Lindsay Roberts
We’re living in what I call an “instant” society. We want everything now… from instant potatoes to instant information on the internet. And as our society has developed, diligence has become a lost art.
Perhaps you’re in a situation where you want an instant solution to a problem. The process of arriving at the solution can be a learning experience that is as rewarding as the answer to the situation. That’s where diligence comes in. Instead of giving up―telling yourself that if you can’t have the answer now, you don’t want to go on―you push through to get to the end result.
It took Moses and the Israelites 40 years to make an 11 day journey. They had to be persistent and steadfast to reach their goal―the Promised Land. And God used those 40 years to teach them an important principle: To be diligent and rely only on Him in everything they did. Some of Moses’ last words to the Israelites were that if they diligently obeyed God and His commandments, His blessings would literally overtake them (Deuteronomy 28:1-2).
I believe God put the word “diligently” in the Bible so many times because He wants us to perk up our ears and ask why. Throughout the book of Deuteronomy, we’re instructed to be diligent: Diligently keep God’s commandments (11:22), diligently ask questions (13:14), diligently investigate matters (17:4), diligently observe instructions (24:8), and diligently listen to His voice (28:1). Our part in our relationship with God is to be diligent so He can do His part, which is to be a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).
