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“The climax of God’s redeeming grace, according to Isaiah 40.31, is found in the strength which enables men to plod.”

- Charles Jefferson

Not everything in life happens quickly. In fact, few things do. The problem we face in our perception of life is that we rarely notice or pay attention to the long period of hard work that comes before someone’s seemingly meteoric success.

When we see a great athlete or musician who rose to success “overnight”, we see someone who has usually put in years of difficult, strenuous labor to achieve the success they enjoy. To the world they are an instant sensation, but to themselves they are a collection of late nights, difficult workouts, sacrifices, painful training sessions and a lifetime of dedication. It takes time and diligent practice to become great.

There is a tendency to make the same mistake when we read through the Bible and study the lives of God’s faithful followers. We may focus on the moment when the people of God soar because of their faith, when they triumph victoriously by bringing down walls, slaying giants or carrying off city gates on their shoulders. We focus on the highlighted moments when they run valiantly in pursuit of their enemies: Gideon chasing Midian, Elijah dispatching the prophets of Baal, Barak rushing after the army Canaan.

There is a tendency to view these people as having moments of faith rather than lifetimes of devotion built upon the decision they made, day after day, to wait for the Lord. However, we are not merely call to have moments of righteousness or seasons of service; we are called to live daily for the Lord, making each day a living sacrifice to God.

Sometimes in our lives we will soar, sometimes we will run, but most of the time we will plod; that is, we will work slowly and perseveringly on a task. As Charles Jefferson stated, it is by the grace of God that we are given the strength to plod.

Parents plod in raising their children. The task of teaching someone all they need to know in order to become a godly man or woman takes a great deal of time. I’ve also been told, and am learning, that it takes a great deal of perseverance, too.

Ingraining moral reasons for behavior takes diligent instruction, ready reproof and eager encouragement. It takes intellectual focus and emotional control. Mostly, it takes a parent who will care each day, every day for the soul and eternal destiny of their child. It takes a parent who is willing to plod.

Studying the Scriptures is a daunting task when someone is converted to Christ. The names of people and places that are difficult to pronounce and hard to remember seem to stand guard over the text on every page of the Bible. Yet God has said we must study and that we must grow daily. We do this by plodding through the Bible.

One does not become a Biblical scholar overnight; one learns what the Bible teaches us about God, forgiveness and living life by slowly reading through the Scriptures and learning each and every day. We learn by establishing a reading plan and sticking to it. We learn by memorizing passages and meditating on them throughout the day. We learn by plodding through the Bible.

Teaching the gospel of Jesus is another area where we often recognize the need for improvement. We know how important the gospel is and we know that there are people who need the gospel, but we feel inadequate or ill equipped to share the good news about Jesus with them. We may hear about a new method that someone has developed or some new trick that makes teaching so much easier and quicker, but the truth of the matter is that to be effective in our teaching of the gospel we must be willing to plod; we must be willing to put forth the daily effort is takes to teach the world about Jesus. We should be vigilant in our lookout for examples and illustrations that teach spiritual truths; we must be ever looking for opportunities to make spiritually minded comments; we must be patient with those we are teaching. Everyone has a different background and different story that requires special attention, patience, time, compassion and understanding. The only way for us to teach people the gospel of Christ is to plod with them through the process of learning and growing, believing and trusting.

God does not require, nor expect, that each day of our lives would be filled with the makings of a great Biblical epic. God expects that daily we seek, strive and yearn to be more like Jesus, and he gives us the grace, mercy and strength we need to plod through life in the direction of heaven with the glory of God as our aim.