“Our job is obedience. God’s job is results.”
My thoughts were captured for a moment. I have mentioned in several other posts how important our obedience is to God, and I know that what happens in my life is in His hands, but – I never put the two thoughts together. Not like that anyway.
Doesn’t that statement seem to bring things into a perspective that is a much lighter burden to bear? There are many, many things that happen in the world around me and in my life that I cannot control, but – one of the only aspects in my life that I have complete control of is my obedience.
Let me say that again –
One of the only aspects of my life that I have complete control of is my obedience.
When we look at the enormity of a situation we face, it is easy to become discouraged. It seems mountainous, even impossible at times. Even though we may know what God says about our circumstances, it’s easy to become disheartened when those circumstances are staring us in the face. That is exactly how the Israelites felt. In Exodus chapter 6, Moses tries to tell the Israelites that God would deliver them and take them to the land He had promised them, but the Israelites would not listen to Him. Verse 9 says, “So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery.” They knew what God had promised, but from their perspective, they could not see how it could be possible for them. They were too discouraged because of how bad their situation was.
Don’t we do the same thing? We know He loves us, we know He has plans for us, we know He has greater purpose, but we can’t believe it to be so because of what is in front of us. Are you too discouraged to listen to Him, to believe Him? That is why my obedience is so important. If I do what He says, and worry about obeying Him only, the big job is off of my shoulders and onto His. He is responsible for the results, not me. If it doesn’t work out, I did what I was supposed to do, and there is NO SHAME in that.
By the way, I’ll let you in on a little secret. It WILL work out, maybe not the way I thought it should, but maybe the way I thought was wrong. When I leave the results up to Him, God CANNOT fail. There is no error in Him. Man is full of error and man certainly fails, so why would I risk handling something myself?
What are you facing today that seems too big to accomplish or face? What situation discourages you from trying?
Is it losing 10 or 20 pounds? Your job is to obey, the reading on the scale is His job.
Is it getting out of debt? Your job is to obey what He tells you about your finances, the bottom line is up to Him.
Is it dealing with a strained relationship that seems impossible to fix? Obey Him. That is all that is up to you, the results of your actions are up to Him. If the other person doesn’t come around, it was God’s idea that was rejected not yours, so you have no reason to take it personal.
Is it the need to get closer to God, but it just seems too hard? Start with obedience in the simplest of areas, and watch the results unfold. He won’t fail in drawing you closer.
Obey. That’s the only thing you CAN control.
Where do You desire my obedience? Am I being defiant in any place in my life, defiant of your authority? Just like a little kid is warned not to touch a hot stove, your reasons for my obedience are completely motivated by your love for me. You want me to let You take care of the results, instead I try to manipulate them with my striving. God give me a heart that is eager to give the burden of the result to You. I fear we do that because we do not completely trust You. I am so sorry for not having enough trust. I cannot imagine how I must make You feel when I take responsibility for the results. I know how it would hurt me if my husband didn’t trust me with simple responsibilities like paying a bill, caring for my children, cooking dinner, or any other life task, it would make me feel unwanted and insignificant to him. Father, I never want to portray that You are unwanted in my life or that You are insignificant to me. You are much more capable than I in dealing with where You have placed me. Show me in this segment of today, where You desire my obedience, and my obedience only.
Royal Princess Daughter Of The King
I've had to live this recently and its awful hard but oh what He reveals on the other side and how stupid I realized it was to continue to try on my own.
ReplyDeleteObedience is one of those words I think we by our natural desires "cringe" at the thought of, in general. I first learned about obedience in Chad and Brittany's class last year, and again in January when we felt God moving us out of their class into the unknown.
ReplyDeleteWe wandered from class to class for 3 months, without knowing where we would end up.
Obedience is hard to explain whenever it doesn't make sense to others. When asked why we left the class, we would tell others that God said it was time to go. We didn't ask questions, we went.
We knew we were doing the right thing, whether everyone else thought we were nuts or not.
Did it make it easier? I wish I could say it did. It got to the point where we didn't even want to go to Sunday School because we just wanted somewhere 'comfortable' to be.
Looking back now, we see the results of why we made the move in January, and how God had all the pieces fall together, when we were obedient and listened to Him.
Seems like obedience and trust tend to go hand in hand.