In the School of Obedience
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
John 14:15
15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Obedience can be a funny thing. As our children grow, we try to teach them gradually that they need to obey what we tell them to do. When one joins the military, in order to succeed in whatever branch you join, you must learn to obey the commands of your officers. But let’s be real, none of us enjoy submitting our will to another person. They possibly could be giving us the wrong commands. But here’s a powerful truth, God never tells us to obey in a way that could be wrong. Obeying Him is always the best course of action. The lessons of life as we learn to obey the Lord, we where we are learning to trust that we know His voice and our trust in Him grows deeper and deeper. This means we believe and accept His awesome plans for our lives even when we don’t fully comprehend what He is working. And many times, we may feel that God’s timing is either way too early or way too late. As we learn to live and obey our heavenly Father by faith, we learn to accept His plans, methods, and timing. We are showing Him how much we love Him by obeying His commandments. It’s such a temptation to trust in our own understanding when we don’t know what to do. And it is really a test of our patience and trust to choose to wait with a trusting heart and a willingness for the Lord to reveal His next steps in our lives. One time we were in one of our favorite pizza shops waiting on our favorite pizza to finish baking, when the Lord spoke in my heart to go to another table where an older couple were sitting together and talk with them. They looked distraught and extremely tired. I didn’t jump up immediately, but waited and waited and toyed with the idea of not going to them. Then the waitress asked for my help in grabbing something for her as her arms were full delivering our pizza and salad. Helping the waitress took me directly in front of this couples’ booth. I sensed the Lord was drawing me towards them. I gently asked if I could talk to them for a moment. They both sadly shook their heads up and down and the woman slid over, and I slid in beside her. I explained that I had felt the Lord wanted me to just come over to them and tell them that He saw them and that He loved them very much and that He was with them. They both began to cry hard. The sad lady laid her head down on her arms folded on the table, burying her face in them. The man brokenly explained they had just lost their only daughter. She had committed suicide just the day before. I sat with them for awhile and comforted them the best that I possibly could. You could feel the comforting love of God encircling and pressing in all around them. I prayed with them and went back to my table. God wanted them to know He was with them. What if I had been disobedient? Would they have possibly turned away from Him forever as they were making their way through this deep sorrow? Forgive, Lord, when I hesitate and question you.
What about you? Do you find it hard to trust and obey when the Lord tells you to do something? Let’s ask the Lord to give us boldness to be quick to trust and obey even when we don’t understand. Blessings on your day.
