Thoughts About Time, Part 2

Every one of us is on a journey through life. It began at conception when we were born, and it continues on until we die and enter into glory. But for the time that we are conceived in our mother's womb, to the time we die, as you go through life, there are a series of events that take place all within the space of God's timing. Some of them good, some of them bad. Solomon would say in Ecclesiastes 7, in the day of prosperity, be happy, and we are. But in the day of adversity, you need to consider that God has made the one as well as the other.

So as we go through our life, we encounter all kinds of activities. Solomon mentions a few of them in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 to help us understand some of the things that take place on a regular basis. But inevitably, we face times of hardship and times of difficulty, times of pain, times of tragedy, sometimes times of disaster. We face those different kind of storms in life. They are inevitable. They come to all of us. Maybe you're experiencing one even as we speak tonight. And perspective is important.

How you perceive those things that take place in your life are crucial to you understanding how to get through those difficult periods in your life. And we who are believers should respond completely different than those who are unbelievers. In fact, one of the main aspects of being a Christian is that you believe in God's sovereignty. Psalm 115, verse number 3, our Lord is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases. Romans chapter 11, verse number 36, that everything is from Him, through Him, and back to Him again.

So we understand those things. At least we should understand those things. Because if you're a believer in the Lord, everything about your life is different than the unbeliever. In fact, this is how the psalmist says it in Psalm 112. How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments. Then it says in verse number 6, He will never be shaken. Verse 7, He will not fear evil tidings. In other words, there's something about the man who fears the Lord, and the fear of the Lord is just a synonym for salvation in the Old Testament.

Somebody who truly knows the Lord. And therefore, to understand the fact that those who fear the Lord are those who greatly delight in the commandments of God. And during times of hardship and pain and difficulty, they're never shaken. They never fear the evil tidings. Charles Spurgeon, in his devotional morning and evening, wrote this about that verse. He said, Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings. Because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to.

They have never proved His faithfulness as you have done. And it is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear. But you profess to be of another spirit. You have been begotten again into a lively hope. And your heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things. Now, if you are seen to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to possess? Again, if you should be filled with alarm, as others are, you would doubtless be led into the sins so common to others under trying circumstances.

The ungodly, when they are overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God. They murmur and think that God deals hardly with them. Will you fall into that same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do? Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order to escape from difficulties. And you will be sure to do the same if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord. Wait patiently for Him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at the Red Sea. Stand still and see the salvation of God.

For if you give way to fear, when you hear of evil tidings, you will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure which nerves for duty and sustains under adversity. How can you glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung of God's high praises in the fires. But will your doubting and responding as if you had none to help you magnify the Most High, then take courage and rely and ensure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant God. Wise words. Something about the life of the believer does not respond to adversity, does not respond to evil tidings like the unbeliever.

The person who fears the Lord is not alarmed when they come, doesn't cower in fear, doesn't run and hide, doesn't act like the coward and go after some means of sinful satisfaction to escape the difficulties. No, he says the believer is completely different because he has his God. He trusts in the Lord. He believes in him. He delights in his commandments. So very, very true. But yet when those difficulties come, is it not true that we find ourselves acting sometimes as almost God doesn't even exist?

Think about this. The disciples who lived with Jesus every day for three years watched him perform miracle after miracle after miracle. Saw him do things that are beyond any human comprehension. Find themselves in a predicament in the fourth chapter of Mark. Very familiar story. I preach on this in Israel on the Sea of Galilee. It's a great place to be. The Catholics can't build a church on the Sea of Galilee. So it's an even greater place to be because of that. But the fact of the matter is, the text says this, on that day when evening came, he said to them, let us go over to the other side.

Leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in a boat, just as he was, and other boats were with him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind. The waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, hush, be still. The wind died down, and it became perfectly calm. He said to them, why are you such cowards?

Do you still have no faith? They became very much afraid and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Here are men who experienced the miraculous power of God every day of their lives. Who, if you asked them, would say, you know, we trust in the power of God. Until they found themselves in the midst of a storm where they felt like their lives were going to perish. Then they doubted whether or not the Lord really cared that they were perishing. Don't you care that we're about to die?

Does this not make any difference to you whatsoever? And of course, in a matter of moments, he says, hush, be still. Everything becomes completely and perfectly calm. And they asked him, why are you, of all people, my disciples, my followers, acting like cowards? What a question. Why is it you still have no faith? Why is it you still don't believe what I say? You see, the Lord planned it all out. The Lord planned the boat trip. The Lord planned the storm. The Lord planned his nap. The Lord planned everything.

