I've had occasion in recent days to search through a number of my old journals. As is often the case when I start looking through old files, I easily get distracted. I may come across a greeting card or an article that meant a lot to me at the time and I turn aside from the immediate search to reflect again on the unexpected entry.
As I read through last year's journal, I found myself repeatedly distracted. At the time of writing them, each of those entries was significant for some reason or another. But the significance increased dramatically as I looked back on each entry with the benefit of hindsight and comparison with other entries around the same time.
From my new vantage point, I was struck by the realization that God does speak to me. No, I'm not talking about a literal voice. But as each entry was recorded there was a cumulative effect developing. I may have written about a specific issue over a period of days. But I recorded what I sensed, felt or observed at that time.
The idea of writing down insights, questions, observations, emotions etc. is hardly a new one. My mind goes back to the events in Exodus 17 when Joshua defeated the Amalekites. Here's what is written in v.14
Then the LORD instructed Moses, "Write this down as a permanent record, and announce it to Joshua: I will blot out every trace of Amalek from under heaven."(Ex 17:14 NLT)
I know that Joshua was aware of the dual nature of the conflict in which he was involved - Joshua in the valley fighting and Moses on the hilltop praying. Even so, the Lord instructed Moses to write down the nature of the victory and, in particular, to tell Joshua to keep himself aware of why they had a great victory that day.
Another example of the importance of writing is found in the early chapters of the Book of Revelation where John is repeatedly instructed to "write down what you have seen and heard" (Rev.1/19 NLT). The result of John's repeated obedience in writing to each of the Churches is a record of what God told him to write.
I am privileged to mentor a number of men - most of them are younger Pastors. I encourage each of them to keep a record of those times when they are alone with God. Sometimes they will wait - pen in hand - and eventually write nothing; at least nothing that seems of any consequence. But I assure them that there will be other times when they will just write like there's no tomorrow!
I want to urge you, too, that if you don't currently keep some kind of journal, you begin to do so from now on. I know that, in my own life, so much of what God whispers into my spirit from time to time would be lost by my increasingly poor memory. And when God speaks, the greatest tragedy would be to lose what He said. Let's make every effort to record what He says so that it is not lost to us. Rather, that it be there for us to reflect on as the months and years pass by.
