In my Bible reading I've been in Genesis, and the one thing that strikes me afresh is that all the people called out by God, the ones God was blessing and would be a blessing: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, eventually the nation of Israel; they never put down roots. They were always moving, always changing landscapes. Their obedience was evidenced in their willingness to pick up and move as God moved.
This trait should characterize us too. Now, don't worry, I am not suggesting that we need to live in tents so that we can move location at a moments notice. God may ask you to move locations, but mostly He just wants us to be willing to follow His Spirit wherever it leads, without explanation. That's what obedience means. It doesn't have to make sense to us, and that is where I so often get hung up. Obedience is found in our willingness to follow God, to pick up and move as God moves without necessarily knowing the outcome. It can be a new season, a new assignment, a new way to think, a new church, a new way to respond, a new school, a new job, or a new direction. The common denominator is a call to trust God in the unfamiliar.
These opportunities for obedience all have one thing in common. They require that we release what we currently have before God fills our hands with what He has, and for a minute, they look empty.
I'm sitting right smack in the middle of this right now. I want so desperately for God to be proud of me, for me to trust Him while my hands look empty.
If you are new here, my word for the year is trust. God and I went back and forth on this. I told Him I didn't like this word. I'm thankful that He listened patiently and waited for me to get on board. in resisting the word trust, I was resisting growth.
Here's another thing all those people called by God did, in fact most of the names we are familiar with in the Bible practiced this same thing. They set up altars to remember the places where God blessed and provided. There wasn't a time when they chose obedience that God didn't bless and provide. The same is true in my life. So why do I want to resist God's call to trust and obey?
I think it's just plain wanting my own way. Expectations can be dangerous for me because I can place my hope in them instead of in God. I am going to try to imitate these giants of the faith and look back where God has provided, there are so many places that I have an "altar" that marks His blessing and action on my behalf with both answered prayers and things I didn't know to ask for. Rehearsing these blessings grows my courage to obey.
So, this week and probably for awhile, I'm adopting this as the prayer of my heart:
I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart.
Psalm 119:32
Not walk, but run. No hesitation.
The beautiful part of this verse to me is that it's a request for God to enlarge our hearts, when we choose to run in the way of His commands, He makes our heart larger to hold more of Him. I don't think I can love this verse more.
I invite you to pray this verse with me.
Please let me know if there is an area of obedience I can pray about with you.
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