The Calendar

I remember how we used to have a “Master Calendar” on the hallway wall while our boys were growing up.  Back before the days of electronic devices that had the ability to sync everyone’s calendars, we needed a way to make sure everyone in the family communicated our events, appointments, conferences, games, concerts, Youth Rallies, and especially church events.

During my growing years, I never gave a whole lot of thought to where calendars came from.  There were a few times I pondered it, such as the time when I was eight.  My mother showed some of the Korean coins she brought with her from Korea when she came to America. Instead of 1973, or something close to that, the year on the coins were 4294.  I did not realize that other countries counted years differently than we did.  I also did not realize through the centuries and millennia that there were other types of calendars with differing numbers of days and months on them. 

It is interesting how God created the material from which we can use to order our time.  When God created the Sun, Moon, and the Stars, he placed them in the vault/expanse/firmament, and declared what their function would be.  In addition to governing the earth by providing light, God said, “…let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years…” (Gen 1:14).  As a result, some people mark time by creating a calendar using the moon.  Others mark time by creating a calendar using the sun.  Either way, God is the one who provided the material for our “seasons, days, and years.”

The word that is translated “seasons” is an interesting word.  In Hebrew, it is “mo’ed,” which is usually translated “appointed time, appointed place, sacred time, or festival.”  Some examples of its use include Exodus 27:21, where it is the Tent of “meeting/appointed time,” Exodus 13:10 where it refers to the “appointed time” for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Leviticus 23:2 where it refers to the appointed feasts God had set aside for Israel to observe, and many other examples exactly like these in the Old Testament.  This word does not refer to time or seasons in general but more specifically to appointed and sacred times for worship, honor, or commemoration of God.

This means that God gave us the material to create calendars not merely for the purpose of planning our activities, but for setting aside times to thank, worship and serve him.  This is why James 4:13-15 says, “¹³ 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”— ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”  

God’s will should be the organizing principle behind our calendars, day timers, and planners. The Psalmist prays, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”  Some questions to ask should include: “How would God have me number each day on the calendar?  How does godly wisdom guide me in doing so?  What should be the priorities in filling out the calendar this week?  This month?  This year?