IN THE town of Sidmouth, along the bus route where many people pass daily, is a clock with a striking message (though the clock itself does not strike); it is the text—“IT IS TIME TO SEEK THE LORD.” Hosea 10:1212Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12).
These words are inscribed beneath the clock. No matter what the hour or the minute, it is always the time to seek the Lord. Some may look at the clock with seeking hearts, others with a careless glance, soon forgotten. I can also imagine some arguing with themselves, “Well, the words will be there tomorrow just the same, so that will be just as good a time. I don’t want to think of serious things tonight. There is that dance I want to go to. I would like to finish that exciting book—I know it’s not a good book...” Oh, there are lots of excuses for delay. Tomorrow comes, and it is not the same; the good desires have gone quite away, or worse still perhaps there is not a tomorrow.
I want to add another text very much like the one in the clock tower and I want to tell you a little story. A young man was once called upon to preach in place of an older friend who was taken suddenly ill. There was very little time to think about it and the young man felt rather nervous and worried. The older man was experienced and capable, how could he possibly take his place?
But God had called him to do this and that was enough. I am sure there was much prayer and thought, and he chose for his text, “SEEK YE THE LORD WHILE HE MAY BE FOUND.” Isa. 55:66Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: (Isaiah 55:6).
In the congregation that night was a man who had, to use his own expression, “come to the end of his rope.” Somehow he had found out that he was a great sinner, and he could go on no longer — something must be done today. That was why he found himself in a very unusual position for him—listening to a gospel sermon.
I know nothing of what the young preacher said, but it must have been just what God had given him for the man’s salvation, that Christ Jesus is the one and only remedy for sin, for he trusted Him and found that all his sins had been laid on Jesus and he was free. He sought the Lord and he found Him. He came in time.
“IT IS TIME TO SEEK THE LORD.”
The time is — NOW. Have you sought the Lord?
ML-01/07/1962