In the Details Too

In the Details Too

by David Brenneman 

"When the hour had come," Luke 22:14a.

I hadn't noticed this portion of the verse until this very moment.  That particular hour was THE hour that Jesus had been telling them for years that hadn't come yet.  Go back and read look for yourself. Many times during His ministry the various Jewish Leaders tried to kill Jesus. They didn't...and why? His hour had not yet come. 

Some may say that's just a turn of a phrase used in the English language. But is it really?  It's in millions of copies of the Word of God.  Meant to be said the way it was.

Go down to verse 53. "...but this hour".  

The time in which we see God's timing is always that hour. 

When blessings or trials come, it is that hour.

That hour is when we see that which was known of by God happening to us or through us, in His timing.  

Do you look for the hand of God in your life?  Do you look to see just how He's providing for you, or do you chalk it up to your own efforts?

We are not our own, we were bought with a price.  Our lives are not ours to live in the ways in which we think they ought to be lived.  Our hour is now to be living for Jesus in all that we do.  Jesus had mentioned to many that while it wasn't His hour, their's was always opportune. 

We will face rough waters. We will see glorious things.  We will face pain and suffering. We will see joyful celebration. 

Those are the hours in which we live. 

We need to keep mindful of the work of God in our lives.  Remembering where we were, where we are, where He's taking us. 

We need to be content in whatever part of the body that the Spirit places us.  We shouldn't try to seek to be some other part of the body of Christ. 

Fulfilling our calling in Christ Jesus.  To do that is at the very center of a life lived in the hour that He's prepared us for. 

Life indeed may get incredibly difficult.  Standing in a fiery furnace certainly would seem difficult. 

Being tossed into a lions den would certainly seem difficult. 

But so is worldly success.  Success as the world sees it and promotes, is never ending.  It's its own kind of stress...and it too is difficult.

We only will find peace in the hour when we are doing that which God's wanting us to be doing.  We can easily be deceived into a false sense of peace because of removing the conflicts we were facing. 

Jonah had peace until God caught up with him with a storm.  Jonah was sleeping.  That which God wanted of him was going to take place.  His hour was still going to happen.  

The hour in which we live we might not understand...and that's ok.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight--Proverbs.  There isn't words here that say you will also get a full explanation.

Sometimes the hour in which we live is to change us or to change someone else. 

Sometimes it's to teach us, sometimes someone else. 

Sometimes it's not anything that we will understand at this moment in time because it's bigger than us.  

The hour in which we live is opportune. 

We don't know if we have another day, hour, minute or seconds.  Our time ought to be spent wisely.  

Is reading your Bible an afterthought?

Is serving something that you don't look forward to doing because it disrupts what you want to do?

Is becoming more like Christ not as important to you as other things in life that you want to learn?

We are told in Ephesians 5:16 to make the most of your time.  Because the days are evil.

Are you obeying in this?  The Spirit's given you specific, special, gifts that were meant to be used in living a life reflecting Christ in you, are you using them for His glory or yours?

Are you considering one another as more important than yourself?  

Are you really aware that in any moment your hour could be up and seeing Jesus face-to-face would be the very next thing you experience?  Would you be excited or shamed because you wasted so much?  

It's interesting how when reality hits us our priorities change. 

When we realize indeed it IS our hour as this post has described, our priorities change.

We who are in Christ have something specific to contribute to the body of Christ.  Ask the Spirit what it is. Don't assume you know and don't choose for yourself.  Be who you were meant to be in the body of Christ.  

The details are down to the minute with Jesus.  We often use clichés of God being an on-time God. Never early, never late. 

Jesus knows our every single need.

Jesus knows our every single moment. 

So many people in the professing Church are either doing nothing or are doing too much.  Some aren't looking to do anything at all.  Some are trying to change the part of the body that they are.  

We are to grow in Christ and we have a job to do that will facilitate that. We stunt out growth in Christ when we are not obeying. We stunt our growth in Christ when we are doing things we weren't meant to be doing because of our own self interests. 

That hour that Jesus wrote of was in the details of the Old Testament prophecies about Himself.  We may not have books written about our hour in this here and this now but in God's eyes our here and now matter to the plans of God for us and for those people whom He is trying to reach for salvation.  

The details of your life matter to God. 

The hour in which you live is specific to the plan of God for those whom you encounter and for your growth in Christ.