Time and Sessions: Setting The Lord Before You

"'I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.'" Psalms 16:8

Happy New Year! The calendar has shifted from 2025 to 2026, a new year has began, and new opportunities are ahead of us. While life won't simply change because the calendar year has changed, perhaps you have already noticed by this second week, yet from the bible we know that time and seasons have been defined by God, and that God's dealings with men are time bound. For instance, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt had a timing associated with it (Genesis 15:13); the deliverance of Israel from Babylonian captivity was bound in time (Daniel 9:1-2); the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ had was set in time (Galatians 4:4). Moreover, the return of our Lord Jesus Christ is allocated at a specific time again (Act 1:7), and etc.

Thus, time and seasons belong to God. While things don't automatically change and there is nothing mystical about the change in year per say, yet it is not a trivial matter either, rather it's a process established by God, and He uses it for His glory. The bible says, "'Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;'" Genesis 1:14. Moreover, the bible says, "'“While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”' Genesis 8:22. Could it be that God desires specific things to be settled in your life this year?

Remember, in God's doing with us timing is important, and we need to be aware of it. The bible says in Ecclesiastes 8:6, "'for there is a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble.'". So, time is important - there is a proper time for everything. Nevertheless, time alone is not everything, as the text above says besides a time, there is also "a way for everything...", thus the proper actions done at the right time are equally important to see the right outcome. Therefore, we have a call for you in this new season [or timing], the most important of all action that can be take is: to set the Lord before you, just like David said in the Psalm above. It's written, "'I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.'". Psalm 16:8

In all your doings this year, set the Lord before you, in all your plannings and strategizing, acknowledge Him. This is what King David is saying in Psalm 16:8, and that's even what he said in Psalm 37:5 as well. The bible says, "'Commit your way to the Lord , Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.'" Psalm 37:5. This is David again calling us to set the Lord before us, to put Him in front of every single thing we will be doing this year. Commit all your plans, or your desires to God, have confidence in Him, and God will certainly fulfill it provided it's according to His will, this is what King David is saying; therefore, in the verses before 5 still in Psalm 37, he said, "'Delight yourself also in the Lord , And He shall give you the desires of your heart.'" Psalms 37:4.

Seek to take pleasure in your God, delight yourself in Him, enjoy His person and His will until you desire His desires and consequently God Himself will satisfies the desires of your heart because they will be in agreement with His - or better yet, they will be His. More than new year's resolution seek the will of God for your life, particularly for this year: is there prophecies or things that according to God's calendar they need to be fulfilled in your life this year? Remember, time and seasons belong to God and he bound many things in time. Set the Lord before you, put Him in front of everything you do, prioritize Him, His will, His kingdom and its righteousness and everything else will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).

David said, "'I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.'", Therefore, if you always [not sometimes] set the Lord before you, despite of the uncertainties of what lays ahead you can be sure that He will be at your right hand, and you shall not be moved. Remember, while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease, meaning there is always an opportunity to sow seeds and to reap a harvest. Moreover, Paul said, "'For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.'" Romans 11:16.

If you sow holy seeds in the beginning of this year, or even later, you will get get holy roots, consequently, holy branches, and then holy fruits. If you set your heart to seek the Lord your God and set Him before you, your year will pay off, even if or when trouble comes, you won't be alone (John 16:33), The Lord will be at your right hand, He will be with you in trouble. God Himself said it to those who set his love upon Him, "'“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”' Psalms 91:14-16

Just like you, we have many desires and dreams, and we want to see many of them - if not all come to pass this year, nevertheless more than our wills, we want to live out God's will, we want to see the will of God come to pass in our lives (Matthew 26:39). First things must come first, and all must start with God always. The book of beginnings says, "'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.'" Genesis 1:1. Notice, In the beginning God first, not men, not you or us, not anyone else, but God must be in the beginning. In the beginning of any of your endeavors this year seek God, talk to God, search His Word, consult His will through godly counsel, and etc., and God will answer you (Jeremiah 33:3).

So, even as you have began this new year, it's never late to set the right priorities, therefore, this is our charge for you: set the tone for the months ahead by setting The Lord before you. More than simply doing new year's resolutions, which studies shows as early as two weeks people leave them behind, seek the will of God, make plans consistent with His desires for you, beginning by setting Him before you and God Himself will grant you grace to stay at them (1 Corinthians 15:10) if you humble yourself before Him.

A Messianic Psalm - Learning from Christ

The Psalm we just shared is a Messianic psalm. Just like many others in the book of psalm, besides containing words immediately applicable to the situation of the writer, the people of Israel, to anyone prophetically, the focal point of the Messianic Psalms are events that would be exclusively fulfilled by or take place only in the life of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and with Psalm 16 is not different. After starting as a "normal" Psalm, in verses 10 of Psalm 16, we have a phrase that later on will be interpreted by the apostle Peter as fulfilled by Jesus, it says, "'For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.'" Psalms 16:10.

After Jesus resurrection, ascension to heaven, and the empowerment of the early church with the Holy Spirit, Peter addressed the crowds and made mention of this Psalm by saying, "''“Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.'" Acts 2:29-32.

Praise God, so Psalm 16:10 was fulfilled by Jesus Christ, it was a prophecy of what God would do concerning His resurrection from the grave on the third day, not allowing His body to see corruption, and neither leaving His soul in Hades, but rather He went only to preach to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19), and take the keys of hades and death (Revelation 1:18) and destroying "him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.'" Hebrews 2:14b-15. Hallelujah. Thus, we can then safely see that all of Psalm 16 is Messianic, or at least be more certain of verses 8-11.

With this in mind, it's of Jesus that King David is prophetically speaking that would always set the Lord before Him, and because God would be at His right hand, He would not be moved, but be preserved even in death and with a mighty resurrection from the grave - hope that we believers have: on that day when the trumpet sounds, just like Jesus was mightily raised, we shall be raised or be transformed, if we are in the body, and gloried bodies we shall have. However, God was not with Jesus only in His death and resurrection, but God was always with Jesus because He always set the Lord before Him, Jesus never did anything on His own (John 5:19), therefore, He was never moved.

The bible says, "'how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.'" Acts 10:38. Praise God, Jesus went about doing all these things mentioned because He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power and because "God was with Him", and the reason God was with Him was because Jesus always set The Lord before Him - sought His will, His ways, His timings, His Kingdom and its righteousness. Jesus said, "[...], “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.'" John 4:34. Likewise, for you and for me, besides what is guaranteed for that day, concerning our resurrection like it was with Jesus, if we set the Lord before us, He will be with us.

If we set the Lord before us in this year that is only starting, specially in this initial month, or whenever we do so, despite all the hardships that might be ahead - just like Jesus faced hardships (Hebrews 4:15, 12:3-4), one thing we can be certain is that The Lord will be at our right hand, and consequently we shall not be moved - we shall reap the harvest of His presence, God will be with us, He gives grace to the humble. Let's us humble ourselves before the might hand of God by setting Him before us, that He may exalt us at due time this year (1 Peter 5:5-6), let us learn with the example of Christ.

"'I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.'" Psalm 16:8. May God help you by His Spirit, may you love Him more this year; May God grant you grace to pray more, to study the bible more, to serve more, to seek after Him More. May you grow in intimacy with God, may you delight yourself in Him, may your be transformed into the image of Christ, may you go from grace to grace. May you take the proper steps at the right timing, may you set the Lord before you always, and may God bless you!

In Christ, Happy New year

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