Hear Him Speak

Most vehicles today come with many things ... automatic: for example, windows, door locks, mirror adjustments, etc. Driving Mister Bill's truck recently, I was re-introduced to hand-crank windows and manual door locks; I gave up on adjusting the side mirrors! In times of Bible apps, podcasts, and online church, it seems lots of Believers have abandoned good, old-fashioned, personal Bible study. Don't get me wrong, I listen to podcasts as I drive and use a Bible app as I am waiting, but those wonderful tools cannot (and should not) replace a personal time of opening God's Word and digging Its precious treasures in The Presence of Its Author. Read just a few things written about the days in which we now live: 1 Timothy 4:1 - "in later times some will depart from the faith" ... Matthew 24:11 - "false prophets will arise and lead many astray" ... Matthew 24:12 - "the love of many will grow cold." I wonder how much of the falling away, the departing from faith, the being led astray can be attributed to God's children's failure to devote personal time to God's Word - the lamp to our feet and the light to our path (Psalm 119:105). We've become content and satisfied listening to what God has said to someone else, what someone else has dug from the riches of God's Word, and we do not see the need to do the diggin' ourselves. Be sure, hand-cranking that window wasn't all that fun - I'd much prefer my own car with its electric windows; God has called each of us to know Him, and it will never be enough for a true disciple to hear about Jesus. Let me encourage you to blow the dust off that Bible, open it, and let God speak to you personally through His timeless words of truth. Yes ... hear Him speak.