In Luke 6:46, the Lord asks the ultimate question of a disciple:        

         “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

      Doing what He says begins with knowing what He says. There are not many who even care enough about what He says to search the Scriptures to find out. Being a true disciple can be a very lonely walk, even if we are a part of what is considered a great church. If you are willing to remain faithful, you will ultimately find the greatest fellowship on earth, which is also connected to the greatest one in heaven. There will be a glorious bride at the end of this age, and you will be a part of it.

      The main protest I hear from people who do not study the Scriptures is that they are hard to understand. Actually, this is proof they did not try very hard to read them because most of them are easy for even a young child to understand. Granted, some texts are hard for even the most mature to understand, but we do other things which we care about that are hard. If we really cared, and if the Lord really is our first love, we will persevere through any difficulties to seek to know His will and then do it.

       The will of the Lord concerning basic behavior is clearly stated in the Scriptures and easily understood. This is not all there is to knowing His will. Even in the Old Testament, almost every time the Scriptures exhorted the people to obey His commandments, it added “and heed His voice.” Even under the Law, the people were required to know the voice of the Lord, obeying His commandments and His voice. The same is required of us.

      There are New Testament requirements. There are not many, but there are some. The Scriptures alone are for establishing doctrine, and everyone who really loves the Word, who is Jesus, will also love His written Word and be devoted to sound doctrine. For our personal and sometimes corporate guidance, we must know the voice of the Lord. In John 10, we are told that the Lord’s sheep know His voice, and they follow Him because they know His voice. Every Christian is responsible for knowing the doctrines of the faith and for knowing the Lord’s voice.

      Again, the protest of those who do not pursue knowing the voice of the Lord is that it is hard. They can usually point to others who made mistakes in thinking they were hearing the voice of the Lord. We do other things that are hard if we want them bad enough, so why is it we give up so easily in this? We will only give up if He is not our first love. The one in love will never quit. In I Corinthians 13:8, “Love never fails” could have been translated “Love never quits.”

      These things are hard on purpose. They are intended to separate the true from the pretenders. Those who truly love God will do whatever it takes to find His will and then do it. It will be their main pursuit in life and main focus in life.

      Anything that eclipses our pursuit of God is an idol. Anything that we put our trust in instead of God is an idol. Just as the Lord destroyed all of the idols of Egypt when He set His people free, Egypt represents the world in prophetic metaphors. The Lord is now shaking the whole world and will destroy all of the idols of this world as He again sets His people free. The verses that follow the one quoted above from Luke 6 verify this (47-49):

             “Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like:

              “he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

              “But the one who has heard, and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great."

          The storms will test every house and every life. Those left will have heard the words of the Lord and obeyed them. One word from the Lord is worth more than all the treasure on earth. What makes something a treasure is that it is either rare or hard to find. Is His Word our treasure?