Making Time for God

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Everyone has the same 24 hours. The busiest person who ever lived somehow found time to pray — and He was the Son of God.

Mark records a remarkable scene: “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35, NKJV). Jesus had just spent an exhausting day of ministry in Capernaum — teaching in the synagogue, casting out demons, healing Peter’s mother-in-law, and ministering to crowds until sunset. The natural thing would have been to sleep in. Instead, He rose before dawn to be alone with the Father.

Notice what this tells us. Jesus didn’t find time for prayer — He made time. He didn’t wait until His schedule cleared up, because it never did. The demands on Him only grew. Yet He prioritized communion with God above comfort, above sleep, above the expectations of others. If the sinless Son of God needed this rhythm of withdrawal and prayer, how much more do we?

The pattern holds throughout Scripture. Daniel prayed three times daily, even when it meant the lion’s den (Dan. 6:10). David wrote, “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (Ps. 5:3). These weren’t super-spiritual people with empty calendars. They were busy leaders who understood that time with God wasn’t a luxury — it was survival.

The question isn’t whether you have time for Bible study and prayer. The real question is whether you believe it matters enough to make time. Moses prayed, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12). Wisdom begins when we stop treating our schedules as the boss of our souls.

Ellen White captures this priority beautifully: “Let the seasons of family worship be short and spirited. Do not let your children or any member of your family dread them because of their length or lack of interest. When a long chapter is read and a long prayer offered, the service becomes tedious.” The principle extends beyond family worship — our personal time with God should be meaningful, not merely dutiful. Quality matters more than quantity, but consistency matters most of all.

So here’s the challenge: look at tomorrow’s schedule right now. Find fifteen minutes — early morning, lunch break, before bed — and claim them for God. Put it on the calendar. Set an alarm. Make an appointment with the Creator of time Himself, and watch how He multiplies what you give Him.

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Ezra