Waking Up

August 4, 2020

Devotional reading of the Bible much of the time just doesn’t cut it for me. I get to the end of my time or the text and it often seems like just ink on the page. Reading for sermons however, is quite another matter. Sometimes it feels like I’m swimming through mud, but there usually comes a point where suddenly it all comes together in an “aha!” moment, and when it does, the feeling is glorious. 

This morning was one of those slogging through the mire times. I read my passages in the Psalms, did some reading in Genesis, tried to pray, but got nowhere. Unbeknownst to me, God had an ace up his sleeve. I had been invited to participate in a sermon preparation session with pastors Joe, Brandon, and Tom, so at 1:30, I saddled up the sidecar and headed down the road. I had been given the text for Sunday’s sermon ahead of time, but even with advance preparation, I was getting nowhere. We sat down, Joe prayed, and we began to work. 

Their approach and mine are somewhat different, and I am having a bit of difficulty trying to figure out how this will work for me in practice, but their insights and our conversation helped me see things and make life connections that I hadn’t noticed before. The Scripture came alive to me, or perhaps it’s better to say that the Living Word awakened me to life, and I left that meeting knowing God had spoken. So I am thankful tonight for the Word of God, for men who function as the Proverbs says, “iron sharpening iron,” and for the Holy Spirit who awakened my sleeping soul to the dawning of God’s grace.