What does it mean to diligently seek?

You ever have a day where your study of God's word is uninspiring?  Who am I kidding, right?  We've all had days like that.  You read the same paragraph several times and it seems it's written in a foreign language and you don't understand it.

What gives?  Does that mean God isn't listening or has abandoned us?  Not at all!  This is where diligence comes in. 

dil·i·gence 

n.

1. Earnest and persistent application to an undertaking; steady effort; assiduity.

2. Attentive care; heedfulness.

Diligence implies work.  If it were easy all of the time it wouldn't take diligence.  As I've been reading through Proverbs I've noticed a couple of words that seem to come up over and over.  Diligence and perseverance. 

God has a lot of great stuff to teach us in the Bible but we have to show that we really want to learn it.  We do that by being disciplined and diligent in our studies, even on the days where you are getting nothing out of it.  Because the fact of the matter is that you are getting something out of it.  You are establishing the success habits of discipline and diligence. 

This is where what I call practical Christianity comes in.  We establish these success habits in our daily study of God's word but these habits can carry over to every other aspect of our lives.  I believe that these two habits will have more to do with your overall success in life than anything other habits you can develop.

Why does God do it this way?  Well,  I can't speak for God but I can guess.  As a parent I have learned that there are many ways to teach your kids things.  You can make it easy for them and tell them not to do things but that doesn't always work, does it?  Of course not.  Sometimes you have to let the kids learn the hard way.  You can tell them not to touch the sharp cactus needles but they do it anyway.  The hard lessons tend to be the valuable ones that we remember.

A good example of this for me was when I was in college.  I noticed that many of the kids that were getting a totally free ride didn't take their studies nearly as seriously as those of us who were paying our own way.  I think the fact that we had to work and struggle a bit for our educations made us value the things we learned more.  So would it be surprising that God has had this figured out for years?  He could make it simple but we wouldn't place as much value on His knowledge. 

As you go about your daily time with God, don't expect it to be revelation and fireworks all of the time.  Some of those days will be pretty boring and may even feel wasted but don't despair.  Trust God!  He has promised to reveal His wisdom to us through His word.  Any time you spend "diligently seeking" God will be rewarded, even if you don't see it at the time.

How do I know?  Because God has promised and I believe Him, do you?