By Jackie Ricks
As a parent and a former teacher, I considered obedience very important. However, I remember as a child growing up, I often didn’t obey when my parents asked me to do something.
Oh, I didn’t willfully not do what they asked. What I did was delay my obedience, often because I was busy reading a book I thought I couldn’t put down — just one more page, one more chapter. I’m almost done; it won’t hurt to finish this first. The work will still be there. Those were my thoughts.
My parents, on the other hand, had other ideas about not obeying when they asked me to do something. It wasn’t until I was grown and actually a grandmother that I heard a sermon speak directly to me that delayed obedience is, in fact, disobedience.
As a parent and teacher by that point, I had drilled that message into my children and students but, for some reason, it didn’t hit home until that sermon. I realized how disobedient I had been as a child with my parents, and also as an adult in doing God’s work.
That message has come back to me recently through a song I heard — “Keep Me in Your Will,” by Jessica King. The idea is that if we aren’t in God’s will, we may be in His way while He’s dealing with our lives or someone else’s. Obviously, if we aren’t in His will, we are not as close to Him as we need to be.
Just as obedience in our children can be extremely important to their safety, we don’t know just how important our obedience might be to our own or someone else’s life. If a child doesn’t learn to stop when a parent says “Stop!” he might run into a dangerous situation such as a moving car or a hole or a dangerous animal.
We, as Christians, may also run into critical situations if we don’t heed God’s commands to us. How many times have we said, “Just a few minutes on Facebook, Lord, then I’ll pray and read my Bible”? Or maybe it was, “Lord, I’ll talk to my neighbor about You next week. Both of us are busy today.”
Or perhaps we said, “It won’t hurt to miss church today. After all, an opportunity like this (game, concert, etc., fill in the blank) doesn’t come around every day.”
Any time God is nudging us to obey Him in something, we should obey without putting things off. We never know what may happen to prevent our obedience later.
Scripture — Psalm 119:60; James 4:17
Prayer — Lord, thank you for having patience with me, even when I have delayed in obeying You. Help me to do better. Remind me to listen carefully, then to obey when You want me to, rather than when I find a “convenient” time. I want to do Your will and not be in Your way. Show me, Lord, what You want me to do and when to do it. I know that even my ability to obey comes from You. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Respond — Listen for God’s instructions and obey immediately.
If you’re not familiar with the song “Keep Me in Your Will” by Jessica King, check it out at tiny.cc/KeepMeinYourWill — it has a great message!
— These articles are shared via the National WMA web page blog that can be accessed at nationalwma.org/blogs
