The Time It Is A Changin’… Again

On Sunday morning (2 a.m.) we are to set our clocks ahead one hour.  Although we lose an hour of sleep we are one hour closer to spring and after this winter who isn’t willing to sacrifice one hour to get to the warmer weather?
I think its kind of odd that we can go around changing the natural order of things just by a vote of congress. or whatever governing body gets to decide such things  While we are at it why don’t we just outlaw snow or vote that it can only come down on Christmas?  What if I propose that the West live by Eastern time and the East live by Mountain time?  Could we get a law that makes it illegal for hurricanes to come within 25 miles of the Jersey shore?
We fool ourselves into thinking that we actually can control things…that we can set the times of the seasons and have a say over how long daylight will last.  That somehow we control our lives or that we can do anything without God’s allowance and permission.  I am reminded of God’s response to Job when Job questioned who really had the ultimate authority: (Job 38)

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?

8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?

12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.

35Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom
or gives the rooster understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?

39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
when its young cry out to God
and wander about for lack of food?

We may think we have control and power but we are foolish for thinking so.  I may not always like what God does…or the way He does it.  I may not always understand or even agree with what God allows in life.  But I will choose to trust Him who is the Creator of all the world…who holds all of life together.  And even if I don’t like it at times, I will trust Him over myself or any other human being.  I will join Job in saying: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15). Although God gives us our freedom, there is so much beyond our control and our ability to understand.  There is so much we cannot do because we are human and thus limited.

I think God probably laughs when we go around changing our clocks, thinking we are somehow in control of time and nature and can dictate to God what He can and can’t do, how He should or should not act.

What do you think?
How does it make you feel?
Blessings,
Steven