of making money–others follow it. It may not be quite
straight, but you must not be particular in such a world as this, for
nobody else is." How will you meet this? Can you say to Satan, "It is
not my business to provide for myself or for my family–my times are in
God's hand and His name is Jehovah-Jireh–The Lord Will Provide. And I
will not do a questionable thing, though it would fill my house with
silver and gold from the cellar to the chimney pot. I shall not meddle
with my Lord's business. It is His to provide for me–it is mine to
walk uprightly and obey His Word"?

This is a noble answer to the arch-enemy! But supposing he says, "Well,
but you are already in difficulties and you cannot extricate yourself
if you are too precise. A poor man cannot afford to have a
conscience–it is an expensive luxury in these days. Give your
conscience a holiday and you can soon get out of your trouble." Let
your reply be, "O Prince of Darkness, it is no business of mine to
extricate myself! My times are in God's hand. I have taken my case to
Him and He will work for me in this matter better than I can do for
myself! He does not wish me to do a wrong thing, that I may do for
myself what He has promised to do for me." We are not called upon to
eke out God's wisdom with a bit of our own wickedness. God forbid! Do
the right, even if the heavens should fall. The Lord who has taken your
business into His hands will bear you through.

"Well," says one, "we may use a little discreet policy in religious
matters and keep the peace by wise compromise. We may accomplish our
end all the sooner by going a little roundabout. If you can just let
the Truth of God wait for a little until the fine weather comes, and
the silver slippers are in season, then she will be saved a good deal
of annoyance!" Brothers and Sisters, it is not for us to pick and plan
times in this fashion. God's cause is in God's hands and God would not
have us help His cause by a compromising hand being laid on His Ark.
Remember what the hand of Uzzah brought on him, though he meant well.
Let us continue steadfast in the integrity of our walk and we shall
find our times are in God's hand–and that they are well ordered and
need no hasty and unholy interposition on our part.

Brethren, is it not a delightful thing for us to know that though we
are on a stormy voyage, the Lord, Himself, is at the helm? The course
we do not know, nor even our present latitude and longitude. But the
Pilot knows all about us and also about the sea. It will be our wisdom
not to interfere with our Captain's orders. They put up a notice on the
steamboats, "Do not speak to the man at the wheel." We are very apt, in
our unbelief, to dispute with Him to whom the steering of our vessel is
entrusted. We shall not confuse Him, thank God, but we often confound
and confuse ourselves by our idle complaining against the living Lord!
No, when you are tempted to presume, or to act in a despairing haste,
or to hide your principles, or to do something which is not defensible
in order that you may arrange your times more comfortably, answer with
a decided "No," and say, "My times are in God's hand"–and there, by
His Grace, I will leave

them!"

When the devil comes with His subtle questions and insinuations, refer
Him to your Lord, in whose hands your times are placed. When you have a
lawsuit, the opposite side will likely come and talk with you, to see
if they can get something out of you. It will be your wisdom to reply,
"If you have anything to say, say it to my solicitor." If the devil
comes to you and you get into an argument with him, he will beat you,
for he is a very ancient lawyer and he has been at the business for so
many ages that you cannot match him. Send him to your Advocate! Refer
him to the Wonderful, the Counselor! Always shelter beneath this fact,
"My times are in His hand. I have left the whole business to Another
and I cannot dishonor Him by meddling." Satan knows the Christ too well
to go to Him–he knows the taste of His broadsword, of, "It is
written." He will not contest with Jesus if we leave Him to plead the
causes of our soul!

III. In the third place, THIS CONVICTION IS A SUFFICIENT SUPPORT
AGAINST THE FEAR OF MEN. We

may say to ourselves, when our enemies bear very hard upon us, "I am
not in their hands. My times are in Your hand." Here are gentlemen
judging and condemning us with great rapidity. They say, "He has made a
great mistake. He is an old bigot. He has snuffed himself out." This is
easier said than done. The candle still shines. They say of you, "He is
foolish and headstrong and, on religious matters, he is as obstinate as
a mule! But he will come to grief." You have not come to grief, yet, in
the way they predict, and they had better not prophesy till they know!
The godly are not in the hands of those who mock them! The wicked may
gnash their teeth at Believers, but they cannot destroy them! Here is
their comfort–they have committed their spirit to the hands of
God–and He will sacredly preserve the precious deposit. Fear not the
judgments of men! Appeal to a higher court. Take the case to the King's
Bench. Go to God, Himself, with the matter, and He will bring forth
your judgment as the light and your righteousness as the noonday.

Do the malicious resolve to crush you? They will use to the utmost
their little power, but there is a higher power which will hold them
back. Rejoicingly say, "My times are in Your hand." Do they treat you
with contempt? Do they sneer at you? What does that matter? Your honor
comes not from men! Their contempt is the highest complimentthe wicked
can pay you.

