Right in the middle of a conversation in the Old Testament that the prophet Isaiah was having with Hezekiah, the king of Judah, he tells the king these words. “to set in order” is properly a military term denoting the order and regularity with which an army is drawn up. Everything is in its place. Everything in its time without confusion or discord.

As I have spent countless hours of my life organizing the world around me, I realize that not everyone is “gifted” or (some might say) “plagued” with this naturally. But it oozes out of my pores! Everywhere I go I want to straighten or organize things. I’ve never had a job at a grocery store stocking shelves, but if I had, those would have been the straightest shelves you have ever seen! And I am sure that I would get super frustrated when you took the can off that perfect row and placed it into your buggy.  Yeah, it’s probably good that I never had that job!  All this to say, God is a god of order. Everything has its place and its season. There was order in creation held together by the natural laws He created. There was order to the design and worship in the Tabernacle tent and Temple built in the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul even wrote to the Christians living in the city of Corinth challenging them to bring order to their church services in one of his letters. Order is reflected all through the Bible as a characteristic of God and His followers. I am definitely NOT saying that there isn’t room for spontaneity, because we all need a little more of that in our lives.  

But we all know the difference when we walk into a store or restaurant or into another person’s home environment whether there is self discipline and proper management on display or not.  And as we all know with any business, poor management leads to a failed business. A successful life requires good management, and the number one thing we have been given to manage is yourself! So, how are you doing with that right now? Do you manage the gates to your mind with what you listen to and watch?  Are you a good manager of your thought life, as well as what you say and do each day? I think the big one for all of us is being honest with how well we manage our own time. Can I get a witness on that?!

Many people live on the fringe of burnout in multiple areas of life because they have failed to balance where their time is spent. Out of balance lives cause great inner stress and rob us of needed peace. Maybe we need to start by rethinking how we perceive the importance of time spent investing in the things that bring us life and renewal. What is filling my life with mental, emotional, and maybe physical clutter that it’s time to say, “Goodbye” to? It’s like the season before a big move…you want to clean out the clutter, have a yard sale and set your house in order. Sometimes it’s hard to say, “adios” to grandmother’s doilies that have been sitting in the corner for years, but you need to make the hard decision and freshen up. Get the emotional makeover everyone around you knows you need but is unsure how to tell you! Order the necessary UHaul truck size needed to haul away the past failures that have been weighing you down and keeping you from enjoying life today. Have a yard sale and say goodbye to the negative thoughts that keep you up through sleepless nights. Trust that the God who designed the incredible canvas that we are now seeing from the James Webb Space Telescope. If “He counts the number of the stars; and calls them by name.” (Psalm 147:4), then He can help you bring order to your personal chaos.