Luke 17:9-10 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Jesus said)
I flipped open my Bible this morning to begin to read. Trying to just read and not study but simply soak up something to help in my current situation. God is so good. At the end of the first ten verses I have read I find this statement by Jesus. You see, I have been struggling to find my place lately. Struggling to figure out what’s next. It seems sometimes that just when I think I have my path settled, God comes along and changes my direction. Just as my soap business is beginning to do something, I become a stay-at-home grandmother. Soap and such things suddenly have to take the back seat as I figure out what to do with an infant and work.
So I find this verse and fill an instant connection to God telling me to just “do as I tell you.” Ultimately, that is our duty. It is not promised to us to know the why’s or sometimes even the how’s. Only to obey as a good servant. So after a few moments in some very personal prayer time, I flip on the television to watch a little James Robison and Lisa Harper is giving a testimony about being obedient. She’s offering her words of encouragement to hearing God’s voice and simply responding even when you find it hard to believe that what God is telling you to do will make a difference or even when it might embarrass you. Something that at the time may seem so insignificant may change someone’s life when that seed takes root.
So, ok, I get it. Maybe there’s a message here for me. So I turn on my computer to check out some ministry assistance for an upcoming Bible study and I find an article about Karen Kingsbury. She’s talking about how God laid the inspiration for a book on her heart about our people in current struggles with financial difficulties and job loss. God impressed her to write about these people and she says, “God puts a movie in my head, and I have the privilege of being a pen in His hand. In a sense, I am able to take that movie and put it on paper. I need to be obedient to what He’s calling me to do.” Sounds simple, right?
I finish this article and notice an ad for a new book by Priscilla Shirer entitled “Jonah.” Looks interesting so I click through to check it out. This is the description of the study, “What do we do when God interrupts our lives? Many times, like Jonah, we run! In this 7-session Bible study, Priscilla redefines interruption and shows that interruption is actually God’s invitation to do something beyond our wildest dreams. When Jonah was willing to allow God to interrupt his life, the result was revival in an entire city.” I know, I know, sometimes God has to smack me over the head with something really hard but I like the clarity in His way this morning.
“Just follow my lead. Just do what I ask. Be obedient even when you don’t understand and even when it interrupts your life.” Isn’t that the least we can do for all He has done for us? I thought maybe someone out there needs to hear this as much as I do.
Renea Hamby
I always enjoy reading all of your devotions, but this one puzzles me. I can’t even explain it. It has kind of latched onto the back of my brain. It “keeps coming back” to my thoughts. It’s a little unnerving.
““Just follow my lead. Just do what I ask. Be obedient even when you don’t understand and even when it interrupts your life.” Isn’t that the least we can do for all He has done for us? I thought maybe someone out there needs to hear this as much as I do.”
Your thoughts on simply following even when we don’t understand is very timely for me, and a wonderful punctuation mark to what He is showing me today – thank you so much!