Consider Your Ways!
by Marsha Iddings
Haggai 1:4-7 "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways! "You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes." Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways!
God's people allowed the house of God to go into disrepair while they lived in nice houses, however, they never seemed to have enough. Their paychecks just seemed fall out of their purses and disappear. The Lord said they needed to consider their ways and put God first and then He would bless them with what they needed.
This past month I have been feeling very overwhelmed, lacking enough time to do all the tasks that need to be done. I've felt like a hamster spinning on a wheel but making no real progress. As I thought about why I was feeling this way, the Lord reminded me of a phrase I heard some time ago: "The Tyranny of the Urgent". I was prompted to type that phrase into the Google search engine and was rewarded with a Word Document download by that title written by Charles E. Hummel. I printed it and read it.
His answer to the dilemma of not enough time in the day and being a slave to the tyranny of the urgent is to start the day with God in prayer and Bible reading. He pointed out how Jesus took his direction for the day from His Father. In so doing He did what His Father wanted Him to do and was able to say at the end of three years, "I finished the work which Thou gavest me to do" (John 17:4)
The same day I read this document, I read the verses above in my devotions. I could see the same principle here. God was telling me that by neglecting my time with Him until later in the day, I was in effect, allowing "His house" to go into disrepair. And this was why I never seemed to have enough time in my day. It was like the money going into bags with holes in them. By not getting my directions from God first thing in the morning, my time was escaping from me as I floundered through my day allowing the tyranny of the urgent to over take what God would have me to be doing for that day.
With God's help, I purpose to give Him the first bit of time after I get out of bed in the morning, instead of checking email, Facebook and other stuff on the computer. How about you? Would you like to rise to the challenge with me and see how God blesses your day as a result? I look forward to it.
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