Tyranny of the Urgent
Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Surely
this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our
lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered letters, unvisited
friends, unwritten articles, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop
to evaluate. We desperately need relief.
But would a thirty-hour day really solve the problem?
Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four
allotment? A mother’s work is never finished, and neither is that of any
student, teacher, minister, or anyone else we know. Nor will the passage of
time help us catch up. Children grow in number and age to require more of our
time. Greater experience in profession and church brings more exacting assignments.
So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less.
JUMBLED
PRIORITIES
When we stop to evaluate, we realize that our dilemma
goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically the problem of priorities.
Hard work does not hurt us. We all know what it is to go full speed for long
hours, totally involved in an important task. The resulting weariness is
matched by a sense of achievement and joy. Not hard work, but doubt and misgiving
produce anxiety as we review a month or year and become oppressed by the pile
of unfinished tasks. We sense uneasily that we may have failed to do the
important. The winds of other people’s demands have driven us onto a reef of
frustration. We confess, quite apart from our sins, “We have left undone those
things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we
ought not to have done.”
Several years ago an experienced cotton mill manager
said to me, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the
important.” He didn’t realize how hard his maxim hit. It often returns to haunt
and rebuke me by raising the critical problem of priorities.
We live in constant tension between the urgent and the
important. The problem is that the important task seldom must be done today or
even this week. Extra hours of prayer and Bible study, a visit with that non-Christian
friend, careful study of an important book: these projects can wait. But the
urgent tasks call for instant action – endless demands pressure every hour and
day.
A man’s home is no longer his castle; it is no longer
a place away from urgent tasks because the telephone breaches the walls with
imperious demands. The momentary appeal of these tasks seems irresistible and
important, and they devour our energy. But in the light of time’s perspective
their deceptive prominence fades; with a sense of loss we recall the important
task pushed aside. We realize we’ve become slaves to the tyranny of the urgent.
CAN YOU
ESCAPE?
Is there any escape from this pattern of living? The
answer lies in the life of our Lord. On the night before He died, Jesus made an
astonishing claim. In the great prayer of John 17 He said, “I have finished the
work which You gave Me to do” (vs. 4).
How could Jesus use the word finished? His three-year ministry seemed all too short. A
prostitute at Simon’s banquet had found forgiveness and a new life, but many
others still walked the street without forgiveness and a new life. For every
ten withered muscles that had flexed into health, a hundred remained impotent.
Yet on that last night, with many useful tasks undone and urgent human needs
unmet, the Lord had peace; He knew He had finished God’s work.
The Gospel records show that Jesus worked hard. After
describing a busy day Mark writes, “That evening, at sundown, they brought to
Him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered
together about the door. And He healed many who were sick with various
diseases, and cast out many demons” (
On another occasion the demand of the ill and maimed
caused Him to miss supper and to work so late that His disciples thought He
was beside Himself (Mk.
Yet His life was never feverish; He had time for
people. He could spend hours talking to one person, such as the Samaritan
woman at the well. His life showed a wonderful balance, a sense of timing. When
His brothers wanted Him to go to
WAIT FOR
INSTRUCTIONS
What was the secret of Jesus’ work? We find a clue
following Mark’s account of Jesus’ busy day. Mark observes that “in the
morning, a great while before day, He rose and went out to a lonely place, and
there He prayed” (Mk.
Lazarus’s death illustrates this principle. What
could have been more important than the urgent message from Mary and Martha,
“Lord, he whom You love is ill” (Jn. 11:3, RSV)? John records the Lord’s response in these
paradoxical words: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when
He heard that he was ill, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was” (vv. 5-6). What was the urgent need? Obviously to prevent the death of this beloved brother. But
the important thing from God’s point of view was to raise Lazarus from the
dead. So Lazarus was allowed to die. Later Jesus revived him as a sign of His
magnificent claim, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me though he die, yet shall he live” (vs. 25).
We may wonder why our Lord’s ministry was so short,
why it could not have lasted another five or ten years, why so many wretched
sufferers were left in their misery. Scripture gives no answer to these
questions, and we leave them in the mystery of God’s purposes. But we do know
that Jesus’ prayerful waiting for God’s instructions freed Him from the
tyranny of the urgent. It gave Him a sense of direction, set a steady pace,
and enabled Him to do every task God
assigned. And on the last night He could say, “I have finished the work which You gave Me to do.”
DEPENDENCE
MAKES YOU FREE
Freedom from the tyranny of the urgent is found in the
example and promise of our Lord. At the end of a vigorous debate with the
Pharisees in
Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin
is a slave to sin … So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn.
