Ever have days when you just don’t seem to have time for God? You’re right up against a deadline, so you’ll have to give prayer time a miss, and your usual Bible reading’ll just have to wait. Sound familiar? We’ve all been there. Although we don’t mean to neglect God, we worry sometimes about fitting everything in, and our time with God is often the first thing to go when time’s tight. But the truth is, it should be the thing we refuse to give up. In Exodus 34, we’re told: ‘Six days you shall labour, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the ploughing season and the harvest you must rest’ (v. 21 NIVUK). God instructed the Israelites to take a day off from work to devote to Him, even during the busiest time of the year when crops needed to be gathered in quickly, before the bad weather ruined them. Then God commanded, ‘Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD...no one will covet your land when you go’ (vv. 23-24 NIVUK).Three times a year the men of Israel were to go on a spiritual retreat and seek God’s guidance, which would leave their families, land and possessions unguarded. But God promised to protect it all while they were away spending time with Him. When we stop spending time with God because there’s something we think is more urgent or important, it’s actually a sign that we’re trying to take control back instead of trusting Him. Instead, we should make God our priority. That way, if we’re struggling with time, we can invite God into our deadline and ask Him to help us prioritise and accomplish everything that needs to be done.