It was all under his direction. He knew the storm was going to come because he is the one who creates the storms. And so he put his disciples into a test to see how they would do, to see if they would pass an experience that they thought would cost them their lives. But he said to them, let us go over to the other side. Their destiny was the other side. And yet, when they got into the middle of the sea, they did not believe that their destiny was to the other side. They didn't have the faith to believe in what God had already said.

So they began to panic, they began to live in fear, they began to cower. That's why the Lord asked them, why are you cowards? Why is it you still don't believe what I've said? And then he calmed the sea, made it like glass. And they would say, oh, what manner of man is this that even the winds in the sea obey him? It's important to realize that man, for the most part, for the most part, is more frightful of the storm outside his boat than he is of being fearful of the Savior in his boat. And that's what happened to the disciples.

They became very much more afraid once they realized of the awesome power of God. You see, the storm was an appointed time. There is an appointed time for everything under the sun, everything. The storm was a divine appointment. The storm was created by God to test His men as to whether or not they would truly believe in all that He said. And they didn't, of course. And these were men who were with Him every single day of their lives for three years. So people like you and me, who are unable to experience the actual presence of God physically, rely upon His Word to teach us and to lead us through each and every day.

Knowing that He dwells within us, we trust in the Lord to understand His appointed times. For there is an appointed time for everything under the sun. And, Ecclesiastes tells us, you saw last week, that all those appointed times are beautiful in His time. Not only did all those times begin with God, all of them are beautiful because of God, and therefore they were all beneficial to those of us who love God. In fact, you can read Ecclesiastes 3 this way. There's a time to give birth in God's plan, a time to die in God's plan, a time to plant in God's time, God's plan, excuse me, a time to uproot what is planted in God's plan.

So you can inject the phrase, in God's plan, after each statement because in all reality there is an appointed time under the sun. There's an appointed time for each event that takes place under the sun. In other words, all those times are planned by God. None of them are unplanned. Esther Fields said it this way, she said, things don't just happen to us who love God, they are planned by His own dear hand. Then molded and shaped in time by His clock, things just don't happen, they're planned. We don't just guess on the issues of life.

We Christians just rest in our Lord. We are directed by His sovereign will in the light of His Holy Word. We who love Jesus are walking by faith, not seeing what step that's ahead, not doubting one moment what our lot might be, but looking to Jesus instead. We praise our dear Savior for loving us so, for planning each care of our life, then giving His faith to trust Him for all, the blessings as well as the strife. Things don't just happen to us who love God, to us that have taken our stand, no matter the lot, the course, or the price, things don't just happen, they're planned.

So Solomon says that everything in life is appointed by God. In fact, let me read it to you. You know the verses, but notice in these first 15 verses, there is an appointed time for everything and there is a time for every event under heaven, a time to give birth and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance, a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones, a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing, a time to search and a time to give up as lost, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear apart, a time to sew together, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time or beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime. Moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor.

It is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will remain forever. There is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him, that which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by. You will note that God has mentioned how many times in 15 verses, nine, nine times. Observation is the greatest tool of interpretation. To be able to observe the text and see what's being said is very important.

God has mentioned nine times in 15 verses because Solomon is going to direct you beyond the Son to help you understand what happens under the Son. So we told you last week that he begins with this very simple summation in verse number one when he says, there is an appointed time for everything and there is a time for every event under heaven.

And then he gives a strong affirmation, that's in verse 11, he has made everything beautiful in its time. And then he gives us a significant application that takes it all and wraps it up to show you what you need to know about the God who appoints everything under heaven. I want to give you those beginning tonight. We will not finish them tonight. I thought that we would, but we won't. So these will become the three most important sermons I have ever preached, instead of two. And you need to understand them because they deal with your everyday life, they deal with everybody's everyday life, and asks and answers why.

Because we ask that question all the time. You will note that our lives are governed by events, by time. We all have the same amount of time. We can never reverse time, have you ever noticed that? Simply because we have a DVR at home and we can record something and we can fast forward it or we can rewind it, we think that we can live life that way. It just doesn't happen. Once it's past, it's past. You can't get it back again. Aren't there times you've said things in the realm of time that you wish you could go back in time and not say those things?

