IS “IT” THE PROBLEM?

But it is not as though the word of God has failed.  Romans 9:6

         When those we love have heard the words of Jesus read to them and still exhibit unbelief, what is the problem?  Is it the Word of God that is ineffective or is it the depth of their unbelief?  I can jump to the right answer, as though it were on a test, and say that the Word of God is never ineffective but the inconsistency is not lost on me here.

         It wasn’t until 2009 that the light of truth about this very issue broke through to my heart.  Until then, I wrestled and self-condemned.  When I taught a group of people and it appeared to fall flat, my heart began to sink before the session was even over.  I never considered that the reason people’s faces registered ‘nothing’ was because of unbelief.  I concluded that the Word must have been ineffective and I had been an ineffective communicator of it.  I reasoned that if Jesus had stood in my place and preached the same message, there would have been a great sweeping of His Spirit.

         This was a mental stronghold  – one which led to an emotional stronghold.  My beliefs often led me to this place of such despair, believing I had failed God.  God helped me realize that the problem lay in my definition of ‘effectiveness.’  Was Jesus not effective when He preached to the Pharisees and they took up stones to stone Him?  Was Jesus not effective when, after all His teaching and miracles, the crowd walked away?  He turned to His disciples and asked, “Do you want to leave, too?”

         The Holy Spirit showed me that if Jesus had taught in my place, perhaps people would have been even more repelled and become even more resolute in their unbelief.  The Gospel draws and it repels.  No middle ground.

         The Word of God is always sharp, always powerful, always effective. When there fails to be a harvest, the problem is not that the Scriptures are old, outdated, and no longer useful.  The problem is unbelief.  Since Eve believed the lie of the serpent and wandered into unbelief, nothing as changed.

         So, I wrap my arms around my Bible today and hold it close to my heart.  I vow to use it more.  I will read it more in prayer.  I will speak it over those I love when they are sleeping, when they are hurting, when they face a crossroads.  Though some might feel little when the words are spoken, the Word is never ineffectual.  It blazes a trail of trail of light wherever it goes – and sometimes that path is right into the unbelieving heart.

Teach me to speak the Word as You spoke it, Lord.  It will cause some to hate You and some to love You more.  Thank you for teaching me to rest in either outcome.  Amen