It’s hard to be obedient to what God has called you to or is calling you to do when you become concerned with what people will think about it. It’s hard to be obedient to what God has called you to or is calling you to do when your first thought is who will support me? It’s hard to be obedient to what God has called you to or is calling you to when you begin to unknowingly, or knowing, choke the life out of the seed to be planted. It’s hard to be obedient to what God has called you to or is calling you to do when you allow fear to stand in the way.
All of these things mentioned surrounding obedience or lack thereof - I’ve struggled with it in some way or another. One aspect surrounds my walk with God, and the time that I spend reading, or just sitting in silence. I think that even in attempting obedience we tend to bring in our expectations - knowing and unknowingly of how it’s supposed to look and then when it doesn’t look the way we pictured we are left wondering what went wrong … what did I do wrong? Going a little deeper, I think that I attempted to tie my obedience to what the outcome would or would not be. I am instantly reminded in this moment of Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) which says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things shall be added to you.” This verse tells me that the seek is tied to my obedience to God. But I’ve allowed my expectations of what that seek is supposed to look like - usually based on the comparison of someone else’s seek and their obedience, to taint my own obedience and what the seek looks like for me.
Another aspect of obedience that I’ve struggled with surrounds the blog. I must confess that my obedience to writing has come with an expectation that people will read it, they will comment on it, share it, and give me praise. The very seed that God planted within my heart, I’ve somehow managed to choke it every time I go to write and then post. That’s because, in the back of my mind, I’m thinking about what people will say about it. What good is obedience if the undertones of it are selfish motives or seeking validation? I seek the validation of others quite often and I also seek the validation of God - which is a sobering thing to admit. My obedience to pray, to read the word, and to sit in the secret place with the Father is tied to an expectation that I’ll hear from him in the moment, that I’ll tangibly feel his presence and because I don’t in the moment or sometime following that, I easily choke the life out of what he will reveal in his perfect timing. I can be pretty impatient and I think even that can affect obedience, because if God called you to do something and then all you care about is the result of it, were you really doing it out of obedience in the first place? When our obedience is tied to anything outside of pleasing the Father is it really obedience? Or are we just doing whatever just to say we did it? Just to check it off of our to-do list?
We as humans tend to overcomplicate everything, even the most simplest things. I know I do, I overcomplicate, overanalyze, and overthink. We overcomplicate our obedience to God because then we have to give up our own way of doing things. We stand in our own way. I mean do you know how much easier our life would be if we were just obedient from the jump??? Think about Abraham, when the Lord commanded him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Y’all Abraham didn’t even second guess it, he didn’t contemplate it … he did exactly what God told him to do and then what did God do as a result of his obedience? A ram in the bush was provided, which was God’s plan all along. He just wanted to see if Abraham would do what he asked of him. Abraham TRUSTED God that much, he was ALL IN. 🤯
Could it be that the root of our disobedience is mistrust in God? A fear that God won’t sustain, that he won’t provide, or help us carry the very thing he planted deep within us? Because that just hit me like a ton of bricks after typing it out!!! Like God, you called me to this blog, but now I’m scared because I don’t know where it’s going, who’s reading it, and a bunch of other questions. I placed all my trust in people to temporarily validate me, when the Word QUITE LITERALLY says in Psalm 91:16, “I will satisfy you with a full life and with all that I do for you. For you will enjoy the fullness of my salvation!” ~ God’s satisfaction is eternal, it’s really all we need so when did it not become enough?! When did God become not enough for us? It’s such a sad and sobering reality. Is obedience not enough? What will it take?
Obedience requires a relinquishing of control. Obedience requires a choice to be made. Obedience requires trust in the Father. Obedience requires dying to self every single day. Obedience requires walking by faith and not by sight. Obedience is a yes - plain and simple.
Yes to the Father’s will for our lives.
Comments