Sleep-deprived or God-deprived?

Could God be saying “I want to fill your life with spiritual blessing by speaking to you as you read My Word, but you will not give Me time to do anything for you. It takes time to hear Me.”

With God’s strength we can overcome the laziness that impoverishes our lives and say with King David, “God forbid that I should give to the Lord that which costs me nothing.” Time in the Word often costs us effort, time, even sleep, but what a privilege it is to give Jesus something costly.

Denial may mean denying ourselves listening to the news while we drive to work so we can meditate on a verse we read that morning. It may mean denying ourselves an extra hour’s sleep simply out of a desire to draw near. Some day it won’t matter if we’ve been sleep-deprived, but we’ll have all eternity to regret being God-deprived.

“A faithful man who can find?” (Prov. 20:6). Faithfulness is rare, but when God finds a faithful person, He takes special notice just as He did with Cornelius. Cornelius faithfully met with God according to Acts 10, but surely there were days when he didn’t feel like meeting his routine or didn’t know if being devout made a difference. But one day God sent an angel to tell him that his prayers “have come up as a remembrance before God” (Acts 10:1-4).

Our reading habits tell God how strong our desires are to hear from Him and He notices.

Thank You, Father, for Your Word which is my daily bread.

“Happy are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates” (Proverbs 8:34 NLT).