Persistance

 December 3, 2022

Sometimes when I’m reading my Bible, it seems like my brain and spirit are numb. I read the words on the page, but nothing connects. It is tempting at such times to give up and call it a day; “I tried, but God wasn’t speaking today.” Of course, that isn’t true; the problem is never that God isn’t speaking. It’s that I’m not listening. It’s like the radio, TV, or the internet. Signals are constantly in the air all around us. We can’t see them and can’t hear them unless we have the right receiver and have it tuned to whatever signal is there. The messages and images are all around us, but we only benefit from them if we have the equipment and have it tuned to the sender.

The same is true with God. There is no lack of communication on his part; but we must have the equipment to receive and be tuned in. The equipment is the Holy Spirit. Apart from the Holy Spirit living in me, I cannot receive anything God says. And if I don’t stay tuned to his “station” by immersing myself in the Scriptures, I’ll miss what he has to say to me.

Even then, often when I read, nothing seems to be getting through. At such times, two factors come into play. The first is faith. If I don’t believe God is ready to speak to me, I may have the receiver, but I haven’t turned it on. The second is persistence. Just as with a radio or television signal, my connection with God can suffer from interference. Something comes between God and myself, blocking the signal. Persistence is one of the keys to overcoming this blockage. I need to be persistent in self-examination, confession, and repentance. And I must not let the interference keep me from digging deep into the Scriptures. This evening as I was reading, nothing seemed to connect. But I kept reading, and cross-referenced a verse in the New Testament to it’s origin in the Old. I let those Scriptures connect with things I see going on in the world today, and before long, I could hear God speaking in the depths of my heart, reminding me of his sovereignty and his mercy. All this happened because I refused to give up. I am grateful tonight because I know God never gives up on me, and gives me the insight and determination to not give up on him.