The renowned author of the “7 habits of highly effective people”, Dr. Stephen Covey, dedicates a section of his best seller to time management as he expresses that highly effective people, put first things first. But even with the best of time management, many of us often complain that there is not enough or no time for the things we need to have done. We find ourselves to be incredibly busy. Partly this could be because we don’t put first things first; in other words, we don’t give our time, preeminence and priority to the people and things that matter most. But there is more to this than just time allocation. It is also about time control, and by this, I mean recognizing who is in control of our time. Most of us try to do all the things we need to get done, all on our own strength. We try to control time by our own strength and abilities. Herein lies the problem.
The Bible tells us that there is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and that God makes everything beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Notice, it is His time that matters, not ours. It is God who needs to be in control of our time. He has ordained twenty fours hours in a day for us, but that time is really His and when we recognize this and that we are merely stewards of His time, only then can we be highly effective for him. We need to be like the Psalmist who exclaimed “It is time for thee, Lord, to work” and trust that He will carry His work through our lives. Let us not continue to exhaust our time trying to work for our lives but instead let us give to God our time so that He can work in our lives. At this juncture, let us also recognize that when we submit our time to God for Him to work, let it be in totality. Say you ask painter to paint your portrait. Do you think that painter can output a beautiful work of art, if you keep grabbing the brush from the painter’s hand upon each brush stroke? Likewise, once we give to God our time, let us not meddle in his work.
When we give to God our time, then the added benefit is that we have less time for ourselves and our selfish sinful desires and when He works in our lives, He always makes every thing beautiful (in His time).
Psalm 119:126a (KJV)
126 It is time for thee, LORD, to work: …
Ecclesiastes 3:11a (KJV)
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:
