Day 14: Trust and Obey

I love Bible studies and for the most part am in one every opportunity I have.  3 consecutive studies I took were on Deuteronomy or Exodus.  I didn’t know this when I signed up.  I even remember telling Steve that I was getting a bit bored of studying the Israelites’ journey out of Egypt.  I’m embarrassed to admit that now.

When God creates you with a hard head and a stubborn will, He must put you through studies until you get the lesson I suppose.  He knows how He created me, so this is no surprise to Him.

2 years ago the theme in my Community Bible Study class was “Trust and Obey”.  All through our study, it all came back to this one question:  Do I trust Him enough to obey Him?  Now I’m asking Do I trust Him enough to obey Him when it doesn’t feel good?

Isn’t it easy to study the Israelites and laugh at their faithlessness?  Isn’t it easy to watch them from afar and wonder how in the world they could see God perform miracles with their own eyes and still disobey Him?  How could they be a stiff-necked people (talk about uncomfortable).

Oh how like the Israelites I am.  God has placed me in a situation where I must make a choice. I must choose to trust Him, obey Him, and act out of my discomfort.  Or I can fall victim to my fears.  I can justify my actions or inactions and state a case that actually sounds pretty good. I believe I can convince you if you hear me out.

However, God placed a few key people in my life that aren’t buying it.  And they have called me out on it.  My husband had to choose the uncomfortable path when he sat me down to help show me where I’m allowing fear to dictate my course and my path.  He had to show me my lack of faith in where God is leading me.  I am grateful he didn’t allow his fear of discomfort to prevent him from speaking truth into my life.

The next day I dug out a Bible study from 2 1/2 years ago.  Priscilla Schirer’s One in a Million (BTW, please do this study.  It’s one of my favorites of all times).  I opened right to page 72:

“The Hebrew’s allowed fear to overshadow them and began to doubt God’s loves.  Quite literally, they began to grumble……This line of thought parallels our modern tendency.  When we can’t see signs of God’s intervention, we often start to complain.”

“The spirt of complaint often takes this pattern.  It begins as frustration and spreads into a rain flame of disgust, whining, and longing for something other than what God provides.  Complaining is what kept God’s people from passing their spiritual tests. Again and again their gaze proved so tightly focused on what they wished would happen that they despised reality.”

“Unwilling to recall God’s past goodness or anticipate His future activity, they became blind to what God was doing in the now.  Israel’s faith in God and view of their journey grew distorted, so they ignored truth about God’s love and faithfulness.  Grumbling blinded them to the fact that the in-between time was part of God’s plan. Make no mistake about it – a grumbling spirit will rob you of what God designed the in-between time to teach you.  It will keep you from getting the most out of your journey with God. ‘The right attitude in real difficulty is unconditional acceptance and obedience.  God’s own must never stand in judgement upon Him.’ “

Let’s choose trust.  Let’s choose obedience.  It doesn’t come naturally when coupled with fear.

[box] This is Day 14 in a series, 31 Days to Get Uncomfortable With God. Please click here for a listing of all posts in this series. If you would like posts delivered to your inbox, please click here.[/box]