Trusting the Master of Time

“So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…” (Joel 2:25a, NKJV).

Yesterday, it felt like the swarming locust was after my morning. I was sincerely desiring to get focused into my personal time with Jesus. Yet, distraction after distraction was eating up my minutes, and then my hours.

I normally do not get rattled very easily, but I was beginning to feel agitated about my usual time with Him getting eaten up. The kids would be home from school soon, and my quiet window would be over. When I did finally put my worship music on, I had a hard time settling into it at first.

Then beautiful Jesus began to speak to my heart. “I have made provision for this,” He said reassuringly. He began to impart His supernatural peace to my soul. He began to remind me of what He’s been teaching me regarding time.

Which is this. Time is not so rigid as the concept we tend to hold of it. It’s a flexible, moldable material in His hands. When we habitually put Him first, He is fully able to expand the rest of our remaining hours. He showed me a picture in my mind’s eye of Him shaping time like clay. Except the material in His hands was more supple and elastic than clay, and could actually grow bigger under His touch.

God can expand time. This is why Holy Spirit was able to express through the Prophet Joel such an amazing promise. “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…”

We might wonder — how is it possible for God to restore to us years that have been devoured by the enemy? If, humanly speaking, once they’re gone, they’re gone for good?

It’s possible because He’s just that powerful. He can fit a decade’s worth of value into a just a year, or into whatever increment of time that He pleases. A day truly is as a thousand years to Him, and a thousand years as a day. He can take just one day of your life, and pack a thousand years’ worth of impact into it. That’s not difficult for Him.

Likewise, He can take an hour of your time, and do more in that hour than you could in a week. He can be trusted with the administration of every set of twenty-four hours that you are alive.

Just as He is Lord of the Sabbath, He is Lord over all of time. He governs it according to His heart and purposes. He will wait for as long as is necessary for you to come to understand how trustworthy He really is. Once that moment comes and you surrender to His will, He will make up for any lost time. Time is subservient to Him. He is able to perfectly mold it according to His powerful and loving plans.

Yes. We can trust the Master of Time to orchestrate the timing of these twenty-four hours we are currently living… perfectly. We can lean heavily into the truth that ahead of time He already worked into His skillful plan for today, every interruption and unforeseen factor that will come along.

The same is true for tomorrow… and all week long… and next month… and the whole decade… and every minute that He gives us breath until He takes us home. The more profoundly we come to internalize this truth, the more deeply we will come to rest in Him. Snuggled into His bosom, our relieved hearts will echo the conviction of the Psalmist, “My times are in Your hand…” (Ps. 31:15a, NKJV).

****************************************************

Have you had an experience where you took a leap of faith and put God first in your schedule… when it really didn’t feel like you had time to do so… and He came through for you in an amazing way? I’d love to hear about it!