“But I trust in You, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hands;” (Psalm 31:14-15a NIV)

When I was younger, I foolishly and unsuccessfully tried to clench a handful of sand and count the grains. If I had just read Jeremiah 33:22, I would have known that the sand of the sea cannot be measured, just as the blessings of God are too numerous to number (Psalm 40:5).

Today is my 43rd birthday, and thankfully I am wise enough not to try to count all my blessings. Rather, I am meditating on the gift of life in general.

Yesterday, I was talking to my two daughters Kyla and Kaiah about how many times sickness has left me in dire condition and threatened to take my life, but God spared me. Kaiah said, “When you die, we will know the Lord took you!” And all three of us burst into hearty laughter, because the devil has tried it—on multiple occasions—and failed. I said to Kaiah, “Amen to that.”

After our lovely and lengthy chat was over, God dropped Psalm 31:14 in my spirit, and He reminded me that I didn’t die because my times are in the hands of the Lord. Nothing can happen unless He permits it—something we all would do well to remember in our storms.

Consider King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20. When the reality of death loomed over this terminally ill, righteous king of Judah, he didn’t just accept his fate but prayed to the One who controlled his fate. And God, by His grace, spared Hezekiah and added 15 years to his life. God overturned a death sentence and showed that He determines outcomes, not our circumstances.

Maybe you are sick. Perhaps, you are in debt. Estranged from family. Struggling with mental health. Unemployed. Stagnant. Disappointed over a negative outcome. Hurt over a failure. Be like the psalmist, and trust God who controls the times. Trust God who has power to deliver. Trust God who has the final say. Trust God who has numbered the sands of the seashore and the very hairs on your head (Luke 12:7). He has clenched you tightly and won’t ever let you fall out of His hands.

As you continue trusting and resting in Him, one day, you will laugh without fear of the future, just like the woman in Proverbs 31:25, because you will have full assurance that your times and seasons are in God’s hands.

Now, let’s pray.

God, in the middle of hard battles, please let me never forget that You, not my situation, is the determining factor in the outcome. Help me stop giving my problems and opposition so much control over my thoughts and emotions, and rest in the fact that my times—and everything that concerns me—are in Your loving, strong, reliable hands. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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