Have
you even found yourself in a situation where God ask you to do something and,
because you don’t know how it is going to turn out, you refused to do it? Or
maybe God ask you to give something to someone and, because you don’t know
them, you don’t give it to them? Or maybe God ask you to say something to
someone and, because it doesn’t make since to you, you are reluctant to say
anything to them? Well, God knows the end result in any situation. He would not
require it of you if He did not already have a plan in mind for it.
In
the Old Testament, God chose Moses to bring His people out of Egypt. Can you
image what went through Moses head? “What? You want me to bring all these
people out of Egypt? God that’s a lot of people, how am I going to do this?” he
probably thought about it over and over, and again and again until he final
said, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the
children of Israel out of Egypt?” So He (God) said, “I will certainly be with
you (Exodus 3:11-12a).” God had told Moses His plan for Him to deliver
Israel, but Moses looking inside himself and thinking about his own
shortcomings still could not see what God was telling him, so again he told
God, “But
suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice (4:1).” So God
showed Moses some signs for him to know that God was with him, but Moses still did
not want to do it. “Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have
spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. So the LORD
said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Have not I, the LORD. Now therefore,
go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say (4:10-12).”
Now at this point, you would think, Moses would say, “Okay God, you told me
what to do and how to do it, I’ll go,” but no, yet again Moses begged God, “O my
Lord, please send by the hand of whom ever else you may send (4:13).”
The Bible goes on to say that this angered the Lord, can you imagine, four
times God said and showed him, He would be with Moses every step of the way,
but Moses still questioned his ability even with God on his side.
We
do the same thing. God gives us direction in doing something for the kingdom
and we question what He said, then we question whether or not we can do it,
then, because we are still unsure, we complain about our weakness or
inabilities to do what He has asked. What we fail to realize is that God knows
the outcome. He knows exactly what He wants to accomplish by asking us to do
what He wants done, but, because we don’t know, we hesitate with doubt and
disbelief.
I
remember one time when God asked me to tell this young lady sitting next to me
in church, something. Not having heard God speak to me before, I first looked
around to see who was talking to me, because I heard it so clear. I looked at
the lady next to me to see if she heard it too, but she had no reaction, so I said
to myself, “No, I’m not telling her that.” Then I heard it again. I really thought I was
trippin. Looking back, that was the first time I knew God was talking to me and
I could hear Him. He told me exactly what to say with in-depth details and I
refused. Then I found myself with no choice, but to tell her. After I said what
He told me to say, she grabbed me and cried so hard on my shoulder, she said
she had been sitting there praying for an answer from God and what I said was
her answer. I cried too, because all I could think about was my first thought,
refusing God.
We
are not alone in our stubbornness to obey God when He tells us something to do.
The story of Jonah recounts his disobedience to God. God asked him to go to
Nineveh. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for
their wickedness has come before me (Jonah 1:2).” Jonah did not answer
God with words, but his actions refused God. He got in a boat and went in the
other direction away from where God sent him, and because of his decision to flee;
he ended up in the belly of a whale for three days. Then God spoke to him a
second time. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message
that I tell you (Jonah 3:2).” Reading this story hurt my heart, because
I realized that when we refuse God in his directions to us, we could be
hindering someone’s salvation. We are called to help Jesus in saving the lost;
if we refuse to help, they could live in eternal damnation forever, because of
us. Wow that is a very heavy burden to bear.
Jesus
encountered the same thing with the disciples when He feed the five thousand. After
He had healed many people of their sickness and diseases He took the disciples
up on a hill. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming
towards him, he said to Philip, “where shall we buy bread that these may eat?”
but this he said to test him, for He himself know what He would do (John
6:5-6). God knows what He is going to do when he calls us. He has
already planned for it to have a victorious end, but we have to stop
questioning Him and just believe Him. Philip went on to say that even two
hundred denarii worth of bread would not feed that many people. Then Andrew,
Peter’s brother chimed in by saying, “There is a lad here who has five loaves and
two small fish, but what are they among so many? (John 6:9)”
There
are also some who do exactly what God says do when he says do it. Reading the
story of Jesus death and resurrection we hear about Mary Magdalene who after
she went to the tomb and found Jesus no longer there, she sought after him.
When she came upon Him, He told her to, “Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee,
and there they will see Me (Matthew 28:10).” The Bible doesn’t say if
she went and did exactly what Jesus asked her to do, but later in the story we
read, Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which
Jesus had appointed for them (Matthew 28:16). So we know that she told
them.
God
knows what He will do in any given situation, the problem is; you don’t know.
People always say, “What would Jesus do?” I don’t know what Jesus would do and
neither do you. The bible says that God’s thoughts and ways are not like ours,
so how can we possibly know what God will do? We could imagine what He might
do, we could do what we think He would do, but when it comes down to it, He is
the only one who truly knows exactly what He is going to do. So the next time
you know God is asking something of you, don’t try to reason it, analyze it, or
try to figure it out on your own. Just say yes Lord, and do it. The blessing to
you is in your obedience to Him who sent you. Amen.
