The LORD my Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights! Habakkuk 3:19
“Time is money.”
This first time I heard this phrase—probably in my Introduction to Business class in college—I had no earthly idea what it meant. And even though I’m sure I learned from my textbook and my professor what “time is money” meant, as an actual businessman, I have certainly become more familiar with what it really means.
During the years of owning my own publishing business, there were several times when we entertained the possibility of being purchased by larger companies. One of these times, I had disclosed my financial statements and was waiting for a response. I desperately needed the cash this acquisition would represent, and the buyer knew it. So he took his time, and I sweated it out. The more I sweated, the more he could negotiate on price. Time was money.
Many years ago, a huge shopping mall got planted only ten minutes from our house. Commercial developers swarmed into Middle Tennessee and bought up all the adjoining land. And then absolutely nothing happened. The shopping mall’s performance was, according to the local news, “Well below expectations.” Some of these developers had borrowed tens of millions of dollars to buy the land, and those notes were coming due. A few didn’t make it. They couldn’t afford to wait it out. Time was money.
The prophet Habakkuk, like most of the Old Testament prophets, was running out of emotional capital: patience. Habakkuk’s task must have been overwhelming—warning people, day after day, of the certain results of their sinfulness. Habakkuk needed a loan. He frantically longed for some good news.
So he did the only thing he could do. He entered into the Lord’s presence, stood in awe of God’s faithfulness, and asked for more funds: “Revive your work in these years,” Habakkuk pleaded, “make it known in these years. In your wrath remember mercy!” (v. 2).
“The note is coming due, heavenly Father,” Habakkuk was saying, “and I have nothing to pay it with. Like vultures, my creditors are circling above me.”
“I heard, and I trembled within; my lips quivered. . . . Rottenness entered my bones; I trembled where I stood” (v. 16). Sounds like a visit to Habakkuk’s banker for sure.
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine.
He owns the rivers and the rocks and rills, the sun and stars that shine. Wonderful riches more than tongue can tell.
He is my Father, so they’re mine as well.
Although this little song hadn’t been written when Habakkuk was having his finan- cial crisis, I do wish I could have sung it for him. Actually, as I read along, Habakkuk could have sung it to me.
“Now I must quietly wait. . . . Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls, yet I will cele- brate in the LORD” (vv. 16–18).
Do you have any notes coming due? Is time on someone else’s side because they’ve got all the money—all the power? Well, get up and face your enemies. Do what you can, but do not be afraid. Since time is money and your Father has all the capital you’ll ever need, you can wait this one out. Time is on your side.
Remember this instruction from our buddy Simon Peter, “Humble yourselves . . . casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you” (1Pt 5:6–7).