OBEYING WHEN WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S AHEAD
It was one week before Halloween, 2014. Jane and I talked about what we wanted to do. For the past several years we were outside on the porch to greet the kids and hand out candy. But this year we both felt the Lord didn’t want us to do our normal routine. No decorations and we weren’t supposed to sit out on the porch either. We were supposed to stay inside and open the door when the doorbell rang. We both thought this was odd, but the Lord told us what He wanted us to do, and He wasn’t saying any more about it.
It was one week before Halloween, 2014. Jane and I talked about what we wanted to do. For the past several years we were outside on the porch to greet the kids and hand out candy. But this year we both felt the Lord didn’t want us to do our normal routine. No decorations and we weren’t supposed to sit out on the porch either. We were supposed to stay inside and open the door when the doorbell rang. We both thought this was odd, but the Lord told us what He wanted us to do, and He wasn’t saying any more about it.
So, like most people, we tried to come up with our own answers as to why the change. But eventually we knew it was futile, and we just accepted the fact that if we didn’t need to know ahead of time, then that was that. We’d just obey anyway.
Sometimes we want God to explain Himself and tell us why He wants us to do something differently. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and at times He will download more information, but more often He gives a command or request, and then nothing more until we carry it out. If we obey, we’ll find out soon enough, and that’s the fun of it!
As it turned out, a wonderful thing happened. We paid more attention to each group of kids that came. There was one group that especially caught our attention. When the three of them came up with their faces painted like skeletons, Jane told them to take as much as they wanted of the candy and popcorn.
Their eyebrows arched up, and the surprise was evident. Seeing their reaction was priceless. “Take as much as you want” was a phrase they hadn’t heard often. They stood still and paused for just a moment before all three small hands dove into the bowl and pulled out as much as they could hold. A big “Thanks!” and off they ran.
It was a delight to give those kids perhaps their first Ephesians 3:20 experience. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.”
It was great to be a part of the Lord’s plan for those kids, to show them that things don’t always get doled out in small, constricted increments. Sometimes the treats come big and are more than our expectations.
Jane and I knew this wonderful experience resulted from of our obedience to change our plans to what God asked. Deuteronomy 11:26-27 tells us, “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day.”
I have a plaque in my bedroom that my friend Wendy gave me. It says: “Enjoy the little things in life…for one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.”
Have a wonderful week full of little BIG things as you go about obeying the words of Lord.
Love, Carolyn
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