All in Obedience
Last year was one of the most difficult years of my life while enduring ongoing and worsening health issues surrounding my beloved husband and brother. Several months before the medical journeys began, God led me to a Bible study on spiritual warfare. I tried to wiggle my way out of it, but my Savior knew I was on the threshold of experiencing new types of brokenness and vulnerability—new enemy territory.
We have all been there – had a spiritual high and an outstanding experience with the Lord. Then what happened? We took our eyes off the prize of God’s best for us and find ourselves in a mess.
Hebrews 11, often referred to as the “Faith Chapter,” mentions by name people who chose to display strong faith in God. Interestingly enough the stories of some of the faithful mentioned there came from the book of Judges found in the Old Testament. These people lived years and years before the writing of the book of Hebrews, but God had the writer include their names. God commended them for their faith.
A much younger friend works out with me to help me improve my health. She regularly reminds me that I “pace myself” when I’m doing any given physical challenge. While she would like for me to exert myself fully throughout, instead I start slowly and gradually increase my effort. She says I hold back.
Wow! Gideon’s 300 men soundly routed the Midianites. Amazing what God can do with the man He calls in the strength He gives him. To God be the glory! And the enemy stayed far away from the people of God for as long as Gideon lived: During Gideon’s lifetime, the land enjoyed peace forty years (8:28).
Observing a little boy who just learned to walk proved insightful to me. He loved irregularities in sidewalks or parking lots like manholes and water grates and had to check each one out.
Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, feared the Israelites after learning what they had done to other kingdoms as they made their way through the land. He summoned Balaam, a known diviner (similar to a sorcerer), to put a curse on these people.
A much younger friend works out with me to help me improve my health. She regularly reminds me that I “pace myself” when I’m doing any given physical challenge. While she would like for me to exert myself fully throughout, instead I start slowly and gradually increase my effort. She says I hold back.
You are a living stone. In the previous verse, Peter said Jesus is a living stone. You are being compared to Jesus! Wow!
You are being built into a spiritual temple. The architect and builder are none other than God himself! He promises to complete the project.
During an appointment with a trusted doctor, I mentioned that some of the foods I loved had begun causing me some stomach distress when I ate them. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “That sometimes happens to women of your age.”
God has called me to do a task. A big one. He’s confirmed it over and over, and yet, for the past two years, I have done all manner of things to avoid it. Why do I do this?
As we travelled through Mississippi almost to our destination, we noticed a car on the side of the road. A woman stood beside the opened back door crying so hard her whole face turned red.
Everyone needs rules, right? But what if those rules tend to keep our spirituality bound instead of giving us the gift of freedom in Christ?
You’re thinking to yourself as you roll your eyes: not these same old verses again! Wait. Hear me out.
Repetition is good. I’m a slow learner and I’m forgetful. Nagging is annoying, but repetition isn’t nagging. Repetition is effective communication. Brain scientists believe seven repetitions help us remember almost anything. One form or another of the phrase “do not be afraid” in the Bible is repeated 365 times. One encouragement on fear for every day of the year!
In Texas this week, we have had an unusually long period of snow. We do occasionally get snow but it rarely sticks around more than a day or two. Today is the first day since the snow began falling that the temperature has risen above freezing. Icicles are falling, and the snow is finally melting.
Mean words. Potty-talk. Critical comments. It was the beginning of a long summer, and I purposed to tackle the issue of the ugly mouth I heard coming from my children. For that summer, my children and I focused on the verse above. We memorized it. We talked about it. We defined words and explained concepts within it. We looked for it lived out in others. We noticed the opposite qualities lived out in others. And most importantly, we asked God to help us walk out this verse in our family relationships. That was hard for a big sister with a huge vocabulary that could slice and dice, and a little brother who had strong, fast arms, fists and feet!
Life’s difficult circumstances can turn peace into panic. Our survival may depend on living through complicated medical treatments, making difficult decisions about our children, struggling with financial hardships, providing care for a loved one, coping with unhealthy habits, or confronting generational family dysfunction. But “hopeless” situations are the perfect ground for God to show us His glory, as he did for Moses and the Israelites.
I knew the holiday season would prove difficult for my mother. She had moved into an assisted living facility in the midst of the COVID plague and could only receive visitors through a plexiglass wall. There would be no family Christmas gathering for her.
Travel, travel, travel, how many times have I complained about having to travel during the holidays? We’d pile the kids, luggage, and presents into the car and off we’d go. My bad attitude about doing it every single year probably affected everyone involved negatively.
My dog and I had just begun our walk when I observed my neighbor high on a ladder. He was trimming one of the large trees in his yard, as he often did. His landscaping was one of the best manicured in the neighborhood. I’m not sure what prompted me to speak that day--maybe his height on the ladder or his far reach of the chainsaw.
