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"Everything is appropriate in its
own time. But though God has
planted eternity
in the hearts of men ,
even so, man canno t see lhe whole
seope of God's work from beginning
to end" (Eccl. 3:11,
The Living
Bible).
"There is a right time for every–
thing: A time lo be born, a time to
die; a time to plant"; harvest, heal ,
destroy, cry, laugh, grieve, dance,
hug, lose, find , tear, repa ir, speak
up, be quiet, hate, !ove (verses 1-8).
"So
I
conclude," says Solomon,
tbe wise man, " that, first , there is
nothing better for a man than lo be
happy and lo enjoy
hims~lf
as long
as he can [now
I
can' t argue wilh
that, can you?]; and second, that he
should eat and drink and enjoy the
fruits of his labors, for these a re gifts
from God" (verse 13).
J
am sure we all agree with these
statements ofwisdom, which a re, af–
ter all, not just lhe sage advice of
So lomon, but a major po rtion of the
unbreakable and holy Wo rd of
God. The problem we all have as
individuals is how to
apply
in our
daily lives the principies observed
he re.
With Ch rist, nothing is impos–
sible, Paul tells us. Pray for wisdom,
we are admonished repeatedly. The
beginning of wisdom is the fear
(awe) of the Lord, Solomon states
more than once- and then he com–
fortingly tells us, "The wise man
wi/1
find a time anda way
to do what be
[God] says" (Eccl. 8:5,
The Living
Bible).
Start at the Beglnnlng
If only the
wise
mancan achieve his
plans, and if wisdom
begins
with a
healthy respect of our awesome
God, then it looks like the place for
us 10 start ís with the recogni tíon
that God's lovíng guídance of our
daily
lives is paramount, and that
twe success without it is impossible.
Jesus gave us the key in what ís
commonly called "t he Lo rd 's
Prayer." He saíd, "Pray along these
lines: 'Our Father in heaven, we
honor your ho ly name [the fear–
awe- of the Lo rd). We ask thal your
kingdom wíll come now. May your
will be done here on earth, just as it
is in heaven [recogni tion thal there
28
is no true success apart from God's
rule and guidance]. Give us our
food again today, as usual [or, as the
King J ames Version renders it:
" Give us
this
day our
daily
bread"–
one day a t a time], and forgive us
our sins
[this
day, up 10 now], just as
we have forgiven those who have
sinned against us'" (Matt. 6:9-12).
That last part is most precious of
a ll: a clean slate for a new day!
Forgiveness for our past sins so lhat
they will not burden today's new
life. There are
two
very importan!
things to no tice in this context and
application:
1)
Don' t let yes1erday's
(or any accumula tion ofyeslerdays')
sins, mistakes, misspent time, hinder
today's new life.
All
you have to do
is repent, ask forgiveness , start fresh,
and try again, unburdened, clean,
guiltless. (My, wouldn' t that solve a
lot of hang-ups and complexes most
of us insist on carryíng around wilh
us every minute of every day!)
2)
Don't carry around the impos–
sible burden of a g rudge against
other people who have done you
wrong (or you won't receive the for–
giveness you ask fo r in the firsl
place!).
Now, with 24 fres h, new, unspent
hours ahead of you, think whal you
can do! Clean before God, not
angry or ha teful toward any of your
feUow human beings.
Now you have sorne time to
in–
vest-and
every future minute wi ll
become more valuable, even though
it won' t be any longer or sho rter.
You don ' t have to waste time
brooding over the past and eat up
precious time, which
is
your life,
feeling sorry for yoursel f. Again,
Solomon put it beautifully: "The
fool foldeth his hands together [im–
mobilizes his capacity to act] , and
eateth his own flesh" (Eccl. 4:5).
A Whole New Dayl
Now tha t you've begun, invest a
little ofthat precious now- time
plan–
ning
what to do with the rest of the
priceless new day. If you suddenly
found yourself with a million dollars
to spend (invest), you would proba–
bly use a few of those dollars to lay
wise plans on how to spend (invest)
the rest- o r the fool and his money
would soon be parted!
Planning sounds hard , but it ísn't.
Remember, it's just one day, one
step. You can't do everything a t
once, but you can take
one
step in
the right direction.
Certain inves tments of daily time
are already planned for us just by
the way we are made.
Sleep is going to require the big–
ges t chunk. (That's why we usually
th ink of the day starting when we
wake up.) Don' t begrudge sleep ; it's
a very importan! inves tment of your
time. But don't was te, spend time
sleeping that you don't have to. Edi–
son was purported to need only four
hours of sleep- but Einstein re–
quired
ten!
Think about it. How
many hours of good sleep do
you
require?
Don't try to copy anyone else.
You are unique. You have your own
individual sleep needs. Live with
them-don't fight them-and the rest
of the day wi ll go better. Cheat on
your sleep, and you cheat yourself.
Sorne people can ' t sleep because
they worry- so, quit worrying and
resr
assured. Solomon says, " J ust
being too busy gives you night–
mares" (find tha t one yourself; in–
vest sorne time reading the Book–
no better investment!).
Prlorltles
"The sleep of a laboring man is
sweet," Solomon says. So, if you
want to get the most out of your
hours of sleep (however many they
need to be), you ' re going to have to
put your hand to sorne honest work!
(Beware the bear on the welfare
roUs.) Wo rk is something we all
(most anyway) have to do. Too
often we consider it "bad." God
says it's "good.' ' Take your pick.
Now, with God's viewpoint, we
can enjoy our work.-maybe for the
first time in our lives! You have to
work anyway, so why was te time
fretting over it? You can' t ti ck it, so
join it with enthusiasm- it's more
fun that way; you get more out of
every minute. Besides that, you
make money. And everyone needs
money. Don't !ove it, or lust after it ,
and certainly don 't was te time
worrying about it-but
work,
and
ge t sorne !
You can' t enjoy your job, you
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1977