And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
Timings Are of the Lord
by Peter Brokaar
Genesis 1:16-18, ESV
God is obviously capable of doing everything Himself. Yet, when He created mankind, He delegated some of His authority to us to rule over the land. This way we can work together with Him and are drawn into His plan for the world. Amazing!
But did you know that this was not the first time in the Bible that God delegated some of His authority? When He set the heavenly bodies in place, the sun, moon, and stars, God told them to rule over the skies. It became their job to indicate time and to be for ‘signs and seasons’ (see Genesis 1:14). For example, they inform us when it’s day or night, or when it’s Sabbath or when to celebrate Passover.
I think it’s significant that the sun, moon, and stars already had their jobs before mankind came on the scene. As human beings we have important jobs here on earth, but the skies are beyond our reach. We are not responsible for them. Thank God! Our responsibilities lie here on earth.
The skies can tell us what time of the day or what season of the year it is. We cannot control these things. We are simply dependent on them. For us to learn what time it is, we need to lift our eyes to the skies and look up. For me, this stands as powerful reminder that it is God, and not us, who is in charge of the timings of things. To me, this feels like a huge relief.
God sent His son to earth at `just the right time` (Galatians 4:4). Jesus will come again, exactly at the time set by the Father (Mark 13:32). Amazingly, this authority lies with the Father alone. Not even the angels, nor Jesus Himself, get to determine these things. God alone is in charge of the timings of the salvation of mankind and the restoration of all things. Ours is to look up and wait.
I think this applies to our own lives as well. God may have given us promises and we probably have some part to play in outworking His plans. But the timings are in His hands. I have gone wrong more than once by trying to control God’s timings and have witnessed many others doing the same thing. Reading here in Genesis 1 that God gave authority to the heavenly bodies to rule over the skies helps me relax and trust that the timings of the important events in my own life lie safely in His hands.
Peter Brokaar is Director of Ellel Ministries Scotland and has been there together with his wife Liz since 2005. They have 3 kids, all born in Scotland! In his free time he likes reading, cooking, running and surfing. Being at Ellel Scotland has given him the privilege of getting to know God deeper and sharing that joy with many others.
Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.
