July 2, 2011

READ: Colossians 3:12-17

Walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise. —Ephesians 5:15

While staying at our house for a while, my granddaughter Addie began asking, “Whatcha doin’ Grandpa?” over and over. Whether I was working at my computer, putting on my shoes to go outside, sitting down to read, or helping in the kitchen, she sidled up to me and asked what I was doing.

After answering her a few dozen times with, “Paying bills,” “Going to the store,” “Reading the paper,” “Helping Grandma,” I came to the conclusion that she was asking a key question.

Answering to a curious little girl about everything we do is one thing, but answering to God about our actions is infinitely more important. Wouldn’t it be helpful to think of God coming alongside us at any time to ask, “What are you doing?” Imagine how often our answers would seem meaningless or empty.

“I’m spending the entire evening watching TV.” “I’m eating more food than I should.” “I’m going another day without talking to You.” “I’m arguing with my spouse.” The list could go on—to our embarrassment.

We are told to use our time carefully—with God’s glory in sight (1 Cor. 10:31; Col. 3:23). Paul said, “Be very careful, then, how you live” (Eph. 5:15 NIV). So, it’s a good question. God wants to know: “Whatcha doin’?”

— Dave Branon

June 3, 2009

READ: Psalm 90

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. —Psalm 90:2

When the Concise Oxford English Dictionary announced in 2006 that the word time was the most-often used noun in the English language, it didn’t seem surprising. We live in a world where people are obsessed with using days, saving minutes, and trying to find more hours in the day. Although each of us has all the time that there is, few of us think we have enough.

Perhaps that’s why Psalm 90 is such a treasured passage. It shifts the focus from our time-bound lives to our eternal God. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (v.2).

A stanza in Matthew Bridges’ well-known hymn “Crown Him With Many Crowns” begins: “Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time.” A potentate is a sovereign, a monarch, an anointed majesty—one who does not seek appointment or run for election.

God created time. He rules and transcends it. When we feel frustrated by the calendar or captured by the clock, a quiet reading of Psalm 90 reminds us that our days and years are in the hands of our eternal God.

As we humbly bow before Him, we see time from a new perspective.  — David C. McCasland