“Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:25-27
One morning a friend invited me to join her in helping someone in need. She knows my heart for the Lord, and my heart for people in need. She wanted to know if I had time that day to come alongside her. A wonderful opportunity to spend time with a friend in the capacity of helping someone. The answer was obvious, in my estimate anyway. My daily schedule is usually as open as possible so I can be available to the maximum to seek, hear from, and follow the Spirit of the Lord as He leads me forth in my writing and streets ministry work not to mention caring for my little crew of special needs and senior dogs. All I had to do was say a big YES to my friend, and off we would go. And saying YES was the direction I was headed – until the Spirit of the Lord got a hold of me.
So instead of saying YES, I told her I had to get off the phone and pray, then call her back. I am learning following Christ is not only about saying no to my flesh when it wants to go its own way and yes to Christ, but first is about starting off seeking the Lord without rushing ahead without Him.
As soon as I hung up, the Holy Spirit gave me one word. UNFAITHFUL. I sensed He was speaking to my heart that I was about to be unfaithful. And He was stopping me. How so? First, while talking to my friend I had discerned some wisdom from the Lord about the opportunity itself. I had chosen to resist the wisdom in fear of what my friend would think of me. I feared my friend instead of God. Second, the Lord had already made it abundantly clear in the big picture in my life’s work how He wanted me to spend my time loving and serving Him and others. I already felt far behind in what He had called me to do, and now, rather than focus on what He had given me to do, I was headed in an entirely different direction. I was moving toward pleasing my flesh and my friend instead of pleasing Him. I was about to lay aside the Lord’s wisdom, His work for me to which He had specifically called me, and His will for me that very day to go do something else. I was on my way to being UNFAITHFUL, and the Holy Spirit had brought this to light.
I wish I could say I wasn’t afraid of my friend’s reaction when I called her back, but I was. I called her anyway. Because despite the temptation to go my own way, I chose instead in God’s strength to be FAITHFUL to Him. I chose to listen to, and to obey, the voice of the Lord. The Lord in His love and gracious mercy had spared me from being UNFAITHFUL, and reminded me it is for Him I live, breathe, love, and serve. And you?