Exodus 5:9

Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.

Pharaoh wanted the people so weighed down, so exhausted, and so consumed with labor that they would have no strength left to think about God. That is why he called Moses’ words “vain words.” In his mind, worship was a distraction. Sacrifice was unproductive. Time spent seeking the Lord was time wasted. And that same spirit is still very much alive. The world still says, “You do not have time for prayer. You do not have time for Communion. You do not have time to sit with the Word. There is too much to do.”

That way of thinking shows up all through Scripture. Judas looked at Mary pouring out that costly ointment upon Jesus and called it waste. He could only measure things by visible usefulness, by practical output, by what seemed efficient in the moment. But he was the one who failed to understand value. Worship is never waste. Time poured out on Jesus is never wasted. In fact, one of the saddest wastes of all is to miss the chance to worship because we were too busy, too distracted, or too impressed with what the world calls important.

That is one of the enemy’s oldest strategies. Keep people busy enough that they never slow down before God. Keep them tired enough that prayer feels impossible. Keep them preoccupied enough that the devotional life starts to seem optional. Because once a man begins to believe that time with God is a luxury instead of a necessity, he is already growing weaker.

But the quiet life of devotion is not wasted motion. It is preparation. It is strength being built where no one sees it. A man may open his Bible early in the morning or turn his heart to prayer late at night, and to others it may look small, hidden, even unnecessary. But those unseen habits become places of refuge when the pressure comes. They become the deep places in the soul where a man can stand when the enemy attacks.

That is why Jesus told His disciples that some battles are only met through prayer and fasting. The point is not that we panic and try to build spiritual depth when the crisis is already on top of us. The point is that we walk with God steadily, quietly, faithfully, before the crisis comes. Strength is formed in secret. Stability is built underground. And when the shaking begins, those hidden places prove to be anything but empty.

So Pharaoh called it vain words. Egypt always will. But heaven never does. The time you spend in the Word is not wasted. The time you spend in prayer is not wasted. The time you spend worshipping the Lord is not wasted. Those are the very things that keep a soul alive, steady, and ready for the day of battle.