Busy, Busy, Busy
Busy, Busy, Busy
By Grant Phillips
We live in a period of time when everything is going at top speed. The hustle and bustle in the cities is magnified a hundred times, if not a thousand times to the quiet of the country side. Yet, even in our small, quaint, one stoplight towns, busyness can be readily seen as the folks go about their daily activities.
This 21st century has each person’s mind racing at top speed to get this done, and then go to the next thing to get that done. The body is in one location, but the mind is at home, on the job, at the school, and wherever else the siren call is heard. We rest our bodies at night, but before sleep takes over, the mind remains supercharged … thinking, thinking, thinking.
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Daniel 12:4)
Yep, that verse is very descriptive of mankind in today’s world. As God told Daniel, knowledge is exponentially increasing so rapidly what is learned today is old news tomorrow.
Ours is the Information Age; Internet, television and mobile phones available 24 hours a day. From what I have read, a person today consumes six newspapers of information daily. Twenty-four years ago that number was 2 ½ pages a day.
Each of us has the equivalent of 600,000 books stored in computers, microchips and credit card strips.
From the journal of Science, 295 exabytes of data are floating around today. That would be 29,500,000,000,000,000,000,000. Apparently that is 315 times more than there are grains of sand on the earth. (I find that a bit hard to believe, but so say the bean counters.) Despite all these super big numbers, that is still less than 1% of the information stored in the DNA of one person.
Anyway, when the Lord gave Daniel this prophecy, He was referring to that time prior to His second coming. After the Church is removed to Heaven, the last week of Daniel’s prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27) will begin. Only a blind fool would refuse to see the fulfilment of this prophecy in our day.
Sounds to me like Daniel 12:4 is definitely upon us. How close we must be to our Lord’s return!
God tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalms 46:10)
Regardless of our circumstances at home and on the job, most of us just won’t slow down and smell the roses (a most simplistic way of saying, “Be still”). God does want us to slow down, be still and think about Him. Don’t be in such a hurry. The world won’t end just because you finally decide to “Be still” and listen to God. “Oh but this won’t wait. I must take care of this now!” I doubt that. God knows that, or He would not have told us, “Whoa! Slow down and take a break. I am God, and you will never make it without Me.”
We adults often mimic children in this matter. Children quickly come to the point of thinking they can do things without their parents’ help, even though the parents know better. We adults lean toward that same independence, but what we really need is not independence, but dependence upon our Savior God.
Just as a two year old can only handle simple feats scaled down for a two year old, we cannot deal with matters that only God can control. We are not God. He is, and that is exactly what he wants us to remember. He will be exalted, not us. We have so many things in our lives backwards. The wise person will be still and see God as the one in charge of our life. He/she will exalt God by simply being still and allowing God to work in his/her life.
God wants each of us as Christians to have some quiet time. Look around at all He has created. See His power that is all around us. Tune out the hectic madness of the world and listen to Him.
Have we ever taken the time to look at a flower, I mean to REALLY look at it, or observe a busy ant? Do we really see what is around us and recognize that God created it? Children do this. They may not realize that God is the Creator, but they notice much more than we do. Take the time to actually see what is around you.
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.” (Proverbs 6:6-8)
Yes, the 21st century is a time of fast-paced living. We just can’t seem to slow down. Days rush into weeks, as the weeks overwhelm the months that are before them. Next thing we know, years run quickly behind us. All the while our knowledge is increasing, but are we really any smarter? With all this knowledge, where is wisdom? God says we are drawing to the close of our days. He is coming. Are we ready?
If any wisdom remains, maybe we should take the time, in a quiet place, to pray with our Bible in hand and hear His message; “Be still, and know that I am God.”