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Too Busy Not to Pray…

By February 13, 2020August 30th, 2022Devotional

Things have started out at a rather hectic pace so far this year. There are days when it is difficult to squeeze everything in. And things are about to become even busier for the next several weeks. When this happens, it is normal to prioritize our lives and jettison those things that we can temporarily do without.

During these periods of heightened activity, we get rid of the non-essential things in our lives. And it’s not unusual that cutting down on or eliminating our prayer life is near the top of the list. After all, God will be there in several weeks when we get more time to spend with Him. And certainly He will be more understanding that our friends who feel that we don’t have enough time for them.

And our bosses won’t understand if we don’t get our work done on time, but God will understand if go on a short hiatus from Him. Or that concert I may want to go to is a once in a lifetime chance, so I have to go… God will understand…

But do you see that in each of these examples, we worry about how God will react to our putting him on “hold.” What most of us fail to realize is that this isn’t about God’s need for us – it’s about our need for God…

Yes, God may understand our pulling away for a season. But we need God in our lives, and just as He pursues us, we should zealously pursue Him. In fact, I think that when we are really busy, that’s when we need God the most. He can help with our focus, give us a divine peace that only comes from a relationship with Him and calm our spirits. God also helps us make order out of chaos.

So, when we are so busy that we just don’t know which way to turn, we should always turn to God. We need prayer – for our own spiritual health… Even for a few minutes, time with God will increase our efficiency, center our thoughts and help us to make better decisions. Time with God is never wasted – even when we think we are too busy to take the time to pray.

Whether we have specific requests of God, or are overcome by His majesty and grace, or are humbled in His presence, it doesn’t matter – God rejoices when we are in communion with Him. And it has been my experience that somehow, whenever I pray, I end up with more margin in my life than when I don’t take time to pray. The math works better during my entire day…I’m not as rushed and I don’t waste time worrying about things that I can’t control – God has the wheel.

Our verse for tonight helps remind us about God’s presence with us – always. The prophet Isaiah tells us, in Isaiah 43:2-3, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…”

Those are incredibly comforting words. Similar verses appear throughout the Bible to affirm that God has His hand on us and will never fail us. But we need to reach out to God and feel his presence – even when we think we are too busy to spend time with Him. My encouragement this evening is that God loves to spend time with us. He is a patient God and will even wait until we are not distracted by the events of our lives. My prayer is that we will all realize that prayer is the best thing that we can do in times of turmoil – it’s the one thing that we should never be too busy to do. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

 

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