"Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for Yahweh-Elohim -- my Elohim (God) -- will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of Yahweh" (1 Chron.28:20, NKJV).
Not everyone is called, as Solomon was, to construct a temple of stone, but every single soul is called to build his or her spiritual temple - the body - according to the moral and ethical specifications of Yahweh's Torah. Everyone has a mission too, that is part of his or her "house of Yahweh" whether it be family, ministry or career, or an admixture of these.
However, these spiritual building projects must be Yahweh's and not our own if we are to truly prosper in the Ruach (Spirit):
"Unless Yahweh builds the house, they labour in vain who build it" (Ps.127:1, NKJV).
Our own projects, however fun or financially renumerative, however lawful, are in vain if they are not a part of the overall 'house design' for our life because if we are doing our 'own thing' then we are robbing Yahweh of the time we consecrated to Him for the projects that He has chosen for our life. How can we know whether something is of Him or not? We will not have perfect shalom (peace) or simcha (joy) because there will be obvious neglect in the areas we stole time from that we should not have and the corresponding guilt.
Time management is not easy at best but when your program consists of things that Yahweh does not want you to do then time management becomes stressful and not as productive as we would like.
In a work environment such as your job, this is not a great problem because your duties are usually clearly spelled out. There are tasks to be done within time-frames like making sure so many products are completed in a day or soecific meals cooked for patrons in a restaurant on time. A teacher has a set-amount of class material to teach in his allotted timetable and a bus driver has to get his vehicle and passengers safely from A to B on time. If a husband and father wants tasks accomplished in the home in a partocular time-slot then this too must be done. But when we are given the responsibility to manage time on our own and to fill it without a supervisor or a deadline, it becomes more difficult not to fill it wisely.
Time is precious. We only get one go at this life. There is no reincarnation with which to have another go...and another one, ad infinitum. Laxity and laziness are therefore our deadly enemies, destroying opportunities to honour Yahweh and bless mankind in our particular plot.
David's counsel to the young Solomon in preparation for his inheritance of the thone was simple: be strong and courageous, do not be fearful or dismayed because of adversity, and make sure you build the Temple of Yahweh. Though today's text does not mention this, elsewhere in Scripture we are told that David had already drawn up the plans, procured the finances, and had gathered most of the construction materials for the Temple. All Solomon had to do was follow the divine tavnith or pattern of his father, manage the finances wisely and not waste the materials provided.
We too have a tavnith or pattern to follow in our lives called the mitzvot (commandments), we are given all the resources we need by Yahweh in our life circumstances, and if we deviate from the Master Plan for our life, we suffer and others around us whom we influence and interact with suffer too.
Deviation from tavnith (pattern) may not always be obvious at first as we cut a few corners and think we can improve on Yahweh's perfect standard, but in the end disaster always follows. Sin accummulates in small increments causing us to deviate farther and farther away from it if we are not constantly checking back to the Plan, which is why we are commanded to study Torah daily (morning and evening at the very least) and to pray at least two or three times a day in carefully set-apart time as Daniel did. Those who neglect Scripture Study and Prayer always deviate from tavnith (pattern) and end up following their own will and wondering why it feels as though something is missing in their lives.
Finally, we are commanded always to have a "cheerful heart" in all our doings for a miserable heart breaks the spirit, causes us to labour with the wrong motives and to infest our work environment with gloominess and heaviness, thereby negatively impacting others (Prov.15:13). Not every task Yahweh gives us is at first seen as something potentially joyful because we have not yet dedicated the time and effort to Him so that He can infuse it with happiness and contentment. As a famous hymn puts it:
Teach me, O Yah, my King, in all things Thee to see;
Teach me to do in everything, to do ti as for Thee!...
A servant with this clause, makes drudgery divine;
Who sweeps a room, as for Thy laws, makes that and the action fine.
This is the famous stone, that turneth all to gold;
For that which Yahweh doth and own, cannot for less be told.
To build the temple of our life to Yahweh therefore requires that we consecrate every task to Him that he has called us to do so that He may infuse it with purpose and therefore divinity. Whenever we refuse to do this, but rather express our dissatisfaction in complaining and resentment, we are unknowingly dedicating the task to Satan who leaves in us something of his own disappointed, unfulfilled and angry character, along with an unpleasant taste in the mouth and a heavy atmosphere around us which others are forced to passively inhail against their will.
Do you know what you have been called to? Do you know what kind of house it is you have been commanded to build up to Yahweh? If you do not, now is the time to find out, however implausible and contrary to your own expectations Yahweh's calling may sometimes seem to be. Only by following the correct Plan and Tavnith (Pattern), and by letting Yahweh do the building (He will not build something He has not called you to do) will we fulfil the measure of our creation and find contentment.
