If you are joining today and you have not read last week’s post about being a listener for God’s voice, I encourage you to start there.
God has asked me to do something (or not to do something), now what? The most obvious answer – Get to it!
I would love if obedience were always this simple. Unfortunately, we are humans with flawed understanding, judgment, and motivation. We get caught up in knowing the whole plan before wanting to take a step. We think of unending follow up questions. Our brains flag danger if they don’t know how to make sense of the ask. We question if what we heard is really true. We can feel insecure in our abilities. Knowing that God is sufficient to provide everything that we need to complete what He has asked of us can go out the window really quickly if we feel scared.
What are we to do about this?
Go to Scripture. If you haven’t noticed, there is a theme here. Scripture is always our best choice. Straight to the source. Has God ever asked anyone else to do this thing? Does it line up with the commandments or Jesus’ teachings? Do your directions fit a pattern seen throughout the history of God’s people? Did Jesus live through a similar situation and set an example for you? The story that I shared on Monday goes against a lot of human wisdom. But I have been able to see examples of God’s instruction to me and the provisions that I need all throughout Scripture.
I have doubted many times, but He has not wavered once.
Pull out your journal. I am a really big fan of working things out through writing. You might be thinking that you are not a good writer or don’t enjoy doing it. Your journal does not need to be eloquent. It doesn’t even need full sentences. When you go to your journal, it is a safe and private space that provides an opportunity to discover your thoughts, hesitations, questions, and fears surrounding what God has asked, versus what He is actually instructing. It can help you to clarify His words to you, even if they don’t yet make sense. Because let’s face it, our human understanding is going to leave us feeling confused by God sometimes. That’s ok. He knows what He is doing.
Writing God’s words with a date in your journal and follow up about how your journey of obedience is going can also help you to see the work in progress. I find this to be a boost to my resilience to continue choosing obedience even when it feels like God has forgotten me. And when the benefit of my obedience finally seems to come, I can look back and realize that there were blessings along the entire way. He wasn’t waiting for an end; He was using the journey. I literally forget it every time. I’m so grateful that He is faithful to me anyway.
Ask questions, but remove your expectations from His responses. He welcomes our curiosity and understands our humanity. He knows it is natural for us to doubt, want more information, feel like we need the whole plan first, or desire baby steps instead of a leap. He’ll help you through your questions, just remember that His answers may not be what you anticipated or wanted to hear. Faith and trust are important aspects of a relationship with Jesus. He is not your parent saying, “because I said so.”
He is your omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Father carefully leading you to more.
Ask Him to soften your heart and widen your eyes. I am stubborn. I have trouble believing that I know what is best for myself. I don’t. My vision is very limited. If the steps above haven’t gotten me into action yet, I often find that a conversation with a trusted Christian friend can gently shift my perspective or give me the swift kick that I need. If you don’t have a good support system yet (make that a goal asap), you always have access to worship music, sermons, books, and faith-based teachings to check in with. Sometimes, all it takes is 10 minutes of me genuinely singing worship for my heart to surrender. Other times, it takes a year to break me, but I have always found that when I draw closer to Him through community and resources, my stubbornness dissolves and His voice becomes clearer.
Pray for boldness. If you do all of these things and get to the place that you know it is God’s voice, but you are still afraid to take the next step, ask for boldness. When you genuinely submit to Him and are choosing obedience, I promise that He will give you the extra confidence that you need. He is good, and He is not trying to push you; He’s trying to grow you. He truly is sufficient and willing to provide everything that we need. Be humble and ask for help. He has never failed me, and I am confident that He won’t fail you either.
I pray that God would continue to give me opportunities to say yes to Him.
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