Choosing Obedience to Live in the Blessings
Choosing obedience provides the ONLY path to the blessed life. I have to do what I know to do and I have to do all of what I know to do if I’m going to walk out my unique design. Partial obedience won’t cut it – and it actually still disobedience.
The best news comes from understanding that when I do my dos I don’t have time to do the don’ts or to even worry about them.
I can’t live inside of the blessings of God and dwell in the full promises of God without choosing obedience to the Will of God.
A dried brook is often a sign of God’s pleasure and direction for the next step.
The Truth of the Blessings
- God always provides provision for His direction.
- The provision is always just enough.
- Each day brings new provisions.
- God’s direction is for a purpose beyond self.
- The unique purpose path rarely makes sense to the flesh.
- The world’s circumstances to not limit God’s blessing.
It’s Not Working Out
The words struck a nerve so raw from the friction caused by another that it reverberated through my whole being.
“ENOUGH!” I’m pretty sure I shouted loud enough for people in the next county to hear my disapproval. I had had it up to HERE and I was not going to take anymore. I may have sprinkled a few colorful words through my declaration.
Despite all I had been doing, nothing was as it needed to be. I had a plan. I had a vision. Everyone and everything else needed to get in line.
And they weren’t.
One of my favorite provision stories to tell is about Elijah being fed by the ravens down by the riverside – although there are many great stories about how God provides what is needed for as long as it’s needed at just the right time.
But with Elijah, I can imagine what would happen if Elijah had been partially obedient to God – instead of meat and bread he would have gotten bread crumbs and bird poop.
That’s what I felt like in that moment. I felt like I had been covered in bread crumbs and bird poop.
I had early told someone that either God’s promises were true or God was a liar. There was no two ways about it. And if God’s promises were true (and I believe they are) then if I’m covered in bread crumbs and bird poop, who is to blame.
I cried to God – about where I was, about my wonderful plan, and about how nothing was working out the way I wanted.
“My grace is sufficient for you.” The free unmerited love and favor of God that He pours out over me because of who He is (and not because of what I’ve done or because of my amazing plan) is enough.
If what He provides is enough, then why did it feel like it wasn’t? What was holding me back from living fully in the blessings of God?
Turns out, the problem wasn’t with God, but with me.
God always provides provision for His direction.
Every time God asked anyone to do anything, He provided the way. He parted the Red Sea. The water came out of the rock because of God. The enemy killed each other because God made the way. There is always provision for God’s direction.
The provision is always just enough.
When Gideon fought the enemy, God sent him with only 300 men. But it was just enough to get the job done. When the manna rained down from heaven, it was just enough for each person to have what was needed (and twice as much on the day before the Sabbath). When the drought came, Elijah found comfort beside the river – and when the river dried up, the angel brought him water. There is always enough for what God directs us to do.
Each day brings new provisions.
My son once told my dad that every day the sun comes up and the sun goes down. Every day there is light for the day. Every day brings fresh grace and mercy. Every day the birds find their food. Each day brings the provision for that day.
God’s direction is for a purpose beyond self.
It is not all about me (despite what I try to convince my family). We are designed on purpose and for a purpose but that purpose is about so much more than self.
The unique purpose path rarely makes sense to the flesh.
It’s not going to make sense in this world, so stop trying to figure it out that way!
The world’s circumstances to not limit God’s blessing.
God has no limits. Keep saying that until you truly believe it.
God takes pleasure in blessing His people. Psalm 35:27 reminds us that God is pleased by the safe, well, prosperous peace of those who serve Him. When I am choosing obedience in God then I am walking in abundance through God in this world.
Simple, right? But then why do I keep thinking I can get away with partial obedience to Him?
The Truth of Choosing Obedience
Obedience is complete.
There is no such thing as partial obedience. Either you do what you are told to do or you do what you want to do of what you are told to do (which is disobedience). If you boss tells you to stock the shelves and you only stock one of the shelves, did you do what you were told to do? Of course not.
If I tell my son to empty his backpack from the campout and put it away, was he obedient if he puts the backpack (still fully loaded) in the middle of the floor? Certainly not.
And yet, I want to listen to the promises of God and only do the parts that I want to do while still expecting to get the full blessings.
Obedience is about direction.
I can only get to where I am designed to grow if I go where I am told to go. My boss told me to go to Jackson, Mississippi. I took the interstate to Biloxi and then stopped – because Biloxi is cool. I was supposed to take a right and drive to Jackson – but I didn’t go to Jackson.
Choosing obedience means following the full directions, taking the defined steps, and doing it according to the instructions.
Obedience is now.
Obedience is now – when you are asked – or obedience is at least within the time frame given. If I have a deadline, as long as I meet the deadline then I’m obedient to that deadline. If something happens that prevents me from meeting the deadline because I waiting until the last minute, then that’s on me, not on the one that gave the directions.
It’s up to me to choose now to do all that I can do to prepare for what lies ahead.
God’s place of perfect peace waits for me to step into it. Share on XFaith Building
Psalm 35:27
Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
God has pleasure in my prosperity – the place where nothing is missing and nothing is broken and I am settled in His perfect peace. He crafted that place for me and all I have to do is step into by following His directions.
Developing Obedience
My mom wrote in my BABY BOOK that I was stubborn and obstinate. She told me on more than one occasion that I could argue with a brick wall and win. Rules seemed like a challenge – how far could I bend them before someone or something broke?
And then I began to invest in knowing God and learned that obedience came first in His book. Despite my argument that He new I was a stubborn and obstinate rule bender, He still expected me to do what He said the way that He said it.
The more I got to know God, the more I realized that obedience to Him meant walking out His Will in my life and that His will for my life was founded in the unique way He designed me.
The more I know God, the more I know me. The more I know me, the more I understand that His direction for my life fits with his design of me. The more I understand this truth, the more I find myself choosing obedience with joy.
What is holding you back from fully choosing obedience?
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