Pearl 232: Wander

TOPIC: Time and Purpose

"The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone" - Numbers 32:13.

Your existence on earth is to consist of more than grazing, breeding, working, and an occasional vacation. Your purpose is to be more than not getting into trouble and it cannot be something as vague as "serving the Lord" or "helping people." God has something for you to do that only you can do, but if you don't find it or don't want it, then you will wander through life looking for meaning in various pursuits as Israel wandered through the wilderness, completing their time on earth with no purpose or meaning. What are you here to do? Are you doing it or are you putting it off until a more convenient time, like retirement or some other nebulous day in your future? Are you engaged in purpose life or just coasting through?

Lord, I sense I'm here for more than I'm currently doing, Don't let me wander like Israel did, but deliver me from myself so i can find and fulfill the purpose You have for me. My vision at times is too small, so help me enlarge my scope of what life is about, and then grant me grace and aid to walk in that vision.


Pearl 231: Wasted Time

TOPIC:  Time and Loss

"For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you" - Numbers 14:34

When Israel sinned, God contrived a punishment that he knew would impress upon them the seriousness of what they had done: He relegated them to waste time for 40 years. While the Lord still took care of them, He imposed on them a boredom and irrelevance that lasted four decades. Can you imagine what those 40 years must have been like? Well, maybe you do, for if you have ever wasted long periods of time in your life, you know the sense of irretrievable loss and deep regret you can experience. Are you guilty of wasting time? Have you wasted years talking about what you would do, or perhaps trying to avoid what you were supposed to do? Are you ready to stop this tragic waste of life and take steps to be productive, doing things that are meaningful to you and others?

Lord, I can see that when You curse or punish someone, You assign them to waste long periods of time. That shows how seriously You view wasting time, my most precious resource. Forgive me for the years I have wasted. I ask you to help me have a new mindset where time and Your expectations for it are concerned.


Pearl 230: Your Company

TOPIC: Time and Money

". . . lest strangers feast on your wealth
    and your toil enrich the house of another" - Proverbs 5:10.

If you are like most people, you will spend much of your time working, and often you will work for someone else's company. If you exert all your time and energy there, you will have no time for yourself, your family, and your ministry. If you do this for many years, you will eventually abandon everything to the company, and you will have enriched others, who often only paid you a gratuity or a 'tip' for your service. Where is the best of your time and energy being invested? Are you getting a fair return on your investment? Are you happy there, or is it time to face reality that you are stressed, underpaid, and overworked?

Lord, my work at my company is not my source of provision, You are. While I want to be a good worker as You require, I don't want to give it all my time to a company that may or may not appreciate what I do and give. Help me get my life back so i can have time for other things and interests.


Pearl 229: Most Trusted Servant

TOPIC: Time and Faith

"Then he prayed, 'Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master'" - Genesis 24:12-14.

When Abraham's servant was faced with a seemingly impossible task that could have taken a long time to complete, he had faith and prayed. He asked God for supernatural help, and God answered. Rather than having to interview or search through every woman in the region, the servant found the right girl on the first attempt!  No wonder he was Abraham's most trusted servant. What task have you put off or avoided because you thought it impossible or would take too much time? How and where do you need to have the faith that this servant had? Be ready to give a testimony when God acts on your behalf just like He did in this story!

Lord, today's verses contain a wonderful story of a faithful servant blessing his master. I want to be that same kind of faithful servant blessing You, my Master! Show me again something I have ignored or avoided and I promise to exert the same faith toward getting it done that Abraham's servant did in this story.


Pearl 228: Faith for Big Tasks

TOPIC: Time and Faith

"I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac" - Genesis 24:3-4.

Abraham gave his servant a huge and seemingly impossible task: Go to a foreign territory and identify a wife for Isaac, Abraham's son. That could take years if the servant was to search, interview, and then select. The servant, however, had great faith, and this daunting task was achieved quickly and efficiently, as you can see if you read the rest of Genesis 24. What large job or project have you not accepted because you think it's too big and you don't know where to start? Where are you missing a great opportunity from the Lord because you don't have faith for time, faith for knowing how to start, or faith to decide how to structure the job itself?

Lord, I want to be like Abraham's servant. I ask You to give me big assignments, and I promise to have faith so I can discover how to get them done with Your help. Help me overcome my hesitation and fear and then allow me to recognize opportunities when they come so I can dive into something bigger than I thought I could handle.


