“If only I had more time.”
When I was in high school, I got interested in video production. I had dreams of becoming a professional filmmaker and, with help from my mom, I invested in a professional camcorder. This was before YouTube and TikTok, and before everyone had a high quality camera in their pocket. So, because I had the gear, I soon became the go-to guy to make videos for my church, record weddings, or friends’ school videos projects.
This was also before I learned how to manage my time. So, through the end of high school and into my early college years, I said “yes” to every request to help make a video, paid or unpaid, whether the project interested me or not. In really busy seasons, I was pulling all-nighters to finish video projects on time, which affected my schoolwork. And worst of all, I had no time for making the movies I bought the camcorder to make in the first place.
I remember constantly wishing I could wave my hand and get a 25th hour in the day or an 8th day of the week. I told myself, “If I had just a little more time,” I could get everything I needed done. And maybe, just maybe, I could finally get to the projects that were important to me. But time, I found, is stubbornly inflexible.
We all feel the shortness of time. It seems like there is so much to do and never enough time to do it all. But the truth is, biblically speaking, that’s a lie. Yes, time is short. But it’s not too short to do what we’ve been called to do in this life. We get distracted from the mission and fill our calendars with nonsense, then get mad at God that we don’t have enough time for it all.
In Psalm 139, David celebrates the fact that God is all-knowing and all-powerful. Yet, He still chooses to know us intimately and guide us with His hand. Let’s look at three principles from this psalm that we need to remember when we feel like we don’t have enough time.
1. God Has a Plan for You
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
– Psalm 139:9-10
God has a plan for your life and He is there to lead you in it. When we look at the whole of Scripture we find that God’s plan for the saints starts with our coming to Him through faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 2:8–9). But the plan doesn’t stop there. God has also planned specific good works for you to walk in. And the fruit you are bear in this life were hand picked in advance by Him (Ephesians 2:10).
There is a unique calling for you, a special set of good works you were created to be zealous for (Titus 2:14). The Christian life, therefore, isn’t a matter of just hanging out and avoiding sin until Christ returns.
What does this have to do with the shortness of time? Indeed, if God has prepared the good works for you and wants to lead you down that path by the hand, then doesn’t it follow that He’s given you enough time for those good works?
2. God Custom-Designed You for a Purpose
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
– Psalm 139:13
You weren’t stamped out on an assembly line. You aren’t a carbon copy. You were hand-crafted by the Creator of the universe. You are straight-up artisanal, baby. One of a kind. Created specially for a special purpose.
The Bible doesn’t reveal this to us just to make us feel all warm and fuzzy. No, the truth of your unique design means you have been given a responsibility—a unique calling, a specific life stewardship that is unique to you and you alone (Matthew 25:14–30). Your time, talents, and treasure have been entrusted to you by God for a specific purpose. Your aim, therefore, must be to make the most of that stewardship. But our Lord is not an unreasonable Master. He equips the called—with spiritual gifts, talent, resources, prayer, and, yes, enough time to fulfill the mission He’s given each of us.
3. God Has Numbered Your Days
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
– Psalm 139:16
Your days are numbered. That’s not a threat; it’s a promise. God knows how long you will be here on this earth because He decided when you’d be born and when you’ll die. And He has tailored the work you’ve been given to fit that sovereignly-set lifespan.
You have enough time. But there’s also not a minute to waste.
Peaceful Urgency
We should take comfort, knowing that we have enough time for the life mission God has called us to. It is not an impossible task. But, at the same time, it will require focus. You have enough time for your calling but not for everything else that you could do. Trade-offs will be required, priorities defined, systems created, habits formed, all in pursuit of your life stewardship. But take heart, it can be done. The one who has called has also supplied the power (and the time) to do it.
When we understand this truth about time, it adds what I call “peaceful urgency” to our lives. Urgent because we recognize time is short, and we have a mission to fulfill. But peaceful because we know God has not given us an impossible calling.
You do not have time for every ambition, every opportunity, or every request others may make of you. But when it comes to the purpose for which you’ve been put on this earth? Yes, the clock is ticking. But you have enough time to do what God has called you to.
So let’s get to work.
