““But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” Luke 6:46……..
“When I say go, go. When I say stop, stop. This is what obedience is, isn’t it?” the Spirit of God spoke to me one day
I had sensed Him telling me to call some people I had called some days before who hadn’t called back. For a few days, I was clear in seeking Him that He wanted me to wait. But a few days later, I heard the Spirit of God telling me to call. Was I really hearing from Him? Why would He change His instructions? Why would He tell me not to call, then a few days later to call?
Obedience isn’t about questioning God, debating, needing to know and figure everything out and understand, nor is it about resisting, doubting, and certainly not rebelling. It’s not about needing for things to make sense to our human minds. It’s not about being given a 5-year, or a 10-year plan, from God, or a weekly list of tasks and duties, with spaces to make a check mark when we’re done, or about knowing or even needing to know how everything will unfold, what everything will look like, how the next month will turn out, not about knowing the outcome of His will, or why God tells us one thing one day, and a few days later gives us a different instruction, etc.
God wants us to walk in such close and intimate fellowship with Him, like sheep with their shepherd, we who follow Him the sheep with our Good Shepherd the Lord Jesus Christ, that we learn to obey Him moment by moment, and that we learn to so love, trust, and adore Him that we can, and will, do just that. When He says go, we go. When He says stop, we stop. When He says don’t call, we don’t. When He says call, we do. We don’t need a five-year plan, nor a to-do list, a laundry list, nothing other than to be in such close fellowship with Him, continually seeking Him, growing ever closer to Him, being ever refined by Him and conformed to His image, to be so deeply immersed in His Word, the Bible, and so connected to His Body, our fellow Christ followers, to be so devoted to Christ, to be so diligent in spending time with Him, to be walking so in His company, that we can hear Him, we can sense Him, we know what He wants, when He wants it, and we do it because we love Him, and because we understand that true love for Christ bears the beautiful albeit hard to the flesh fruit of dying to self and self’s agenda and living for Christ with dedicated obedience.
Does this seem like a dull, boring, un-enjoyable, way too demanding and challenging way to live? To the flesh which ever wants its own selfish way, it is! But when we yield utterly to the Lord in love, reverence, obedience, worship, and service, we discover there is nothing in the universe more exciting, exhilarating, joyful, beautiful, thrilling, adventurous, fulfilling, and satisfying and loving than living in ever closer communion and fellowship with the Lord God almighty through Christ Jesus Savior of the world!