A Beneficial Prayer for Busy People
Lord of all people,
Even of busy people like me,
You are eternal.
Before ever there was time and space,
Before people began their frantic race,
Before age showed on any human face,
From everlasting to everlasting,
You are God (Psalm 90:2).
You established the length of each second,
The duration of every cycle and season,
The span of every human life,
And of my life particularly.
You are Lord over all our days,
And all my days are yours.
Lord, I am often harried and hurried, burdened and busy,
Pushed along by the urgent demands of the day,
Collapsing on my bed at night,
Only to find that my wallet of time has been spent
In places other than your holy presence.
The currency of time has run through my fingers.
I have at times purchased great goods
Of fruitful work and refreshing recreation,
Of friendship and familial memories.
I have been busy with good things,
But have neglected what is best.
And, woe is me,
I have also purchased many vices:
Moments of ungodly thoughts,
Minutes of angry rants,
Hours of scheming evil against my enemies,
Days of judging others without admitting my own faults,
Weeks of aimless laziness and self-indulgent pursuits,
Months of spiritual dullness and apathy
Years of unresolved bitterness and grudges.
I have been busy with great evils,
And have spurned your blessings and benefits.
So teach me to number my days
That I may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).
As for man, his days are like grass;
He flourishes like a flower of the field;
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place knows it no more. (Psalm 103:15-16)
The grass withers and the flower fades,
When the breath of the LORD blows on it;
Surely the people are grass (Isaiah 40:7).
Help me to rightly understand
What is worth my time.
For you have said that a day in your courts is better
Than a thousand days elsewhere (Psalm 84:10).
How much better, than,
Is an eternity in perpetual glory
Compared to a century of imperfect comfort.
I often feel that I am too busy
To daily walk in closeness with Christ.
Yet it is too important to ignore.
Reveal what is wasting my time,
Confront where my priorities are misplaced,
Stir me to action, now, to order my days,
And in so doing, to order my heart.
For where my treasure is
And where my time is spent,
There my heart will be also (Matthew 6:21)
And to whatever extent I am busy
With loving worship and obedience to Jesus,
In my home, workplace, church, and world,
Let me enjoy times of rest,
For I am not Almighty God, but his adoring creature,
Sustain in me zeal to persist,
For it is you who works within me,
To will and to work your good pleasure (Philippians 2:13),
And let me be defined, not by my busy-ness,
But by the finished work of Jesus.
For Christ’s Sake I Pray,
AMEN
