Caught!

"Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD." Jeremiah 23:24

I think we all have those days. Those days where we go about doing our thing, but the whole time our Bible sits over there on the shelf- unused. As a mom, I often have those days where I finally get a moment to just sit for a rest, and I really have an internal struggle. Do I pick up the novel I've been reading- or do I pick up my Bible and see what God has to say to me that day? Sometimes I'll even come up with a compromise. I'll flip open to the Psalms and tell myself that I will just read a few Psalms, and then I can read my book. That way, I don't feel bad about skipping the Bible reading altogether.

But you know, when we go through those times where we are not reading our Bible as much, I can't help but think about what God thinks of that.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." John 10:27 (NKJV)

I can't tell you how many times over the years we've gotten into discussions with one person or another about how we know we're hearing God's direction for our lives- and not the voice of the enemy trying to deceive us. The plain fact of the matter is that if you are spending time daily in your Word- you are learning to hear God's voice. It says right there that His sheep know His voice. We are His sheep, and when we spend time reading our Bibles, we are getting more and more in tune with knowing when we are hearing His voice- and when we are not.

That right there is a great reason to keep ourselves in a routine of sorts digging into God's Word, but I know every person goes through that period of time when they just aren't spending as much time in their Bible. It happens. It can happen for extended periods of time. I know when I have those periods, I will walk past my Bible, look at it, KNOW that I should pause and pick it up, but I don't. I just kind of shrug it off. But then I read the verse I started with today from Jeremiah, and it's kind of like, yikes!

"Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD." Jeremiah 23:24

Those moments where I choose not to read my Bible- God knows it instantly. He does! I can't just dismiss my Bible without God knowing that I'm doing that very thing, and then that makes me think about the dynamic of my relationship with God- that of a Father and a daughter. Now it seems even worse to me. As a parent, I can think on my relationship with my kids, and what it would feel like to have my child walk past me every day for weeks on end and choose not to talk to me. Imagine what it would be like, if day after day, my child walked past me and raised up a hand and looked the other way- not interested in interaction or conversation. I imagine I would feel a bit like dirt.

I suspect that feeling is only a small portion of what God feels when we choose to ignore Him. Because in my human scenario, I'm just wanting to talk to my child. Now imagine that day after day, when they walk past me, I'm sitting there, waiting for them to talk to me because I have a million dollars to give to them. I have something awesome to give them, but first they need to talk to me. Now, I'm not saying that God has a million dollars for each of us, but I am saying that God has so much treasure to share with us in His Word, and when we choose to walk past it or ignore His beckon call, He gets a little sadder as each day passes- knowing that when we do decide to Hear, we will be rewarded well beyond what we can imagine. Think about that. All those rough days we have- those seem to be the days when I feel like reading my Bible the least. My mind is spinning in a thousand different directions and the last thing I want is to try and dissect scripture. But what if the very page He would have me turn to is the very word that I need to remedy my rough patch?

We cannot hide from Him! The best thing about that is that He is always going to be our Father, and He is always going to love us. He sees us when we walk past that Bible day after day. He sees us when we dismiss the very words He wants to encourage us with, and yet He still loves us all the time anyway. The more we spend time in His Word, the more we'll know and understand His voice. And that right there is incentive enough to stop what I'm doing and take a few minutes out of my day to see what my Father has to say to me. It's worth every minute.