Many of us have experienced Christ’s deliverance from
the penalty of sin. Are we letting Him free us from the tyranny of the urgent?
He points the way: “If you continue in My Word.” This is the way to freedom.
Through prayerful meditation on God’s Word we gain His perspective.
P.T. Forsyth once said, “The worst sin is
prayerlessness.” We usually think of murder, adultery, or theft as among the
worst. But the root of all sin is self-sufficiency – independence from God.
When we fail to wait prayerfully for God’s guidance and strength we are
saying, with our actions if not our lips, that we do not need Him. How much of
our service is characterized by “going it alone”?
The opposite of such independence is prayer in which
we acknowledge our need of God’s instruction and supply. Concerning a
dependent relationship with God, Donald Baillie says: “Jesus lived His life in
complete dependence upon God, as we all ought to live our lives. But such dependence
does not destroy human personality. Man is never so
truly and fully personal as when he is living in complete dependence upon God.
This is how personality comes into its own. This is humanity at its most
personal.” Prayerful waiting on God is indispensable to effective service.
Like the timeout in a football game, it enables us to catch our breath and fix
new strategy. As we wait for directions, the Lord frees us from the tyranny of
the urgent. He shows us the truth about Himself, ourselves, and our tasks. He
impresses on our minds the assignments He wants us to undertake. The need
itself is not the call; the call must come from the God who knows our limitations.
“The LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that
we are dust” (Psa. 103:13, 14). It is
not God who loads us until we bend or crack with an ulcer, nervous breakdown,
heart attack, or stroke. These come from our inner compulsions coupled with
the pressure of circumstances.
EVALUATE
The modern businessman recognizes this principle of
taking time out for evaluation. One president of DuPont said, “One minute spent
in planning saves three or four minutes in execution.” Many salesmen have
revolutionized their business and multiplied their profits by setting aside
Friday afternoon to plan carefully the major activities for the coming week.
If an executive is too busy to stop and plan, he may
find himself replaced by another man who takes time to plan. If the Christian
is too busy to stop, take spiritual inventory, and receive his assignments from
God, he becomes a slave to the tyranny of the urgent. He may work day and night
to achieve much that seems significant to himself and others, but he will not
finish the work God has for him to do.
A quiet time of meditation and prayer at the start of
the day refocuses our relationship with God. Recommit yourself to His will as
you think of the hours that follow. In these unhurried moments list in order
of priority the tasks to be done, taking into account commitments already made.
A competent general always draws up his battle plan before he engages the
enemy; he does not postpone basic decisions until the firing starts. But he is
also prepared to change his plans if an emergency demands it. So try to
implement the plans you have made before the day’s battle against the clock
begins. But be open to any emergency interruption or unexpected person who may
call.
You may also find it necessary to resist the
temptation to accept an engagement when the invitation first comes over the
telephone. No matter how clear the calendar may look at the moment, ask for a
day or two to pray for guidance before committing yourself. Surprisingly the engagement
often appears less imperative after the pleading voice has become silent. If
you can withstand the urgency of the initial moment, you will be in a better position
to weigh the cost and discern whether the task is God’s will for you.
In addition to your daily quiet time, set aside one
hour a week for spiritual inventory. Write an evaluation of the past, record
anything God may be teaching you, and plan objectives for the future. Also try
to reserve most of one day each month for a similar inventory of longer range.
Often you will fail. Ironically, the busier you get the more you need this time
of inventory, but the less you seem to be able to take it. You become like the
fanatic, who, when unsure of his direction, doubles his speed. And frenetic
service for God can become an escape from God. But when you prayerfully take
inventory and plan your days, it provides fresh perspective on your work.
CONTINUE THE
EFFORT
Over the years the greatest continuing struggle in the
Christian life is the effort to make adequate time for daily waiting on God,
weekly inventory, and monthly planning. Since this time for receiving marching
orders is so important, Satan will do everything he can to squeeze it out. Yet
we know from experience that only by this means can we escape the tyranny of
the urgent. This is how Jesus succeeded. He did not finish all the urgent tasks
in
Some time ago Simba bullets
killed a young man, Dr. Paul Carlson. In the providence of God his life’s work
was finished. Most of us will live longer and die more quietly, but when the
end comes, what could give us greater joy than being sure that we have finished
the work God gave us to do? The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ makes this fulfillment possible. He has promised
deliverance from sin and the power to serve God in the tasks of His choice. The
way is clear. If we continue in the Word of our Lord, we are truly His disciples.
And He will free us from the tyranny of the urgent and free us to do the
important, which is the will of God.
Charles E. Hummel
Discipleship
Journal, Issue 60, 1990, pp. 24, 27.