About a year ago, I was
working on a gold leaf project with my union company. The project got delayed
and I needed to find a filler job. I have a list of people I call for just this
sort of situation and I knew the Lord was telling me to make the calls. But I
was enjoying my time off and I was stalling. Somehow making those calls seemed
too difficult and I was dreading it.
I took the coward’s way
out and left messages on their home phones rather than just calling them direct
on their cell phones. When no one called back I knew I was going to have to
change my attitude. I was reluctant because doing the right thing meant
stepping out of my comfort zone. I felt I was being pushed and I didn’t like
it. I was tired and I was being stubborn.
Most of us have some
residual stubbornness and rebellion in us. Our spiritual life changed when we
got born again but our soul life, made up of our thoughts, emotions and will,
still needs work. There are wounds that need healing. Even though we
intuitively may know the situation is going to turn out great if we just obey,
we allow ungodly stubbornness to get in the way.
When I didn’t make the
proper phone calls I reminded myself of Jonah in the Bible. “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and
cry against it.’ But Jonah
rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:1-3).
The people of Ninevah had
a horrible reputation. Their brutality was renowned. Jonah didn’t want them to
be forgiven and saved. He wanted them to be punished.
Jonah was pretty sure that
if God was sending him there, the king would most likely repent, it would turn
out good and God would forgive and save the city. It was God’s nature to
forgive and Jonah didn’t want to be any part of God’s mercy right now.
But God didn’t let him go
that easily. Jonah ended up in a near shipwreck, got swallowed by a whale and three
days later got barfed up onto the beach. It was after this tumble of events
that Jonah decided he better go ahead and do the thing God asked him to do.
Like with me, the thing God asked of Jonah wasn’t a hard thing. It was
something Jonah was used to doing. He just didn’t feel like doing it this time.
When we are rebellious or
stubborn it’s because we value our own opinions and desires above the Lord’s. We
haven’t yet totally learned or believed that He really does love us and always
wants the very best for us.
We’ve learned not to trust
people and we apply the same kind of attitudes toward God and the Lord Jesus
Christ. We just don’t submit quickly but instead we hesitate, rebel or cross
our arms and huff, digging our defiant heels in like a stubborn child that
wants everything his way.
Finally after some stiff
coaxing from the Lord, Jonah went to Nineveh, warned the king and the city was
saved.
I’ve never had the Lord
ask me to do something I couldn’t do.
More often than not, what He asks is something small. The devil likes to
deceive us and make it look like a big deal, but most of the time it’s really
not.
God loves us right where
we are and only asks us to do things that end up blessing us—one small thing at
a time.
I knew if I just made the
phone calls, someone would have a fun and profitable job for me. Finally I did do
the right thing and ended up with not one, but three jobs!
I know we want to do
bigger things in our lives and God will help us to do them, but only when we’re
ready. Even Jesus had to grow: “And
Jesus increased in wisdom
and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke
2:52).
We grow by making a steady habit
of saying yes to the small things without being stubborn or rebellious.
Being obedient is one way
we can magnify the Lord’s personal presence in our lives.
Love, Carolyn
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