You can't do it. Once it's out there, it's out there. Once the time has passed, it's passed. You can't speed up time, you can't slow down time, it's irreversible, you can't change it, it's set in motion, and we live by clocks and calendars. Our Lord doesn't. Our Lord is the inventor of time. He's the creator of time. He lives outside the realm of time. He's the eternal God who exists in the past, present, and future all at the same time. That's called the eternality of God. But yet, because He created the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, He created time.

One day, time will be no more. When the universe is destroyed and everything is recreated and made brand new and there is an eternal glory, there will be no more time. But in this realm under the sun, we live in that space and time called time, and we live that way. Our lives are governed by what events take place in certain times, on certain days. And throughout those days and times, we encounter various events. And yet, to understand that God has planned them all is very important, very important.

Webster defines time this way, the measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues. That's true. Now, we can waste time or we can spend time wisely, but no matter what happens in the realm of time, we must know that God has appointed everything under the heavens. That's a very, very important element of life that we as Christians can begin to understand and apply. So I want to give you five principles. I'm going to begin with the first one this evening, and it's this.

This is the significant application that stems from the simple summation and a strong affirmation that Solomon makes, and it's this. We need to acknowledge that God has a reason for all that happens in my life. We need to acknowledge that God has a reason for everything that happens in my life. How many times are we doing something and we're in a hurry to get to where we're going and there's a traffic jam, there's a car accident, there's a flat tire, and we say, Why now? Why couldn't I have a flat tire yesterday?

I can't be late for my appointment. We ask the question, Why? We wonder why things happen to us. But everything is under the direction of a sovereign God who rules over all. And God has a reason behind all those things that take place. The very first thing you need to understand is that it suggests that God is providentially in control of everything.

The providence of God is in control of all those details. Some people believe that God has an overarching plan, it's a large plan, but the details are up to us. That's not true. God is into details, the specifics of everything. God's sovereignty is His overall plan, right? That is His decree. The providence of God deal with the details of God's decrees and the details of the outworking of God's plan. That's God's providence, and God is in charge. So the psalmist says in Psalm 113, verse 5, For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.

Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and all the deeps. He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain, who brings forth the wind from His treasuries. He, God, smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast. He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt. Verse 10, He smote many nations. Verse 12, He gave Israel the land as a heritage. In other words, God is in charge of everything, the wind, the rain, the destruction of nations.

He rules over it all. He's in charge. Over in Psalm 139, you know these verses. Verse number 16, Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. In God's book, all the days are written, every one of them. How many there would be, when you would be born, when you would die, and everything that would take place during those days. It was all done before you were ever born, because God's in charge.

You need to come to grips with that. Daniel chapter 4 tells us about Nebuchadnezzar, who believed that as a king, he was able to do whatever he wanted to do, and yet he had a vision, and asked Daniel to interpret that vision for him, because he needed to understand what it was that was going to happen in his life. So God gave Daniel the revelation to the vision, and Daniel says to him, in verse 24 of chapter 4, this is the interpretational king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my Lord, the King, that you be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass to eat like cattle, and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes.

And in that, it was commanded to leave the stump with the roots of the tree. Your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is heaven that rules, heaven that rules. Therefore, O King, may my advice be pleasing to you. Break away now from your sins by doing righteousness, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity. Daniel interprets the vision. He says, King, you need to repent. You need to recognize that the Most High of heaven and earth rules over all, and you're under His authority.

You're subject to what He has to say. Well, the king did nothing for a year. He made no effort to repent, no effort to turn to Daniel's God. And so, he became a glory hog, thinking that this was the kingdom that he had built. While the word was in the king's mouth, verse 31, a voice came from heaven saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared, sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and He bestows it on whomever He wishes.

Immediately, the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven, for His hair had grown like eagle's feathers and His nails like bird's claws. But at the end of that period, that specific time, that appointed time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever. For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, what have You done? Nebuchadnezzar realized. Seven years later, he came to realize that there is a God who is the Most High God. No one can ward off His hand. His plan is going to be in operation exactly as He states it, because He is the only One who can control. He had to recognize God's providence.

He had to acknowledge that there was a reason for everything that happens. Things just don't happen by chance. They happen because there is a sovereign God who rules over everything. David said, my times are in your hands. So are yours and so are mine. Augustine said, if the providence of God does not preside over the affairs of men, there is no need to bother about religion. That's true. If our God doesn't control everything, then He's really not God at all. But not only the providence of God, but the purposes of God.