Pearl 227: Time to Learn About Time

TOPIC: Time and Wisdom

"Walk with the wise and become wise,
    for a companion of fools suffers harm" - Proverbs 13:20.

There are many books on the market about time management and there are also some seminars, webinars and other training sesssions available. All these enable you to fulfull the truth and promise in today's verse: If you seek the wisdom of others and 'walk' with them, you yourself will be wise. Perhaps you don't even need a book, for there may be someone in your life who is skilled at time skills.  Either way, you will benefit if you can learn and be inspired by others who have a proven track record of time management. Why not do a book search on time management and buy one today? How about calling someone you know is skilled with time, offer to take them to lunch and pick their brain? What other ideas do you have to become wise where time is concerned?

Lord, it's time I humbled myself and took some time to learn about time from others. I have put this off because I did not want it, feeling like it would make me accountable to do more, and I already had enough to do! Now I realize I need more skill in this area, and there are plenty of folks who can help me.


Pearl 226: The Cycle

TOPIC: Time and Wisdom

" . . . let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance . . ." - Proverbs 1:5.

Guidance should never be a problem if you are a believer. God wants you to know His will, so He willingly reveals what it is so you can  do it. What's more, if you thank Him for His will before you know what it is and commit to do it no matter what, then your are an open target to any message God has for you. As you see once again in today's verse, Proverbs urges you to listen for wisdom's ongoing broadcast so you can learn and make right choices, even where your daily time management is concerned. If you want to know what to do with your time, then ask and the Lord will impart wisdom so you know. Are you asking for daily wisdom? Are you following up on what you hear? Are you adding to your learning as you face each new day?

Lord, I suppose there is nothing mysterious about guidance, even down to how to use my time. I ask in faith and You give the wisdom. I obey, learn, grow, ask again, and the cycle continues as You are faithful to give what I needeven direction for the moment. Thank You for Your help!


Pearl 225: Invest in Tomorrow

TOPIC: Time and Priorities

"Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?" - Proverbs 8:1.

Wisdom is all around you, trying to get your attention; you simply must have a heart to hear and you will have all the wisdom you need to discern your priorities for today. And that includes wisdom for how to use your time on a daily basis. With so many conflicting options among all the good and valuable things you can do, you need the wisdom that comes from on High to choose the right things. Do you trust that God can and will lead you, even in the matters of time and priorities? Do you have faith to receive this kind of wisdom? When you ask, do you believe you will receive as James recommended in his epistle (see James 1:6)?

Lord, I ask You today for wisdom where my time management is concerned. I trust that You will guide my will and my circumstances to let me know what I should be doing in the midst of all that I can be doing. Help me to see the long-term picture of my life as well, so I may wisely invest my today to yield results tomorrow.


Pearl 224: Timely Wisdom

TOPIC: Time and Prayer

" . . . and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure . . ." - Proverbs 2:4.

The question always remains with the time you have: What should I do with it? And you have seen over the course of these devotionals that you need wisdom to know how to invest your time based on the conflicting and multiple options you're facing. You get this wisdom by intense and regular seeking, the same kind of effort you would exert if looking for hidden riches. Are you asking for wisdom where your time in concerned? Are you trusting that God is giving you that wisdom, or doubting? Where is your greatest need for this wisdom where time is concerned?

Lord, I need Your perspective and wisdom where my time is concerned. My viewpoint is limited, but Yours is without limit, so I ask You for insight for today that will help me be where I need to be tomorrow. Give me timely wisdom and I promise to follow it faithfully and diligently.


Pearl 223: Moving On

TOPIC: Time and Obedience

"You hate my instruction
    and cast my words behind you" - Psalm 50:17.

You are probably thinking, "That's not true of me; I would never do that!" Yet if the Lord gave You a word or an assignment and you did not act on it, every day you delay would mean that the assignment is that much further behind you. Thus in a sense you would have cast His word behind you by not incorporating it into your daily allotment of time as you move on with your life. Have you cast any of the Lord's words to you behind you? Are you delaying on implementing some discipline, act, or project? How far in your past is that item deposited? What are you prepared to do about it?

Lord, the very thought of hating your instruction is repulsive, yet that is just what I have done by not acting today on what You have told me. What's more, I am in danger of forgetting altogether what You have said since I have not acted on it in so long. Forgive me and help me get it back!