a little at a time
December 3, 2010 (Friday)
Ever see the TV show, “Wheel of Fortune?” You probably know about it because it has been on the air for many years. You may know how it works. Words are displayed on a big board, as the contestants supply the letters. What is at first a blank screen slowly takes on the shape of words with letters missing. When a contestant thinks he knows what the missing letters are, he solves the puzzle.
Morse code is a lot like that. When broadcast conditions are poor, the message sent by Morse Code is only partially received. Static, etc. hide some of the letters so that the person trying to decipher the message gets only part of it. If it had been a voice message, the receiver would not be able to figure out what the speaker is trying to say. It would be too garbled. But the Morse Code method, sending a message letter by letter, makes it possible to know what the sender is trying to say. Like the contestant on “Wheel of Fortune,” he is able to guess at the missing letters on the basis of what he does understand.
So there is the situation. A message is being sent, but you only hear part of it. You have to try and figure out what the rest of the message is, based upon what you already know.
Sometimes I think that’s the way God is speaking to us. We hear Him, as He speaks to us through life situations or other revelations. But it is not quite clear to us what the main message is. So we try to figure out what God is saying to us. We understand the general message, but the specifics are not quite clear to us. How many times in your life have you been right there, knowing that God is working in your life, believing that He is asking you to do something, but praying earnestly that somehow He will make His will clear to you.
To use another illustration, understanding what the will of the Lord is, and doing it, is sometimes like night driving. We can see the road, but only a short distance. It requires faith to keep going. Life is like that sometimes.
The chorus of an old hymn teaches us to say, “Sweet will of God, still fold me closer, till I am wholly lost in Thee.”