God has a purpose. Joseph knew that. Genesis 50, verse number 20, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Esther understood that because she was created specifically for such a time as this. Paul knew it. Paul knew that God was working in and through every aspect of his life. In the book of Acts, in the 16th chapter, he says, they passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak a word in Asia. Why? Why were they forbidden by the Holy Spirit not to speak a word in Asia?

How were they forbidden by the Holy Spirit not to do so? And then it says, and after they came to Messiah, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. Why? How did God stop them? It doesn't tell us. But Paul knew that they could not speak a word in Asia. Paul knew that the Spirit of Jesus had stopped them from going anywhere else because God had another plan. God had another route for them to go. So it says, in passing by Messiah, they came to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night, a man from Macedonia standing and appealing to him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us.

When he had seen the vision, immediately, we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. God had called us to preach the gospel to them. We wanted to go elsewhere, but God stopped us. We had another plan, but God stopped us. Because God is involved in every aspect of your life. You've been in those situations. You've tried to pursue this or pursue that, and all the doors close, and God stops you. And we try to knock open the door and beat open the door, and it just doesn't do it.

God has another plan, another direction, another way for us to go. And Paul was sensitive to that. He says on Mars Hill in a sermon, in verse 26 of Acts 17, God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation. Do you understand that? God determines the time in which you live. He also determines the boundary of your habitation, that is, where you live, how much land you have. You might want more land, God says no.

You might want less land, I don't know, but God determines the boundary of your habitation. He says in verse 27 that they would seek God if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being. Paul knew in Him we move, in Him we have our being, in Him we have everything, because He is orchestrating all things for His glory. Therefore, we need to acknowledge that God has a reason for everything that happens in our lives.

Psalm 37 says, verse 23, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. God is not limited by anything or anyone. God is not limited by your sin or someone else's sin. God is not limited by anything, because God is in charge of everything. Also, you must recognize, not just in acknowledging that God has a reason for everything that happens in our lives because of His providence, because of His purposes, but also because of His power. He is powerfully in control of everything.

Back in Genesis chapter 18, it says, God said, I will surely return to you at this time next year and build Sarah your wife, we'll have a son. Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age. Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself saying, after I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? And the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I indeed bear a child when I am so old? Is anything too difficult for the Lord?

God said, at the appointed time, I will return to you at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son. At the appointed time, why? Because everything about Sarah's inability to have children, her barrenness, was all because God had closed her womb until it was the right time to have the right son in the right location, because God was in charge. I love what it says in Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 2, verse number 21, where it says these words, Daniel is about to interpret a dream. Remember, he didn't know the king's dream.

The king wanted someone to tell him what his dream was and then interpret the dream. Well, nobody could do that except Daniel. And so he says, let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epics. He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and power.

Even now you have made known to me what we requested of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter. Daniel knew that. Daniel knew the reason behind what God was doing. Listen, here was Daniel, he was 16 years of age. He was hauled off into Babylonian captivity. He was ripped away from his family. Why? What's the reason behind all that? Well, Babylonian captivity. Yeah, but what's behind all that? Why? To acknowledge that God has a reason for everything that happens. For Daniel, at a very young age, was put in charge of who?

The Magi, whom he taught concerning the coming of the Messiah, the star. So hundreds of years later, those sons would hear from their parents what the prophet Daniel taught them about the coming of the Messiah. So when the birth of the Messiah happened and his star appeared in the east, that's what they called it, his star. How did they know it was his star? Because Daniel would move a whole nation into captivity, I mean, God would move a whole nation into captivity, choose one man to teach the Magi about the coming Messiah, so that hundreds of years later, they would then make route to go to Jerusalem to look for his star, their Messiah.

See that? God has a purpose for everything. He is powerful enough to control everything that takes place, because providentially everything is under His control. So, the very first significant application is that we must acknowledge that God has a reason for everything that happens in your life.

For there's a point in time for everything that happens under the sun, and for every event that takes place under the sun, someone has to be in charge of that, God is. So let me give you an illustration to help you understand this, from my perspective.

It was May of 1984, I was the baseball coach at my alma mater, I had just come off the field after a tournament that we had just won, that's a good thing, only to have an appointment with the academic dean of the college. He called me into his office, sat me down and said, I hate to tell you this, but we're going to let you go. We're going to fire you. I said, okay, can you tell me why? He said, yes, we don't think that as a dean of men, which you were, and a baseball coach, you don't keep the proper professional distance away from the students.

