Why Did God Give You THIS Time?
A Lord of the Rings quote made me rethink what Scripture actually says about the time you’ve been given.
A few weeks ago I was sitting at a concert, waiting for it to start. And instead of doing the easy thing — pulling out my phone to scroll while I waited — I’d brought a book.
Apparently I’m now the woman who brings a book to a concert. So there’s that. 😂
It wasn’t The Lord of the Rings. It was Mark Buchanan’s God Walk, the book we’re currently reading inside our Faithful Focus Book Club. And Buchanan referenced the exchange between Frodo and Gandalf that every LOTR fan already knows by heart.
Here’s the setup, for those of us who need it (my kids are the real fans in this house — I mostly just know the cliff notes). Frodo has just realized what the Ring means and what it’s about to cost him. A conflict he never asked for has landed in his lap. And he says:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time.”
Gandalf answers:
“So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
I read that line twice.
The time that is given us.
And I couldn’t stop wondering: given by whom and for what?
Gandalf’s answer is beautiful. It’s also as far as Gandalf can take you. Because Scripture tells us something he never could.
We know the Giver.
Maybe You’ve Wished for a Different Time Too
You’ve probably never said Frodo’s exact line out loud. But I’d bet you’ve said a version of it.
Why does raising kids have to be so complicated in this generation?
Why does building a business have to be this noisy right now?
Why is my capacity so different than it used to be?
Or maybe just: I wish I had more time.
But notice what Gandalf isn’t doing. He isn’t handing Frodo a productivity tip. He’s not saying you’ve got 24 hours, make ‘em count. He’s talking about the time in history Frodo has found himself living in — a time he didn’t choose and can’t undo.
That question sent me back into Acts 17. Then Esther. Then Psalm 31. And eventually right back to Ephesians 5 — which changed the question I’ve been asking about my own time.
🎙️ In this week’s episode, I walk through that whole thread — and why it changes the way we answer what is it time for?
So hit play above and let’s take 15 min to walk through this together.
Your Time Isn’t Accidental
Paul is standing in Athens, talking to people who have no idea who the God he’s proclaiming even is. So he starts at the beginning. This God made the world and everything in it. He’s Lord of heaven and earth. He gives life and breath to everyone who has it.
And then, in Acts 17:26, Paul says something easy to read past: God determined the appointed times and the exact boundaries of where people would live.
Not just that you would live. When you would live.
That doesn’t mean God causes every hard thing you’re carrying. It means your life isn’t unfolding outside His sovereignty.
Your time isn’t an accident. I dig into what that actually means for the specific season you’re in right now in the episode.
What If This Time Has Purpose?
That’s what took me to Esther, sitting in the palace while her people are about to be wiped out by Haman’s plan. Mordecai tells her:
“And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Frodo asks: why did this have to happen in my time?
Esther is asked: what if this is exactly the time you’ve been placed in?
Your “such a time as this” almost certainly won’t look like hers. It might look a lot more ordinary than that, and that’s exactly what I walk through in the episode.
Everything can matter without everything being for right now.
So What Is It Time For?
Once you actually believe God entrusted you with this particular time, the question underneath your calendar changes. It stops being how do I fit everything in and starts being what has God entrusted to me in this season.
If you’re realizing you don’t need another system to help you squeeze more into your day, start here. The free REDEEM Her Time Starter Kit will help you step back from everything competing for your time, name what God has actually entrusted to you in this season, and give it a place in the time you’ve been given.
Grab it at now.
Appointed. Purposeful. Stewarded.
Three words to carry with you: Appointed (Acts 17). Purposeful (Esther). Stewarded — that last one comes from Ephesians 5, and it’s the piece I haven’t told you about yet. It’s the one that turns all of this from a nice thought into something you actually practice.
Underneath all three sits the same reminder David gives us in Psalm 31: my times are in Your hand. Not in my planner. Not under my control. In His hand.
A Question to Take With You
Go back to Frodo’s line and finish it yourself:
“I wish __________ didn’t have to happen in my time.”
Something unresolved. Something you never expected to be carrying. A door you thought would’ve opened by now. Name it. God already knows what it is.
Then open your hands — actually, physically, if you need to — and ask:
Lord, if this is the time You’ve entrusted to me, what does faithfulness look like here?
Not how do I get through this faster. Not how do I control the outcome. Just: what is it time for?
Learning to Live the Question, Not Just Answer It Once
And there’s a part of this I didn’t expect. Answering what is it time for once can bring real clarity. But your season is going to change. Your capacity is going to change. What was faithful last year may not be what faithfulness looks like this year.
Which means this isn’t a question you answer once. It’s one you practice asking, with the Author of Time, over and over.
That’s exactly why I built The Stewardship Circle. Twelve months of practicing a different way of living your time, starting with the Faithful Week Framework and continuing month by month through our Faithful Living Workshops and a community of women asking the same questions you are. You don’t need another year of trying harder to manage your time. You need time to practice living it differently.
We Know the Giver
Frodo says he wishes it hadn’t happened in his time. I understand that. There are pieces of the time I’ve been given that I wouldn’t have chosen either. You could probably say the same about yours.
Gandalf was right about one thing: we don’t get to pick the time we’re given.
But we know something he couldn’t. We know the Giver.
The One who appointed our time, who holds it in His hands, who works His purposes within it, and who invites us to walk wisely through it with Him.
So instead of wishing for a different time, or trying to squeeze more out of the one you have, what if you just asked Him: Lord, what is it time for?
Time is sacred. Stewardship is strategic.
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