Sometimes it seems like I have no control over my busyness…there are many people around me with needs; many tasks that practically shout out, “Finish me!”; many emails that remind me of more work that must be completed. My mind spins with all these things that I must do, and if I don’t scribble them down on a list, they are forgotten, except for that nagging guilt that there’s something I’m forgetting. When it all piles up like an unconquerable mountain, I am led to ask,
“What’s most important?”
I saw the danger of busyness the other day in Exodus 5:9. Moses had just left Pharaoh’s presence, having told him, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.”
Pharaoh’s response? First, he assumed that Moses was just trying to get himself and all the Israelites out of work; he accused them of being lazy. Then, he increased their labor. Not only did he no longer provide the straw that the people needed to make bricks, he also upped the quota of bricks they were to make.
He said, “Let the labor be heavier on the men, and let them work at it so that they will pay no attention to false words.”
The second part of that verse struck me: so that they will pay no attention to false words. The false words he’s referring to are the command of the Lord Himself. God told the people to worship Him. Pharaoh did everything he could to distract the people not only from worshiping God, but from hearing Him in the first place.
Is it any different today? The most important, satisfying, meaningful thing we can do while on this earth is worship the Almighty God. To be still before Him. To talk to Him. To know Him more by reading the Bible. But as the busyness piles up, what is the first thing to go? The most important thing–our worship of God.
The good news is: since God has commanded us to love Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, we have the power to say NO to anything that keeps us from obeying this command. Let’s not forget the most important thing and be discerning when tasks, demands, and busyness try to get us to pay no attention to God.