hebrews-11-61

I went onto the balcony and opened my Bible to the book of Hebrews. I started reading the first chapter in the way I always had, analyzing and studying the text as I read.

But something was wrong, I said to myself, “I’m not receiving a thing.” Then I looked right up to God and said aloud, “Father, You said that ‘man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord’ (Deut. 8:3). Now Lord, I am a missionary, and I am supposed to tell others that they can live by the Word of God. If I myself do not live there, I’m a phony. Now please prove that I can do this. Lord I am serious, I am asking You. You promise that You will reward a person who truly seeks You. Lord it is up to You! I am going to begin reading again. Lord, please make Hebrews come alive to me.” I began to read Hebrews again, starting from the beginning.

The next time I looked up, I had finished the whole book. Almost four hours had gone by. Looking back I cannot explain any particular truth the Lord gave me or remember any particular verse that shone with special meaning. But what happened was this. Through reading God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit and depending upon God to give life through it, it was as though God had picked me up and taken me into Heaven where He dwells. I had been with Him! My entire spiritual being was renewed. Leaving the balcony, feelings of lassitude disappeared, depression was gone–I had received God’s words and was rejuvenated in every part of my being.

I write this because it has been one of the secrets of my life. Again and again in China it was impossible to avoid acute loneliness. Sometimes there were acute problems and I suffered from depression. Then I would remember the solution–to saturate myself in God’s Word, in other words, God Himself.

 

A. Wetherell Johnson

“Created for Commitment”

pg. 112-113