Have you ever believed the lie that there is never enough time in a day?

Do you ever feel like you are running in circles but not getting anything done? Maybe you feel like you have more to do now than when you started. Well, I’ll be completely honest with you—this is a lie I have let rule my life for far too long. And other than declaring the truth, working through the pain of that lie and a few others, and waiting for the truth to not just be in my head, I am not healed yet. I am still waiting for the things I know to make it to my heart as a core belief. But what I can tell you is what I see in Scripture. So, let’s dive in.

In the beginning, God created everything in six days and called everything He had made good. Then He rested (Gen. 2:3). Now, maybe you ask, Does God even need to rest? I always wondered that myself, and found it comical when Elijah in 1 Kings 18 mocked the people about their god being off on a journey or asleep when they could not get Baal to answer their sacrifice. But it does say God rested. Well, either He must have needed to, or He was giving us an example to follow, because later He told us to keep the Sabbath day holy (Exodus 20:8–11). The word Sabbath literally means “He rested” or “to rest.”

In the garden of Eden, God gave Adam the job of multiplying and governing over all the living creatures (Gen. 1:28). He also gave him the task of naming the animals (Gen. 2:19). So, there are seven days, and they are to work and then rest (Colossians 3:23–24). And work is supposed to be a form of our worship, like I wrote about in Why Is Worship Important.

God is outside of time as we understand it:

Revelation 22:13–15
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

Romans 1:20
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Ephesians 1:3–5
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

His thoughts and plans are better and bigger than we could ever know or understand:

Isaiah 55:8–9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

So, He created time and what we should do in it. He is outside of time and has grand plans and thoughts. But what does this mean? He has a timeline, and we are living inside of it—to worship and obey God with the work we do and even the thoughts we think.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

There are different times in the Bible where God mentions time. The main one people think of is probably Ecclesiastes 3:

Ecclesiastes 3:1
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:11
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Today I was reading in Joshua 1, and I found God referenced time even there:

Joshua 1:2
“Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them.”

Joshua 1:11
“Go through the camp and tell the people to get their provisions ready. In three days you will cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

Joshua 1:12–15
Then Joshua called together the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He told them, “Remember what Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded you: ‘The LORD your God is giving you a place of rest. He has given you this land.’ Your wives, children, and livestock may remain here in the land Moses assigned to you on the east side of the Jordan River. But your strong warriors, fully armed, must lead the other tribes across the Jordan to help them conquer their territory. Stay with them until the LORD gives them rest, as he has given you rest, and until they, too, possess the land the LORD your God is giving them. Only then may you return and settle here on the east side of the Jordan River in the land that Moses, the servant of the LORD, assigned to you.”

There are timings God keeps secret (like the return of Jesus), but there are times when God does share the timing with us. But as you can see, after Joshua is told, there needs to be a response of action for the responsibility given. He gave the order to the people to get ready to move. Then he went to those three families and told them that even though they already had their land, it was still a time of war until the land was fully conquered. It would be a time to rest later, after it was accomplished. So, like King Solomon said, “there is a time of war and a time of peace.”

Since we are in God’s timeline, it might be wise to ask Him what time it is. Jesus always did what the Father told Him—even to the cross. He always knew the time it was or was not, so He could act in the timing the Father had planned.

At the beginning of the year, at our New Year’s party in the Philippines, they gave us a challenge I would like to leave with you:

• What is the thing God wants you to start?
• What is the thing God wants you to continue?
• What is the thing God wants you to stop?

It was a good way to refocus and really understand what the Lord’s will was for the new year. But I think these are valuable questions to ask God regularly and to be intentional about having times of check-ins with the Lord. Where is my heart? Where are You, Lord? What are You up to? What do You want to do in me and in the world around me?

Like the purification bowls at the temple—they were made to be a mirror, so that as you washed, you would ask questions about where your heart is. So I challenge you to ask these questions and see what the Lord will reveal in your heart. He has been exposing a lot in mine. Ask even how the Lord wants to use your day each day. It might end up looking a little different than you expected.