Mind Your Daddy


"Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"
                 - Romans 6:16

     Have you ever read the story of Joshua and Jerico?  Not just singing the song, which many of us have sung through the years:

           Joshua fit the battle of Jerico, Jerico, Jerico
           Joshua fit the battle of Jerico
           And the walls came tumblin' down.

When you really think about that story, it's another incredible example of what God can do when He is obeyed.  Just imagine being told by God to walk around a city for 6 consecutive days, then on the 7th, when you shout the walls of the city will fall and you will gain access to it.  I'm sure some of Joshua's men were thinking, "Yeah, right.  That's really going to happen!" And yet, on the final day, as  Joshua continually obeyed exactly what the Lord told him, those walls did come tumblin' down.  Just like He said.
     I saw another incredible story of obedience in church yesterday.  It was actually the second time I heard this testimony.  The first time I heard it, I was at a women's conference in Oklahoma.  I watched it on video yesterday, and it brought me to tears again.  It is Kay Robertson's testimony, Miss Kay of Duck Dynasty fame.  You can google "I Am Second" and find Kay Robertson's segment there.  It is a very powerful testimony of the healing power of God when we obey Him. 
    We say God can do anything.  Yet when it becomes personal, when it is our turn to 'trust and obey' it becomes a lot more difficult.  Somehow we aren't quite as sure God can solve this problem, break this habit, get us through something He is asking us to do.  In the past couple of years, God has led me to make some apologies for past behavior.  I think He is asking me to do this as testimony of what He can do in someone's life.  Anyway, the first two were not extremely difficult.  Well, admitting you were wrong and apologizing is never just really easy, but these two were 'doable'.  After a recent struggle with God, I realized He was asking me to set another two situations right.  I had known about one of them for a long time, and was looking for every excuse in the book not to do it.  The second one was a new one.  Anyway, to say that these two conversations will be difficult is the understatement of the century.  Although I know in my heart God will get me through this and accomplish His will if I obey,  my mind is just full of scenarios that don't turn out well.  Scares me.
     And yet, when I think about it, I doubt that any of the Biblical examples of obedience were easy to the person doing them. Yesterday in children's church we talked about Moses and his obedience....how he 'pressed on' to do what God had asked him to do.  Moses was also uncertain, because he was a man "slow of speech and tongue".  He didn't think there was any way he could accomplish what God was asking of him.  Of course we know that Moses' obedience was successful and God was perfectly capable of doing what He said He would do.   There are many more stories of obedience and the miracles it produces in the Bible.  God put them there for a reason.....so we could see His faithfulness in action.  And so that we are left with no excuse. 
     I know I must do these two things God is asking me to do.  I will do them.  But I am not sure I will be able to do them without 'fear and trembling'.  I REALLY don't want to.  Pride?  Probably.  I know they are the right things to do, and because I know the price of disobedience I WILL do them.
      One way God makes us aware of something He wants us to do is by giving us a feeling of unsettledness for lack of a better word.  Something isn't right.  We feel what my grama used to call "antsy". Another indicator is when you feel like prayers are "bouncing off the walls".  When you don't feel close to God, wondering where He is.  I have learned over the course of time that these are indications I need to pursue Him for guidance as to what the problem is.  God is faithful, and I have found if I ask Him what is going on, He will lead me to the answer.  Sometimes it is not something I want to hear.  But it is always something I need to hear.  And when I do or correct what it is God is asking of me, those feelings of uncertainty and separation are gone.  Happens every time.
     You see, if we are really in this like we say we are, then there is work that needs to be done.  God does the changing in our hearts and lives, but we have to be willing participants.  And we have to obey what it is He is asking us to do.  Change DOES require action on our part....a willing heart and obedience are necessary for God to accomplish His purpose in our lives. 
     So, in this season, I am preparing to obey Him once again in a task I would rather forget.  And yet I know, once accomplished, I will regain my peace.  And that's worth all the effort.
    

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