[Read] Do You Know the Time? (Job 39:1-4, Matthew 24:45-46)

​Today’s scripture text teaches Job about the wisdom to know time through the condition and rearing of the various beasts of creation. I sincerely hope that through today’s message, all of us become wise and faithful people who can share the appropriate food by receiving the spiritual wisdom that God gives, so that we can recognize the signs of this generation and differentiate the time.

I. God will determine all time and dates.
Just as there is a time for a mountain goat to rear its young and the doe to bear her fawn, God decides all times and dates through His Sovereignty. Therefore, only God knows about each time. Only the Father knows when the Son of Man is to come. Thus, when God tried to teach Job through the beasts, we see the all times of the world of creation are controlled by God. “A time to give birth and a time to die; a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up” (Ecc 3:2-3). As you can see, the Bible clearly testifies that there are set times and dates. This is the fruit of God’s sovereign will for creation and His governance. Who can decide their birthdays? The decision for the date of birth and the date of departure is the product of God’s sovereign will. Hence, a man cannot know the beginning and the end of any process. Only God knows and decides on the time we have left in our lives and He will execute them according to His will. The beginning, the execution, and the completion of all creation is accomplished by God’s sovereign will. Thus, we have no choice but to utilize the given time wisely like the faithful stewards.

II. The saints must live within the time that God has set for them.
What we can understand from the message that God gave Job is the fact that a mountain goat or a doe will only live within the time that God had set for them. There cannot be grumbling or complaints in them. It is like the relationship between a potter and the clay. Just as the clay pot that cannot grumble against a potter saying, “why did you create me this way?”, we the creation cannot grumble against the Creator by saying, “why did you set my date as such?” Among the people in the Old Testament, King Hezekiah became a king at the age 25 and reigned for 29 years. On his 14th regnal year at age 39, he was notified by Prophet Isaiah that he will die in three days. God drew a boundary in Hezekiah’s time as within 3 days. Yet, didn’t he receive an extension of his life by 15 years as a result of kneeling down against the wall immediately after he heard it? Outwardly, it may seem like Hezekiah received extra 15 years added on to his original lifespan, but in reality that was what God had set as the lifespan of King Hezekiah. However, it shows God’s administration of providence to allow King Hezekiah to use his time more appropriately and efficiently. It is not important for mankind in terms of how many years of life we receive from God, but it is more important to wisely and kindly utilize that time. That is why God told us to “make the most of every opportunity” (Eph 5:16). If we do not have wisdom to know the time, then time will pass by us quickly like an arrow. On the other hand, if we know the time through spiritual wisdom, then time will stop before us. Similarly, this is like the time when Joshua commanded the sun and the moon to stop (Jos 10:12-13). Likewise, we must understand the time that God has allotted for us and live within that time so that we will be able to dwell in the eternal time of God and not in the time that passes by in vain.

III. God gave us time so that we can fear Him.
We must not use the time that has been given to us as our own time. The reason that God gave us time was because He wanted us to fear and honor Him through the time. Thus, it is the duty of a true saint to live within the time that God has set for him by fearing Him through his everyday life. Furthermore, we must all stand before God at the end of the time that God has set for us. At that time, God will ask us individually, how we have spent the time that He has given us. How would you answer Him then? The time is neither repetitive nor is it equivalent. The time is temporary and disposable. Because the dates are different, the time is also different; and because the time is different, a man’s body becomes old. It is a time that cannot be restored and it is a youth that cannot be recovered. However, the time of God is constant and the same (Heb 1:12). What this means is that if we receive the wisdom to know the time of God, we can rule the time. No skilled man can create or rule over time, but it is possible for those who have the wisdom to know the time. This is why Moses pleaded earlier to “teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Ps 90:12).

Conclusion:
No one knows how many hours are given to oneself. However, what is important is to understand the question, “how do I wisely, appropriately and efficiently use the time that is given to me?” It is the image of a faithful steward that differentiates the given time and effectively shares the food when we stand before God at all times and look only upon Him in our everyday life.