Alas, many professors place their times in the hands of the world! If
they prosper and grow rich, they see an opportunity of social advantage
and they quit their humbler friends to join a more respectable sect.
How many are lost to fidelity because their prosperous times are not in
God's hands, but in their own? Some, on the other hand, when they are
in adversity, get away from the Lord. The excuse is, "I cannot go to
the House of God any more, for my clothes are not so respectable as
they used to be." Is your poverty to take you out of your Lord's hands?
Never let it be so! But say, "My times are in Your hand." Cleave to the
Lord in losses as well as in gains and so let allyour times be with
Him.

How often we meet with people who are staggered by slander! It is
impossible to stop malicious tongues. They wound and even slay the
characters of the godly. The tried one cries, "I cannot bear it! I
shall give all up." Why? Why yield to mere talk? Even these cruel
tongues are in God's hands! Can you not brave their attacks? They
cannot utter a single whisper more than God permits! Go on your way, O
righteous man, and let false tongues pour forth their poison as they
will. "Every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall
condemn." If my times are in God's hands, no man can do me harm unless
God permits it. Though my soul is among lions, yet no lion can bite me
while Jehovah's angel is my guard!

This feeling, that our interests are safe in the highest keeping,
breeds an independent spirit. It prevents our cringing before the great
and our flattering the strong. At the same time, it removes all
tendency to envy, so that you do not wish for the prosperity of the
wicked, nor fret yourself because of evildoers. When one knows that his
times are in God's hands, he would not change places with a king! No,
nor even with an angel!

IV. A full belief in the statement of our text is A CURE FOR PRESENT
WORRY. O Lord, if my times are in Your hands, I have cast my care on
You, and I trust and am not afraid! Why is it, my Sister–for this
habit of worrying abounds among the gracious sisterhood–why do you vex
yourself about a matter which is in the hands of God? If He has
undertaken for you, what cause have you for anxiety? And you, my
Brother–for there are plenty of men who are nervous and fretful–why
do you want to interfere with the Lord's business? If the case is in
His hands, what need can there be for you to be prying and crying? You
were worrying this morning and fretting last night–and you are
distressed, now, and will be worse tomorrow morning. May I ask you a
question? Did you ever get any good by fretting? When there was not
rain enough for your farm, did you ever fret a shower down? When there
was too much rain, or you thought so, did you ever worry the clouds
away? Tell me, did you ever make a sixpence by worrying? It is a very
unprofitable business!

Do you answer, "What, then, are we to do in troublous times?" Why, go
to Him into whose hand you have committed yourself and your times!
Consult with Infinite Wisdom by prayer. Console yourself with Infinite
Love by fellowship with God. Tell the Lord what you feel and what you
fear. Ten minutes' praying is better than a year's murmuring! He that
waits upon God and casts his burden upon Him may lead a royal
life–indeed, he will be far happier than a king!

To leave our times with God is to live as free from care as the birds
upon the bough. If we fret, we shall not glorify God, and we shall not
constrain others to see what true religion can do for us in the hour of
tribulation. Fret and worry put it out of our power to act wisely. But
if we can leave everything with God because everything really is in His
hands,

we shall be peaceful and our action will be deliberate. And for that
very reason it will be more likely to be wise. He that rolls his burden
upon the Lord will be strong to do or to suffer–and his days shall be
as the days of Heaven upon the earth. I admire the serenity of Abraham.
He never seems to be in a fluster, but he moves grandly, like a prince
among men. He is much more than the equal of the greatest man he
meets–we can hardly see Lot with a microscope when we have once seen
Abraham! Why was that? Because he believed in God and staggered not.

Half the joy of life lies in expectation. Our children get greater
pleasure out of expecting a holiday than they do out of the day,
itself. It is much the same with ourselves. If we believe that all our
times are in God's hands, we shall be expecting great things from our
heavenly Father. When we get into a difficulty we shall say, "I am now
going to see the wonders of God and to learn, again, how surely He
delivers them that trust in Him!" I thank God I have learned at times
to glory in necessities, as opening a window into Heaven for me, out of
which the Lord would abundantly pour forth His supplies. It has been to
me so unspeakable a delight to see how the Lord has supplied my needs
for the Orphanage, the College and other works, that I have half wished
to be in straits, that I might see how the Lord would appear for me!

I remember, some time ago, when, year after year, all the money came in
for the various enterprises, I began to look back with regret upon
those grand days when the Lord permitted the brook Cherith to dry up
and called off the ravens, with their bread and meat, and then found
some other way of supplying the orphans' needs! In those days, the Lord
used to come to me, as it were, walking on the tops of the mountains,
stepping from peak to peak and, by marvelous deeds, supplying all my
needs, according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus!

