What drives us towards entertainment? Isn’t it the neuron-stimulating “wow” factor? The

unexpected touch-down that drives audiences from their seats, the special effects that brings

imagination to life, the happening that no one could’ve predicted. I venture to say, that our love for the “wow” factor may even be part of our God-given construction, but for the things of God, though the Enemy has cunningly construed it to be a diversion from Him. No one’s saying that the secular “wow” factor is to be shunned, but put in its proper place so it doesn’t distract us.

What if I was to say, you can find the “wow” factor in God’s word? The right Christian thing to

say is, “Amen, absolutely!” But for many, at one time or another, reading through the Word is like

digging a ditch at 100 deg heat. If I dig another foot, I can be done for the day! But King Josiah, the

greatest king of Judah since David, demonstrated something we can follow. While cleaning out the

House of the Lord, they came upon the Scriptures that was so forgotten, that it took a massive spring

cleaning to find it. When King Josiah read it, he tore his clothes because generations of kings before

him, even those “who did right in the eyes of the Lord” was dinging around the best they can in some

version of a glimmer in the dark. So began a national return to the reading of the Word, and cleansing

the land on overkill, read it and discover that the list was quite extensive.

What was the Lord’s response? In 2 Kings 22:19, “…you were sorry and humbled yourself before

the LORD when you heard what I said against this city and its people – that this land would be cursed

and become desolate. You tore your clothing in despair and wept before me in repentance. And I have indeed heard you, says the LORD.” God takes into account how we respond to His Word. Basically, because you heard me, I will hear you.

That shone a flashlight to Mark 4:24, “what measure you use it, it will be measured to you, and

still more will be added to you.” I always thought that referred only to service to the Lord, but the Lord told Josiah that He will hear him after Josiah had read the Scriptures.

No one’s saying, go pursue Scriptures for the Wow factor. But to find the heart of God in the

Scriptures, He’s in there in all the words, sometimes perplexing, sometimes like digging that ditch,

sometimes overwhelming, sometimes boring. But there’s a promise in there, that the more you try to

know the Lord through His Word, He starts to speak to you personally. When printed words starts to

explode in meaning, when it feels like revelation, when a secret treasure becomes revealed in a

previously seemingly tired old stories, then it becomes a “wow” factor, the God-given Wow, put in us to be in Awe of Him. That Awe starts to come out in everyday life when you start to see his Signature in His creation, in blessed relationships, the parts of life untainted by sin. You start to find our very design re- animated, pursuing God, wanting more of Him, experiencing the Wow of Him. Then it becomes clear when He said, “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” But it all starts somewhere, an act of faith, the first poke of a trowel into hard ground. So take up your shovel, and start digging!

- Ann Miller