One of the interesting things about God is that despite the fact that He lives outside of time, God seems to have a calendar. The Bible is filled with references like “the appointed time” or “in the fullness of time,” or “when the day had fully come.” He evidently has assigned days and seasons for certain things which He has ordained to happen. Have you ever wondered why He does that? One important reason: because He had a plan and He’s God! Let’s listen to an interesting passage in which God exercises His sovereignty over the calendar and time:

My life passes as swiftly as the evening shadows. I am withering away like grass. But you, O LORD, will sit on your throne forever. Your fame will endure to every generation. You will arise and have mercy on Jerusalem—and now is the time to pity her, now is the time you promised to help. (Psalm 102:11-13)

In this passage, the psalmist illuminates very sharp differences between the way God deals with time and the ways in which we, His creation, are subject to it. First there’s a picture of a man who is deeply depressed, experiencing loneliness and despair. Why? Because he feels his life ebbing away "like the evening shadows." Then he says, “I’m withering away like grass.” What do you do when you feel like our psalmist? He looked away from himself to the eternal God and said: “But you, O LORD, will sit on your throne forever. Your fame will endure to every generation.” He lifted up his eyes to the Lord and saw God on His throne, unchanged by situations and circumstances. But the psalmist didn’t stop there: he proclaimed his trust that God, in His sovereignty, had ordained a time for compassion and mercy. He says, “Now is the time you promised to help.”

Today, we are living in that appointed time the psalmist wrote about, when “in the fullness of time” God is showing His compassion and mercy to those who seek Him. Today, look away from your problems, your distresses, your anxieties. Like the psalmist, look up and see God on His throne—He’s ready to show you mercy. Now is the appointed time…for you! So look up!