You're too involved in their lives. You have Bible studies in the dorm at night, you have the students over to your home, and that kind of stuff. And so we don't think that's the way you ought to run things, and so we're going to fire you. I said, okay. What we want you to do is write a letter of resignation. I said, well, why would I do that? Well, that's what everybody does. So that when you go to look for another job, then it will say in your file that you resigned. I looked at him and said, that goes against everything you taught me as a student here.

That's not true. And my God is bigger than your firing me. So if God wants me to have another job, I'll get another job. He said, okay. I said, I want it in my file that you fired me and the reason you fired me, because I know that my God can give me another job. That was May 4th, 1984. Ten days later, my wife, my first wife Sandy, recognized that she had a lump on one of her breasts, and so she thought she should go in and get it examined.

Two weeks later, that lump had grown from the size of a dime to the size of a half dollar. So I went with her to the doctor, and we went to the doctor, and he said, this is something we need to explore, so we're going to have surgery in a few weeks. And what we'll do is we'll go in and we'll biopsy the lump and determine whether that's benign or malignant. And I'll come out from the surgical room and tell you what it is. I said, okay. So we went back to pray and to trust the Lord for what He was going to do.

A few weeks later, June 15th of 1984, she had her surgery. The doctor came out from the surgery and said to me, Mr. Sparks, well, you know that the tumor was malignant, so we had to perform a mastectomy. The cancer had already begun to spread throughout your wife, so she'll have to go through cancer treatment and radiation treatment. I said, okay. He says, we'll tell you right now that she has a less than 10% chance to live five years. Okay. What am I going to say? So she came out of surgery. June 15th was our third year anniversary day.

So I sat beside her and told her what the doctor had said. We began to pray and ask the Lord for wisdom. Why? Because the story gets better. She was pregnant. She was three months pregnant. And so as we told the doctor these things, he says, look, well, you have one or two choices. You can abort the child or you can go through the chemotherapy with the child, but the chemotherapy drugs are strong enough, they will kill the child anyway. So we had a choice. What do you do? He says, if you abort the child, the chances are Sandy will live longer.

If you don't abort the child, the chances are she won't. So we believe that God has an appointed time for everything under the sun. So we decided that we were going to trust the Lord to do what He was going to do and that she would go through the chemotherapy treatment, she would go through the radiation treatment, all that was necessary. If the Lord wanted the baby to live, the baby would live. If the Lord didn't want the baby to live, He would take the child home to be with Him. So we just trusted the Lord.

Now, remember, I don't have a job, I don't have any insurance. So the story gets better. So I decided to type up 72 different resumes. I didn't have email back in those days and just couldn't do what you wanted to do like you can today. So you had to sign up, write up a letter, run off some copies, put them in an envelope, address the envelope, and mail them out, snail mail it was. It had to wait for people to respond back to you. So between May 4th and June 15th, I had written the letters and sent them out.

And of course, it takes four to seven days for someone to get the letter, and then they had to respond back to you, all right? Seventy-two resumes to different Christian colleges and universities across the country. Thinking for sure that I'd get a multiple of responses. I did not. I got one, just one, from the King's College in New York. Dr. Bob Cook was the president of the King's College at the time. He called me up and said, we'd like to have you come up for an interview, I've got your resume right here in my hand, we're really interested in hiring you.

I said, great. He says, can you fly out tomorrow? I said, sure. So I flew from Atlanta, Maryland to New York City to LaGuardia Airport, and there Dr. Cook met me. We drove to Tarrytown or to Briarcliff Manor, New York, is where the King's College was, and went through the interview process, went there for two days. He said to me, after we were done, he said, look, none of the faculty want to hire you, none of the staff want to hire you, but I want to hire you. So you're hired. I said, really? He said, yeah, it's going to be really tough, it's not going to be easy because nobody wants you here except me, and I'm retiring in a year.

Great. Story gets better. So I go back and tell Stanley we have a job. Now, the great thing about that is that Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital is located in downtown New York City, one of the major cancer research centers in the country. So we knew that moving there was an advantage to us, and we would live in Tarrytown, New York, which is 45 minutes outside of the city. So we drive in twice a week for chemotherapy, and then after that, radiation treatment. And so that's what we did. Our son, Alan, would be born in October, two months premature, of 1984, and so we thought this is great.

God preserved him in the womb, God protected him in the womb. The natural response would be God's in charge, therefore, He protected the baby, He'll heal Sandy as well. But that didn't happen that way. It was September 15th, the following year, 1985, 15 months to the day after she had her surgery, that Alan had a doctor's appointment as a baby, and I usually took him to his doctor's appointments because Sandy was unable to do so. At this time, she was bedridden, and she was unable to get out of bed.

