by: Allen Domelle
Isaiah 28:13
“But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.”
The end product of a completed house is the joy of a carpenter. When you walk through the house and see the fancy flooring, cabinets and the beautiful design, you can quickly forget what it took to build such a beautiful house. Before the house ever had beauty, there was the monotonous task of digging the foundation, laying the building blocks, building the frame and piecing the finish work together. In order to enjoy the beauty of the finished house, you have to go through the monotonous and sometimes boring building blocks to bring you to the finished product.
A daily reading of God’s Word can very much be like building a house. The verse above says, “…the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little…” These people became weary of the “line upon line” of the Word of God. They got weary of putting one block upon the other, and that is why they never got to the finished product of God’s Word.
We will oftentimes look at a mature Christian and marvel at what the LORD is doing through them, but we don’t see those mornings when that person is spending time in the Word of God reading “line upon line” and putting block upon block in their Christian life. No person has ever become a mature Christian without those daily building blocks of the Word of God being put together in their life.
Reading the Word of God can be monotonous, but you must not allow the “line upon line” to discourage you from reading it. Every word in the Scriptures is like that building block being placed upon the next block building a beautiful life and a mature Christian. You will never experience the beauty of the Christian life without having to go through the building blocks every morning in God’s Word. You can miss that one morning, and you are missing that one block in your life that God will use to make you into a mature Christian.
Moreover, sometimes the preacher’s sermon or the Sunday school teacher’s lesson can be like that building block that can become monotonous, but if you will stay faithful to every service God will build you into that beautiful and mature Christian that He wants you to be. Every sermon can’t bring you to the Heavenlies. Every lesson can’t be the spectacular story that leaves you breathless. There are going to be times when the sermon or the lesson is going to be a building block being placed upon another block in the building of a beautiful and mature Christian life.
Friend, you will never get to the end product of a beautiful, mature Christian without having those times in God’s Word where the “line upon line” is experienced. You may not understand what God is doing during those times, but realize that God is simply putting another block on the wall of your Christian life as He builds you into the Christian He desires for you to be. Don’t let the lack of the spectacular cause you to stop spending time in His Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you enjoy those building block times and realize that those times are making you into a beautiful and mature Christian whom God can mightily use.