Do you know, I almost wished that the Lord would stop the streams and
then let me see how He can fetch water out of the Rock! He did so, not
very long ago. Funds ran very low and then I cried to Him and He heard
me out of His holy hill. How glad was I to hear the footsteps of the
ever-present Lord, answering to His child's prayer and letting him know
that his times were still in his Father's hands! Surely it is better to
trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man! It is a joy worth
worlds to be driven where none but the Lord can help you–and then to
see His mighty hand pulling you out of the net! The joy lies mainly in
the fact that you are sure it is the Lord and sure that He is near you.
This blessed realization of the Lord's interposition causes us to glory
in tribulation! Is not that a cure for worry, a blessed cure for
anxiety?

V. Fifthly, a firm conviction of this truth is A QUIETUS AS TO FUTURE
DREAD. "My times are in Your hand." Do you wish to know what is going
to happen to you in a short time? Would you look between the folded
leaves of the future? You can buy a penny newspaper which will tell you
the fate of nations this very year. But you may be well-near sure that
nothing will happen which is thus predicted–and thus it may be of
little use to you! Be content with the prophecies of Scripture, but
follow not every interpreter of them. Many people would pay great sums
to have the future made known to them. If they were wise, they would
rather desire to have it concealed! Do not want to know–such knowledge
would answer no useful purpose. The future is intended to be a sealed
book. The present is all we need to have before us. Do your day's work
in its day and leave tomorrow with your God. If there were ways of
reading the future, it would be wise to decline to use them. The
knowledge would create responsibility, arouse fear and diminish present
enjoyment–why seek after it? Famish idle curiosity and give your
strength to believing obedience! Of this you may be quite sure, that
there is nothing in the book of the future which should cause distrust
to a Believer! Your times are in God's hands–and this secures them.

The very word, "times," supposes change for you. But as there are no
changes with God, all is well. Things will happen which you cannot
foresee, but your Lord has foreseen all and provided for all! Nothing
can occur without His Divine allowance and He will not permit that
which would be for your real or permanent injury. "I should like to
know," says one, "whether I shall die soon." Have no desire in that
direction–your time will come when it should. The best way to live
above all fear of death is to die every morning before you leave your
bedroom. The Apostle Paul said, "I die daily." When you have got into
the holy habit of daily dying, it will come easy to you to die for the
last time!

It is greatly wise to be familiar with our last hours. As you take off
your garments at night, rehearse the solemn scene when you shall lay
aside your robe of flesh. When you put on your garments in the morning,
anticipate the being clothed upon with your house which is from Heaven
in the day of Resurrection. To be fearful of death is often the height
of folly. A great Prophet once ran away many miles to escape from death
by an imperious queen. He was one of the bravest of the brave and yet
He hurried into solitude to escape a woman's threat! When he had
finished his weary walk, he sat down and actually prayed, "Let me die."
It was a singular thing to do, to run for his life, and then to cry,
"Let me die." That man

never did die, for we speak of Elijah who rode to Heaven in a chariot
of fire! God does not answer all His people's prayers, for He has
better things for them than they ask. Do not tremble about what may
never happen. Even we may never die, for it is written, "We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump." Some of us may be alive and remain at
the coming of the Lord. Who knows? Behold, He comes quickly! At any
rate, do not let us worry about death, for it is in His hands.

VI. Again, a full conviction that our times are in His hands will be A
REASON FOR CONSECRATED SERVICE. If God has undertaken my business for
me, then I may most fitly undertake such business for Him as He may
appoint. Queen Elizabeth wished one of the leading merchants of London
to go to Holland to watch her interests there. The honest man told Her
Majesty that he would obey her commands, but he begged her to remember
that it would involve the ruin of his own trade, for him to be absent.
To this the Queen replied, "If you will see to my business, I will see
to your business." With such a royal promise he might willingly let his
own business go, for a queen should have it in her power to do more for
a subject than he can do for himself.

The Lord, in effect, says to the Believer, "I will take your affairs in
hand and see them through for you." Will you not at once feel that now
it is your joy, your delight, to live to glorify your gracious Lord? To
be set free to serve the Lord is the highest freedom! How beautiful it
is to read in the book of Isaiah, "And strangers shall stand and feed
your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your
vinedressers"! Outsiders shall do the drudgery for you and set you free
for higher service! Read on and see–"But you shall be named the
Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God."
Faith sets us free from the wear and tear of carking care that we may
give ourselves up wholly to the service of the Lord our God! Faith
causes us to live exempt from fret, to serve only the blessed God. Set
free from the burden of earthly things by God's kind care of us, we
present our bodies as living sacrifices unto the Lord our God. He has
not made us slaves and drudges, but priests and kings unto God!

