Our Times are in God's Hand

On the 15th verse, just the first part of the verse, my times are in thy hand. When trial, difficulty, sickness, sorrow, many vicissitudes of life, when we could get a grasp that God has allowed this, it will help us to realize it's for an eternal purpose in our lives. We think of the Apostle Paul, and he besought the Lord three times, and the Lord gave him words, my grace is sufficient for thee.

Life's not always easy. Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward. And yet I not only want to suggest, but say as a fact, that God can give a special infusion of grace to help in that hour of trial, in that day of trial, in that circumstances of trial.

How does that take place? How can I tap into, when this earth-shattering experience occurs, God's grace? We suggest we look into the promises that are found in the word of God. They will gird us, and they will strengthen us, and they will guide us. So, Isaiah 41, please.

We're saved by His matchless grace, illumination from the word of God, what the Son of God has done for us. He gives us His word to guide our path, to help us, enable us, to give us greater appreciations of Himself. But in the hours of trial and difficulties, and across all mankind, He can give us rich nuggets from the word of God, just in the right season, to strengthen us and encourage us.

Verse 10 of Isaiah 41, please. Fear thou not. If you've never had fears or heartaches, I would like to meet you after the meeting.

But I know His face answers face and water, so the heart of man to man. I am with thee. When I walked in the room this morning, I put three little candies in my pocket, because I said one is good, and two is really good, and three is even better.

Well, God gives us a dose of vitamins, if I can put it that way, that will really encourage us and really help us. He says, I am with thee. He will never leave us.

He will never forsake us. Naaman 1 and 7, He is a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him. Some of you would know me quite well.

That verse was a tremendous verse many years ago when the van rolled coming down the Alaska Highway. Debbie was two years of age. Amy was three months, and they all laid on the highway.

We were many miles from the nearest help. We got a little card up in Whitehorse, Naaman 1 and 7. The Lord is a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him. If you're going through trial now, He is a stronghold, and He tells us here, I am with thee.

Be not discouraged. I am thy God. Could I label it this way? Very reverently.

The God has a tremendous investment in you. His well-beloved Son gave Himself for you and I on the cross at Calvary. No greater love, no greater cost, no greater one, no greater theme, develop it how you want.

And that one that loved the Son to death, even the death of the cross, He says, I'll never leave you. He says, I am with thee. And so He says, be not dismayed.

I am thy God. We remind ourselves that the Christian life, the Christian experience, is not in the nervous system of the believer. It's by faith.

It's resting in His precious promises. And just in that special hour of difficulty, if I can label it that way, He is able to give us an infusion from the Word of God to help us and to guide us and direct us and sustain us in that great hour of trial. I am thy God.

Our strength, I will strengthen thee. Our strength comes from the living and the true God. Oh, a brother may come along and encourage or a sister, but our true strength comes from the one that loved us, gave Himself for us, whom precious blood shed to bring us in a family in the fold.

He says, I'll not only strengthen thee, but I'll help thee. And I will hold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. I'll just read verse 13.

I know you know these. For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee, fear not. If I'm reading correctly, He's holding me with His right hand, and He is holding my right hand, so He's not only, He's not really walking alongside, but it's face to face.

We feel Him not, we see Him not, and yet He's in us, with us, and for us. That God might help us to realize that He indeed is a stronghold in the day of trouble, and they knoweth them that trust in Him. He's all faithful, all loving, all caring.

Cast thy cares upon Him, for He careth for thee. And we think of Psalm 21, we know it so well. The Lord is not a shepherd, not the shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Fifteen personal pronouns in Psalm 23, and He's in us, with us, and for us. And so He reminds us, count it all joy.

Our times are in His hands. He does indeed do all things well for His namesake.