Facing God Daily

8/2/1997

In regards to having lots of things to read and the tendency to skim over, remember how important it is to really be about the Work of God and really facing God with real issues on a day to day basis. If we are not, then the Word of God, when we have times together, or have things to read, etc., the Word of God really will begin to be weighty, it will seem, not boring, but it won’t even really make sense to us sometimes, because the Word of God really is meant to be food for those who are actually using that food and out in the battle that food is meant to nourish us for. He wants us to be putting into practice the things that He is showing to us so that we can be nourished again by his Word, and if we are not really dealing with real things on a day to day basis, if there isn’t from time to time scandalons that come up and force us to face God with things in our hearts, and if we are not really caring about people and having to be praying about situations and having real things that we are a part of, then excessive readings and times together really can begin to get overwhelming and weighty and things can actually seem to not even really make sense anymore, or feel like it applies.

One of the things I have found is that when I am about the Work of God, just about any reading, anything really seems to apply in one form or another. There is food to be drawn from it if I am really about the Work. But if I am not, the tendency that goes through my mind is, “I already know this and it’s not really striking me as new or innovative or catchy, but it’s adding to the pile of things that I already know.” God is not so much wanting to teach us new things but to deepen us. As in a relationship with a spouse, when you are going through the whole “courtship” process, it seems like every day something new is happening and then the first year of marriage every day is a new challenge. But there comes a point in the relationship where that newness isn’t really happening on a day to day basis, but the task at hand at that point becomes deepening the relationship. It has to do with a deepening of that love and affection, a deepening of that agape love for each other, and there may not necessarily be new things. I’m not saying that we have exhausted all of God’s wisdom and there is nothing new for Him to show us. I think that would be blasphemous. Because in Christ there are riches beyond measure and a wisdom that we probably have never even touched on. But I know that, as a people that His desire is that we would take the things that He has shown us and put them into practice on a real day to day basis or it will get very overwhelming, it will bounce off the top of our heads as, “We know that, we know that.” Again, He’s not as much wanting to increase our knowledge base, but working on the deepening process of putting into practice the things that He has shown us and to really be about His work in each other’s lives.

This is an encouragement to be applying the Word lest we just fade out on what we have learned and be settled in our minds with knowing right things. But at that point, just knowing right things, if it’s not putting them into practice, it’s no longer Truth, it’s no longer divine, it’s no longer right if it’s not coupled with putting them into practice. It becomes a snare and a stumbling block at that point. Don’t be satisfied with the knowing, but to have the knowing along with the putting into practice, and to ask God for things to help wake us up. Every day isn’t just like the day before. Peter talks about mockers who come and say, “Where is the coming of the Lord?” It’s easy to get into the kind of mentality where this day will be just like the day before. But the facts are God is faithful because He loves us and brings things into our lives like He brought into Job’s life. That was pretty radical and hopefully it doesn’t have to be that radical with each of us. He brings things into our lives to force us to look at Him face to face and take things seriously so that we are dealing in reality with Him.