I am sure, dear Friends, if we get this Truth of God fully saturating
our souls, that our times are in God's hand, it will make life a
grander thing than it has ever seemed to be. Do you believe that God's
hand is working with you and for you? Then are you lifted above the
dumb-driven cattle that surround you, for the God of Heaven thinks of
you and puts His hand to your affairs. This connection with the Divine
puts heart into a man and rises him to high endeavor and great belief.
We feel we are immortal till our work is done! We feel that God is with
us and that we are bound to be victorious through the blood of Jesus!
We shall not be defeated in the campaign of life, for the Lord of Hosts
is with us and we shall tread down our enemies! God will strengthen us,
for our times are in His hands and, therefore, we will serve Him with
all our heart and with all our soul, being fully convinced that, "our
labor is not in vain in the Lord."

VII. Lastly, if our times are in God's hands, here is A GRAND ARGUMENT
FOR FUTURE BLESSEDNESS. He that takes care of our times will take care
of our eternity. He that has brought us so far and worked so graciously
for us will see us safely over the rest of the road. I marvel at some
of you older folks, when you begin to doubt. You will say, "Look at
yourself." Well, so I do, and I am heartily ashamed that ever a grain
of mistrust should get into the eye of my faith. I would weep it out
and keep it out for the future.

Still, some of you are older than I am, for you are 70 or 80 years of
age. How much longer do you expect to travel in this wilderness? Do you
think you have you another 10 years? God has been gracious to you for
70 years and will you fret about the last 10, which, indeed, may never
come? That will never do! God has delivered some of you out of such
great trials that your present ones are mere fleabites. Sir Francis
Drake, after he had sailed around the world, came up the Thames. And
when he had passed Gravesend there came a storm which threatened the
ship. The brave commander said, "What? Go around the world safely and
then get drowned in a ditch? Never!" So we ought to say! God has upheld
us in great tribulations and we are not going to be cast down about
trials which are common to men!

A man of energy, if he takes a work in hand, will push it through and
the Lord our God never undertakes what he will not complete. "My times
are in Your hand" and, therefore, the end will be glorious! My Lord, if
my times were in my own hands, they would prove a failure, but since
they are in Your hands, You will not fail, nor shall I! The hands of
God ensures success all along the line. In that day when we shall see
the tapestry which records our lives, we shall see all the scenes
therein with wondering eyes. We shall see what wisdom, what love, what
tenderness, what care was lavished upon them! When once a matter is in
God's hands, it is never neglected or forgotten, but it is carried out
to the end. Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

I have not been able to preach on this text as I hoped to do, for I am
full of pain and have a heavy headache. But, thank God, I have no
heartache with such a glorious Truth of God before me! Sweet to my soul
are these words–"My times are in Your hand." Take the golden sentence
home with you! Keep this Truth in your mind. Let it lie on your tongue
like a wafer made with honey. Let it dissolve until your whole nature
is sweetened by it. Yes, dear old lady, you that have come out of the
workhouse this morning to hear this sermon, say to yourself, "My times
are in Your hand." Yes, you, dear Friend, who cannot find employment
and have been walking your shoes off your feet in the vain endeavor to
seek one–you, also, may say, "My times are in Your hand." Yes, my dear
Sister, pining away with consumption, this may be your song–"My times
are in Your hand." Yes, young man, you that have just started in
business and have met with a crushing loss, it will be for your
benefit, after all! Therefore say, "My times are in Your hand." This
little sentence, to my mind, swells into a hymn–it buds and blossoms
into a Psalm! Few are the words, but mighty is the sense, and full of
rest.

Now, remember, it is not everybody that can find honey in this hive. O
Sinners, you are in the hands of an angry God and this is terrible! The
God against whom you continually sin and whom you provoke by refusing
His Grace, has absolute power over you! Beware, you that forget God,
lest He tear you in pieces! You have provoked, offended and grieved
Him, but there is yet hope, for His mercy endures forever. Though you
have vexed His Holy Spirit, yet return unto Him and He will have mercy
upon you and abundantly pardon you! It is certain that you are in His
hands and that you cannot escape from Him. If you should climb to
Heaven, or dive to Hell, you would not be out of His reach! No strength
of yours can resist Him, no speed can outrun Him. Yield yourselves to
God and then this great power of God, which now surrounds you, shall
become your comfort!

At present it ought to be your terror. The eyes of God are fixed upon
you. The hands of God are against you and if you are unsaved, one touch
of that hand will mean death and everlasting destruction! That hand
which the Believer devoutly kisses, is the hand which you may well
dread. Oh, that you would flee to Christ Jesus and find shelter from
wrath beneath the crimson canopy of His precious blood! Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Psaalm 31.