The cancer spread to her bones, and so I was going to take him, but she said to me, please stay. So I said, okay, Mom, my mom was staying with me at the time, Mom, you take Alan to the doctor's appointment. She did, and Sandy died at that time. It's almost as if she knew she was going to go home to be with the Lord. Please stay. So I did. And while I was sitting there reading the mail to her about letters that we had received from people across all parts of the United States, family, friends, she passed into eternity.

The funny thing about that is that the cancer that she had only occurred in women over 40 and had a history of breast cancer in their family. Sandy was 25, had no history of breast cancer in her family. God was in charge of all that. She went home to be with the Lord, but the story gets better. It doesn't get worse, it gets better. Why? Because you see, after she died, I met Lori. And after she died, I said, Lord, the Bible says that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose, Romans 8.28.

The Bible says in Psalm 84.11 that no good thing will the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly.

And the Bible also says that thou art good and doest good, Psalm 119.68. The Bible also says that he who finds a wife finds a good thing. So Lord, I'm going to trust You to bring a good thing into my life because I'm not in charge of that. You are. It was one month later, I met Lori. She came into my office, knocked on the door with her boyfriend and said, we're here because we know you've lost your wife and we just want to be of assistance to you. And she said, you know, we want to help any way we can.

Her boyfriend at the time said, yeah, we'd like to, you know, have Lori come over and babysit Alan and you and I can go out. And I said, how about you babysit Alan and Lori and I go out? Well, that didn't go over very well. But eventually, it did go over well because in 1986, Lori and I were married and seven more kids later and 20 grandchildren later, God has shown Himself faithful because He knew exactly what I needed to have as a pastor. He knew I needed a wife who came from a family whose father was a pastor and was raised in a home, a pastor's home.

God knew that. God was in charge of all those things. And God had orchestrated every situation, every event, taking care of every situation along the lines, whether I lost my job or got a job, whether Sandy had cancer and died and Alan lived and Lori coming into my life, all those things happened at an appointed time because you need to acknowledge that everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by accident. God's in charge. At 25 years of age, God was teaching me about His sovereign control over all of life's events.

He had it all planned out. So I've said this to you before, I'll say it to you again. When Sandy died and I spoke at her funeral, I said these words. My father's way may twist and turn, my heart may throb and ache, but in my soul I'm glad to know he maketh no mistake. My cherished plans may go astray, my hopes may fade away, but still I'll trust my Lord to lead for He doth know the way. Though night be dark and it may seem that day will never break, I'll pin my faith, my all on Him, for He maketh no mistake.

There's so much now I cannot see, my eyesight's far too dim, but come what may, I'll simply trust and leave it all to Him. For by and by the mist will lift, and plain in all He'll make. Through all the way, though dark to me, He made not one mistake. God makes no mistakes. God has no do-overs. He doesn't have to have a do-over because everything goes according to His plan. He says simply these words in Isaiah chapter 44, I am the first, I am the last, there is no God beside me who is like me.

Let Him proclaim and declare it, yes, let Him recount it to me in order. From the time that I established the ancient nation, let them declare to them the things that are coming and the events that are going to take place. Do not tremble and do not be afraid. Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it, and you are my witnesses. Is there any God beside me or is there any other rock? I know of none. Then Isaiah 46, the Lord says, I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is no one like me.

Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done. Saying my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken, truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. What an amazing statement, what an amazing God. I don't know what your everything is today. Your everything appointed under the sun. I don't know what your event is today, the event that God has planned for you today, or tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or next year.

I have no idea. But I do know this, no matter what the event, no matter what the everything, God's in charge of it. He makes no mistakes. Every detail, He has it all under His control. He asks us to trust Him, to believe in Him, to rest in Him, and not be like the disciples who in the midst of the storm cry out, don't you care that I am perishing? Because His only response would be, why are you a coward? That you do not believe in all that I have said. For God has planned your destiny. He who has begun a good work in you will complete that work until the day of Jesus Christ.

God says, I have a plan. I'm working that plan out. It's happening in your life. You don't know exactly what I'm going to do or how I'm going to do it, but I'm going to do it. Just believe what I've said, trust me, and watch me do what only I can do. Solomon says, everything is beautiful in its time. Why? Because we have a wonderful God who's in control of every single moment of time.