PSALM 70.
HURRY UP LORD! HURRY UP!
In the K.J.V.Bible our title is translated as “Make haste, Lord!” The
psalmist begins with this cry to God and repeats it further in the psalm. He
even ends the song with, “O Lord make no tarrying!” Literally, it could
read,”Lord, don’t be long!” The interesting thing is that with slight
variations this ode is found at the end of psalm 40, both psalms being
written by David. Of course, there is nothing wrong with repetition as long
as others benefit by it.
There are a number of things in this brief psalm which are worthy of note.
The first is, the DESPERATION of the human soul in TIME. In psalms 40 and 70
David expresses these sentiments:- “O Lord, I wish you would hurry up!” If we
are honest about it, we must confess, that this is something we all have said
at some time or another. We have said, “I do believe the Lord is going to do
it, but I wish He would hurry up.” It is worthwhile examining this attitude.
When we are in distress, whatever the problem may be, we are always under the
pressure of time. It is the TIME ELEMENT which pressurises us. If only we
realised that there is no need for God to hurry because He has everything
running to plan. From beginning to ending, God has His time-table. He has no
need to hurry.
However, we are creatures of time. We find ourselves living in this cocoon
of time. We are limited by time. Have you ever heard someone say, “If I had
time, I would love to do this or that.” Or we even get to the stage when we
say, “If only there were 48 hours to each day.” Bear in mind, God ordained
when the sun should rise and set. He ordered the length of days. So there is
an implication when we long for a 48 hour day, that we are not satisfied with
the length of day God has given us. Yet He has given us the length of day
which suits our mortal nature.
We are also PENNED IN BY TIME. There is something in time which
circumvents us. We are creatures of time. One day we shall go out of time
into eternity, but for now we are very securely held in time. Part of the
liberation of God’s People will be to find ourselves out of the constrictions
of time. God is Eternal. It is a very difficult thing for us to understand,
that our God can move as easily into tomorrow, as He can back into yesterday.
In eternity there is neither yesterday nor tomorrow. We are limited by time
because we are penned in by it at present.
We are taunted by the wicked in time. The psalmist begins his song with a
prayer, “Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul.”
According to David there are four things in particular that the wicked seek
to do:-
1/ They seek the LIFE to destroy it. When one considers how long man has
been on earth and the progress made in saving human lives, one comes to the
conclusion, how wonderful this world COULD be. Not a single person should
lack care and attention. But that is not the picture of the earth in our day.
Instead, it is a dog eat dog society, and worldwide, the scene is of man’s
inhumanity to man. There is always a war on somewhere. Mankind is intent on
destroying itself. How long can we go on like this?.
2/ They seek the MIND to disturb it. Knowledge increases and ignorance is
rife. With such a short span of time on earth at our disposal, one would
think we would employ our minds to the best of things. More time and money is
spent on mind destroying drugs and sciences than ever before in the history
of man. Men’s minds are being manipulated today more than ever before in
history. Every asset, Radio, Television, the Media, is being used to bend the
minds of men. The Believer uses the Word of God to cleanse the mind.
3/ They seek the HEART to entice it. Not only are our minds being
manipulated, but also our hearts are being enticed away from the things of
God. How easy it is to become indifferent to spiritual things. But how
essential it is for one’s well being and peace of mind to have a heart that
responds to the Word of God. The Word of God is called by the Apostle Paul,
“The engrafted word”, meaning ‘the word which roots itself inwardly’. Some
years ago, when I was involved in Radio Broadcasting in the city of
Nottingham, England, I met the Director of Education for the area. In a
discussion about the education of our teenagers he confessed that they were
turning out young men and women with what he described as, “EMPTY HEARTS’.
They had minds full of facts, and hearts empty of faith.
4/ They seek to sink the SOUL in despair. There is a despair in evidence
in men and women’s lives today. The young are sinking in the morass that
society has developed for them. I pity the young of our age. Today there is
more despair than hope in our society. In it all, God seems to be a long time
in coming to the rescue. BUT, our measure of time is so unreliable. It is
swift in our pleasures. It is slow in our trials. It works against our
efforts: it runs quickly with our disasters.
Some of us have become creatures of eternity. God has moved into our
lives. He moves into time, but dwells in eternity. It is impossible to hurry
in eternity. WE always hurry, either to get there before time, or to be ON
time. If we were in a place where there was no time, we would not hurry – we
could not hurry – we should not hurry – because hurrying would make no
difference. It is this human limitation of time which causes our distress in
trial.
Although the psalmist sings, “Hurry up Lord!”, we can be absolutely sure
that God is always ON TIME. Since the day God created man He has always kept
good time in all His dealings with him. We keep our time by the things made
in eternity. Our basic time keeping is by the sun, moon and stars. God made
them to rule the days and nights. Only when we leave the earthly element does
that system change.
Though we may feel the need of haste, history shows us that God is always
on time. Our Lord Jesus Christ came during a remarkable period in human
history. Fifty years previous and a hundred years later, there would not have
been as great a communication of His Message. He came through the window in
history called by the historians, PAX ROMANA. The Bible says, “God sent His
Son in the fullness of time.”
God’s time is always the right time. Four people could arrange a time and
place to meet, and miss each other just because one has the right time and
three the wrong. Or, if four had their right LOCAL TIME and insisted that
their time was the right time, they would still fail to keep the appointment.
If it is argued that there is an internationally agreed time and that is
correct, let us bear in mind that we have to adjust our calendar every leap
year because we have ommitted a full 24 hours in error.
Only God has the right time. Let us rest secure in the knowledge that God
will move to help us in the FULLNESS OF TIME, that is when the time is right.
In HIS TIME, is the right time. There is no need to hurry in eternity. God
will be ON TIME.
Copyright (c) 1996, Hedley Palmer. All rights reserved.
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