Tag Archives: obedience

January 21

Genesis 22-24

It amazes me how often people traveled during Bible times. God tells Abraham to take his family and possessions and go somewhere and Abraham goes. God says to go somewhere else and Abraham goes somewhere else. And with him go servants, livestock, gold and silver, tents and food. Abraham tells his servant to go to Nahor to find a wife for Isaac and the servant eagerly goes to Nahor. Rebekah is invited to go back to Canaan and she goes.

And no one had four wheel drive and air conditioning.

I am once again convicted. How many times has God laid a neighbor or friend on my heart and I do nothing about it? I can’t go next door or across town to share Jesus with someone and Abraham traveled hundreds of miles in obedience. I can’t pick up the phone but Rebekah could get on a stranger’s camel and travel to a distant land.

What would God have me do today? Where does he want me to go? In which direction is he leading my life? May I be as obedient as Abraham, as eager as Abraham’s servant, and as trusting as Rebekah.

January 17

Job 40-42

Job didn’t just hear God. He listened, he understood, and he repented. That’s the purpose behind everything that is written in God’s Word and everything that happens in this life. God wants us to know Him and when we do there is really only one response… to repent in dust and ashes.

I chuckled a little when I read what happened next. God told Job’s friends to offer sacrifices for their sins and Job would pray for them. Job… who still had no wealth or position in the community, no family and who even still wore the ugly marks of sickness would pray for them.

Job didn’t put himself in a position of authority. God did that. God used Job’s obedience to minister to others.

Maybe our own friends and neighbors don’t need to hear about our accomplishments or pedigrees. I’m thinking if we put ourselves aside (Job said after seeing himself through God’s eyes he despised himself and he repented in dust and ashes) God will exalt us to a place where He can use us to bless others.

God doesn’t need us to clean ourselves off or pull ourselves up by our own strength before He can use us. Job was still outside the city when God gave Him a job to do. God just needed Job to be humble enough to obey. He needed Job to repent so that he could serve God out of a heart made clean by God Himself.

God, may I do the same today. Create in me a clean heart and may You find me obedient for the work you want me to do.

January 13

Job 30-32

Job is still trying to make sense of what has happened. He examines his life closely and still feels he has lived a righteous life. I didn’t take time to count the “if”‘s in these verses but there are many. Job says, in the condensed version… if I was unfair, stingy, judgmental, if I was unfaithful to my wife or put my trust in gold I would have disobeyed God and could understand my suffering.

But Job stands firm in his belief that he did his best to be a godly man. And he was.

God is telling us through Job’s story that health and wealth are not connected to obedience. There are no guarantees that if you live a good life only good things will happen to you. If that were so people would go to God for the wrong reason… for what’s in it for them instead of going to God because of who He is.

So what is the incentive for godly living if I can’t be assured life will be easy? And what’s to prevent me from enjoying the lusts of the world if it rains on both good and bad people anyway?

I can say first hand that the benefits of godly living include a clear conscience, a blessed assurance, peace, hope, satisfaction, strength, and the knowledge that I am loved and forgiven. You just can’t buy those things no matter how wealthy you are.

God, thank you for blessing us with your Presence, more precious than gold. And thank you that, whether good times or bad, you are right there. Help us to realize everything that happens in this lifetime happens to draw us to you and to show you to a lost world who needs you. May you find us faithful because we love you.