Dare To Obey

Can you imagine building a massive ark in your backyard while your friends, neighbors, and maybe even family ask you all sorts of questions, think different things about you? And not even to break the world record, but in total obedience to your God. 

This was Noah.

It had never rained before, so building an ark waa certainly foolish by human standards, but Noah chose obedience over logic, over perception, over comfort. Eventually, his obedience preserved his life and his family.

“Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.”

Genesis 6:22 (KJV)

Or what about the widow of Zarephath; have you ever paused to think what it must have looked like when she shut the door behind her and began pouring oil into empty jars? Neighbors probably whispered. Maybe even her child asked questions she could not fully answer. 

Despite these, she obeyed, even when it did not make sense and in the end, obedience turned her lack into abundance.

“So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.”

2 Kings 4:5–6 (KJV)

What if you were there, walking with Abraham up that mountain, watching him raise a knife over the son he had prayed for all his life? Would you not have tried to stop him? How sensible is that? Some would have quickly tagged him to be involved in occultism.

Yet Abraham moved forward because he trusted the One who gave the promise, even when the instruction seemed impossible.

“And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven… And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad… for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”

Genesis 22:10–12 (KJV)

These stories are real and they each remind us that obedience is not about public approval, it is about trusting the One who knows the end from the beginning.

So here’s the real question: what has God told you to do? Have you done it?

Or are you still holding back because of how it might look to others, or how uncomfortable it feels? 

“Jesus replied, ‘All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.’

John 14:23 (NLT)

Don’t let that instruction sit in your journal while you weigh people’s opinions or wait for the “perfect” time. The truth is, the perfect time is now, and obedience delayed is often obedience denied. 

Act on the instruction(s) today, because on the other side of your obedience is provision, preservation, and promises fulfilled.

Shalom!