DEVOTION / God’s clock
Birth calendars are amazing!
It is a marvelous miracle seeing a baby being born! We are amazed when we imagine how God forms the tiny baby inside its mother until it has eyes and feet and hands. Then God feeds that baby and finally teaches it how to take its first breath when it is born. We know that a baby grows from the size of a dot to weighing several pounds in only nine months. We call that the “birth calendar.” God’s calendar is very exact.
Animals also have birth calendars. Every kind of animal gives birth at an exact date. A baby mouse grows inside its mother for only 19 days and then it is ready to be born. A kangaroo always takes 42 days, a chipmunk 31 days, and a donkey takes 365 days—exactly one year. The poor elephant takes 616 days before giving birth. How can God keep track of the birth dates of all the animals and people? We have such a great God that he carefully watches the birth calendar of every animal and person.
Job was a man who lost everything he owned. He tried hard to figure out why God would allow such a horrible tragedy. But God came to Job and lovingly explained that he is so great that humans can’t begin to figure him out. In Job 39:1,2 God asks: Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn? Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth? God was explaining to Job that only an almighty God could possibly keep all these things on such a perfect schedule. Then he asked Job: Do you know who let the wild donkeys go free? Do you give the horse its strength? Do you give the command for the eagle to soar through the sky? Do you hunt the food for the lioness or feed the ravens? Can you make pets of the giant sea creatures? (Job 39 selections). Job was speechless. He felt like a small man compared to God.
We put our faith in God’s timing
God made a beautiful creation, and he continues to preserve it for us to enjoy. God promises that it will continue to follow his special clock until the world ends. After that we will live with God forever in heaven. We can’t imagine what God’s calendar looks like, but we can agree with the psalm writer who wrote, My times are in your hands.
by Reynold R. Kremer