About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
Our seventeen-month-old grand-daughter upon hearing tick-tock, tick-tock, will immediately point to the nearest clock, and or, watch. While her understanding of time is limited to things like bath time, lunch time, and potty time, she associates those words with the clock.
For many of us our relationship with the clock sounds almost adversarial, “punching the clock, or beat the clock, and of course, time is running out.” But for all of us, that is true, “time is running out.” We have a finite number of days in our earthly bodies and while we can improve those days by taking care of our bodies, eating and drinking the right things, and exercising, our days are numbered.
Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” Genesis 6:3
Those who repair clocks describe clocks that are not keeping time correctly as “out of beat.” Instead of tick-tock, tick-tock, it is tock-tick, tock-tick. They repair by placing the clock back in balance by putting a small piece of wood, or even cardboard, under one side of the clock. A clock that cannot keep time is worthless for measuring time. If it is wood, or old, it may still have value as an antique, but for timekeeping, it serves no real purpose, and is trash for the dump.
Between the sixth and ninth hours on the day of the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the world was plunged into utter darkness. Jesus, shamed, bruised, beaten, and bloodied, stepped into the darkness on its home turf, becoming sin for us. The Light of the World takes every sin and nails it to that old slab of wood! Every sin man could muster, Jesus set right before God.
But at 3:00 PM, He experienced His greatest anguish and suffering. Yet, when Jesus cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he is quoting Psalm 22:1, a reminder that the Word of God can be our strength in times of adversity. The Word opens the door of Heaven in our prayer time, and Jesus is our advocate to the Father, interceding on our behalf.
In that hour, as the darkness dissipated and our sin swept over the Savior, the Father turned his face away from the sin the Son was bearing. The Father who said, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased,” cannot bear to look upon the Son wearing the stain of our sin. It is not that the Father loved the Son less, or vice versa, but that the Father could not bear to look upon His plan for humanity being executed by His Son!
Yet, Christ grabbed hold of our sins and buried them in the deepest depths of Hell itself and offered us an opportunity to spend eternity with Him. The Father has not forsaken mankind, but instead gave us a way back to Him. You see the ultimate Timekeeper recognized that our sin kept us “out of beat” with Him and we needed a piece of wood to place us back into alignment. But we have a limited amount of time to accept the gift of eternal life. We have time till we suddenly have no more.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
There is only one of two ways to live, out of beat with the world and its ways, or out of beat with God the Father. Trying to keep up with the ways of the world can leave you forsaken, depressed, and empty inside. Being aligned with the Father will help you be valued, peaceful, and purposeful.
Ask yourself these questions, do I approach the day with dread or drudgery, “a thank God it’s Friday mindset?” Or do I look at the new day as an opportunity, a gift to be cherished and used with purpose? How you answer could tell you whether or not you are out of alignment with the Father.
Come now, you who say, “today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15
It is my prayer that you are tick tocking along like a brand-new Timex watch. But if you are living life in the fast lane, feeling empty or out of beat, let me suggest this great Life Repairman. His name is Jesus.
So, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
Think your old ticker is right with God and the preacher is talking about somebody else, well, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Don’t end up on the wrong side of time, as timepieces for the trash heap. Get real with Jesus!
“For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:14