Monday, June 1, 2015

Don't Have Time




One of the most frustrating things on this earth is time. You can’t rush it any more than you can skip over it or slow it down. It also seems that time is a tool.

We’re told in Scripture that we can use time to:


These things don’t happen without time. Healing doesn’t come when time doesn’t pass. The best of friendships don’t develop in a moment. Life’s greatest and worst experiences –birth, marriage, death, the fulfilling of dreams- all these things take time.

We’re a generation (or two, or three) that loves shortcuts. We don’t wait in lines, we book online. We don’t sit praying and caring patiently about each other for months while we wait for the next letter to arrive. Instead, we text and get it done.

Achievement-driven, our lives are packed with plans and goals. Rather than doing something well, we qualify ourselves by citing how much we do overall. To be “busy” is a backwards badge of honor.

Full of ambition and zeal, it can often be said of us that “they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Romans 10:2-3.)

I’m guilty of this. I’m guilty of writing –even this post- in haste. I want to produce good works for the Lord. My desire in blogging, in writing at all, is that I share the words He gives me. Yet so often I don’t wait for His Word to teach me first.

I suspect I’m not the only one whose passion gets in the way of the stuff that time spent by the Lord is made up of, stuff like patience, listening, understanding, humility, and reliance wholly on Him.

Have you ever set a deadline for God? Not “God do this by this time,” but “God, if you haven’t come through by this time, I’ll know it can’t work out so I’ll take that as a sign to go with the other option.” That’s what we say to the Lord who created time!

It’s simple evidence of how, to us, a day can feel like a thousand years of weight while to God, “a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. –Psalm 90:4. So fleeting, so simple.

Time is no constraint upon the Lord or His plans. It is yet another thing created, as in Genesis when He separated the night from the day to “let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years” (Genesis 1:14.)

Put in the time. Take the time. Use it wisely. Because you and I are free to do so. You and I are free to believe that: “there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him” (Ecclesiastes 8:6.) It’s heavy right now. Time marks out plenty that we’re not comfortable with, like beginnings, ends, changes, and that life is out of our control.

But we know who made time. We trust in the one who uses time for our good. He “has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11.)

The verse continues. All that God does endures. The time He made and set for our lifetimes on earth –that’s a gift, too. Our time is part of something complete, something far beyond our understanding. Lean on Him and know that that is cause for relief.


That horrible, wonderful, frustrating blessing called time is His too. So let it be and know that like all gifts, His time is good.

16 comments:

  1. What a great truth you are sharing here. Time is also created by God and it's a gift to us too. We must use it wisely! Thanks for sharing and encouraging. I'm visiting you (first time) from #RaRalinkup. Have a blessed week!!!

    W/Love,
    Tayrina from TGAWrites

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    1. Great to meet you via #RaRaLinkup! Love that group : ) Thanks for reading and encouraging me as well Tayrina! Praying for a wise use of time for you this week!

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  2. I agree on this --> Rather than doing something well, we qualify ourselves by citing how much we do overall. To be “busy” is a backwards badge of honor.
    Why is it that busy, busy, busy is good in our society? Your post made me stop and think about my own schedule and who owns it. Is God is running it or me? Thought-provoking post. So glad I stopped by from #RaRaLinkup today.

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    1. Kristi -YES! Time can be a master and an idol too -thankful our Lord runs time too : ) Thanks for reading and encouraging me!

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  3. Hi Bethany! I think you're right. Time can be seen as a blessing and a curse! Some days, the hours drag...some days they fly. But the Lord made us to use His gift of time to help, support and love His children. It's an awesome responsibility, but a huge blessing too.
    Your neighbor at #RaRa Linkup,
    Ceil

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  4. We can be so upset at God's timing, but it rests on him. It is in his hands. He has and he knows and he provides what we need. Thank you for defining this more in my mind. Cheering on today from the #RaRalinkup on Purposeful Faith.

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    1. Thanks for reading and hosting, Kelly! Your words so encourage me and remind me of His truth!

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  5. Who am I to question God's timing, the Creator of time? Yet I do. I pray for patience and then become impatient when the wait becomes too long. Thank you, Bethany, for thought-provoking words and sharing them at #IntentionalTuesday on Intentionally Pursuing. : )

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    1. "Who am I to" is always such a great question! Thank the Lord for humbling us so that we can live as He wants us to and glorify Him more! Thanks for reading and hosting : ) Love the Intentional Women!

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  6. Great post - I'm always worrying about timing and yet so often it is things like this post that are a little reminder from God to stop and breathe, look around and see what he's doing. It will all get done and what he has will be done in his time.

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  7. Bethany, this was right "on time" for me this week. Thanks xo

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  8. Bethany, how I needed to read these very words today - after finding you on Susan Mead's linkup...time... I need to use it wisely right now but oh how I wish the end result was here now! In my waiting though He is teaching me that I need to trust HIM with my whole heart and know His timing is always perfect and is meeting of a need is always right on time! Thanks for the encouragement to wait patiently and well.

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  9. Amen, amen!! Blessings, my friend!

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