Blessed Obedience

When the Lord tells you to do something, you have a choice to make: A)Do it right away; or B) Don't. We know for a fact that disobedience leads to a curse (ref. Duet. 11:27-28), so naturally, we'd want to obey everything the Lord tells us, because the opposite of that curse is being blessed...who doesn't want to be blessed. Therefore, if you do what He asks you to do, you walk in obedience, and the blessings/rewards are countless, right? That's what we'd rightly conclude.

But what does that actually mean? "Blessed":the Amplified version of the Bible describes "Blessed" as "Happy, fortunate, and to be envied." Who doesn't want THAT?! Who doesn't want others to envy what we have, because our lives are so happy and fortunate, right? But I think, at least, I've noticed in my life and my own personal tendencies, we take this to an extreme...we make assumptions on what we think "blessed" is supposed to look like in our lives. For example, God tells you to do something, and you know that there's reward in obedience, so you do it...do you expect a certain outcome? Do you expect that, say, if you pray for your co-workers or peers that are awful to you, that you will receive something from God in return? I'm not saying you won't receive something from God...but what I'm asking is: are you expecting to receive something specific? Such as,"Ok - I'll pray for this person, and the Lord will give me that promotion I've been asking Him for."

Let me take this a step further: say you've been pleading with God for something for a loooonnnggg time: you need a financial breakthrough. One day in your prayer time, you sense the Lord calling you to a fast. So: you fast...is it not natural that you'd expect God to give you that financial breakthrough? Sometimes He will, but if you walk with the Lord long enough, you discover that sometimes...He doesn't come through in answer to your obedience like you thought He would have, or "should" have, for that matter.

Several years ago, I was believing God for a miracle, a miraculous healing for my body. One night, after tears and deep weeping, I felt the Lord call me to do something that was almost impossible for me to do physically: travel to another state and attend a ministerial conference. The plans were made, the reservations set, and by the grace of God, my family and I made it to this conference. I attended every session, just "knowing" I was going to be healed. There were even special times of prayer when the main speaker prayed for healing for those who were ill that were present, and OH! Was I the MOST recipient of the faith being released during those prayers! After all, that's why I was there! God told me to go to the conference during my petition for the miracle, so naturally, I assumed that meant He was going to heal me there. The conference ended, we packed our things, flew home, with me still in pain, still in a wheelchair...and still as weak and ill as ever. In fact, I had to spend a couple of weeks afterwards just recovering from going to this event...did God not fulfill His promise? Did God not "bless" me for my obedience?

Like me, I'm sure you've hit these crises of belief: you come to a crossroads in your faith where you've done everything God told you to do, and yet it seems He either ignores you or abjectly refuses to answer/fulfill His promise of blessing you for your obedience. What gives? Why don't our situations turn out the way we thought they should?

What the Lord is showing me is: it's a matter of interpretation. "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.'" (Isa. 55:8-9)

Our idea of what "blessed" means is, more often than not, COMPLETELY different from God's interpretation of the term. We think that we are blessed if God answers our "obedience" that way we think He should: like me receiving a miraculous healing at that conference, or you receiving a promotion at work for being kind to the nastiness that sits in the cubicle across from you, or that financial miracle for fasting, as God had directed. But being "blessed" is infinitely more glorious than just receiving the answers to our initial prayers. It goes so much deeper, it's richer, fuller, more than an answer to our current situation.

God doesn't look at you and your situation now. He looks at you now, and next week, and next year, decade...as well as the lives of ALL the people, with whom you will come in contact, in the years to come. He takes it ALL into perspective, measures it, weighs it, and decides how best to "bless" you and those around you for your obedience.

Did you know, had I received that miracle when I wanted it, this blog would NEVER have come into existence? I would not have considered writing a book (see previous blogs for explanation), would never have walked into the open doors that are beginning to open up now, would never have met the people I have met over the course of this illness, the contacts, the life experiences, all of it would have been thwarted: the things in my life that have DEEPLY blessed me over the last few years since that time would never have occurred. And that's just scratching the surface! I can't tell you how humbling it is to know how many people have been blessed by the articles I have written on this site; it boggles my mind to hear the stories of people, who are drawn into the presence of God in prayer because they feel a burden to pray for me. The countless believers and nonbelievers who have been inspired and encouraged by the battle I wage with this ailment.

God has blessed me for my obedience to Him in ways I couldn't have possibly imagined during those cool autumn days at that conference...what about you? How has God blessed you for NOT answering your obedience the way you thought He would? How has your relationship with Him deepened? What new friendships have developed? What lives have been touched? What future opportunities are in store because you DO obey your Father in Heaven?

Blessed, happy, fortunate, and to be envied are we who obey the Lord...how true this promise is.