11/11/2023
When God speaks do we answer straightway? When God says “Come” do we immediately go to Him? When Jesus says “Go do...” are we willing to drop whatever we are presently doing and go? By our very nature we are procrastinators, some of us more than others, but all of us have some degree of this trait in us. However, when God reaches out to us He expects action and not excuses, and for us to obey exactly as He has instructed. Are we obedient children of God?
“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”
Genesis 22:2 KJV
As I read my devotional this morning, I took pause at the words of Oswald Chambers. They convicted me as a lifelong procrastinator. Overcoming my will as I seek to do God’s is challenging, and Chambers wrote of it this way regarding the scripture above...
“God’s command is - Take now, not presently. It is extraordinary how we debate! We know a thing is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it at once. To climb to the height God shows can never be done presently, it must be done now. The sacrifice is gone through in will before it is done actually.” - Oswald Chambers
When God told Moses to take a His Son Isaac, he prefaced that command with the word “now”. He didn’t say "think about it a while", or "when you get around to it." It is the same when the Lord speaks to us. He will give us a time along with his instructions, and if by chance there is no specific time given you can well assume He means “Now”. So what did Abraham do?
“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.”
Genesis 22:3 KJV
Abraham rose early and went right away to the mountain where he built an altar. This is an interesting verse of scripture because there are some things here that are rarely mentioned in sermons... Abraham wasn't alone with Isaac, he took two of his young men with him, and they cut wood for the altar fire. Did Isaac help as well? Did he gather wood that was to be used for his own sacrifice? What were the two young men thinking? Were they privy to God's instructions to Abraham? Would they attempt to stop him in the final seconds? We will never know the answer to these questions, but God knew beforehand, and the enormity of this day would live on through the two witnesses that were there, and that number seems important… there were two, Abraham who would perform the sacrifice, and Isaac… the chosen sacrifice… the lamb of God.
One shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.”
Deuteronomy 19:15 KJV
If Isaac had been sacrificed it would have been in the presence of these two witnesses, but as it were... there were three as Isaac became the third when God provided an alternative sacrifice. Oswald Chambers also spoke about the sacrifice that God provided...
“Abraham did not choose the sacrifice. Always guard against self-chosen service for God. Self-sacrifice may be a disease. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace, if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential order of God for you is a hard time of difficulty, go through with it, but never choose the scene of your martyrdom.” - Oswald Chambers
There have been times in my life when I took what God told me to do and procrastinated, and others where I attempted to make it “Better”. Think back on your own life, we’re there times when you did these things too?
There once was a young man who was a computer programmer, and one day his boss came in and gave him a simple assignment. He told him to write a program that would read a vast and complex set of transaction data and produce a report that detailed each time that two certain types of transactions occurred together, and he needed this report in the morning first thing.
The man was young, and really wanted to please his boss, so he started working on the program right away. Now, he was a very bright fellow and in short order had the report ready, but in so doing he noticed several other occurrences that appeared to be important and relevant to him... so he worked well into the night to produce an elaborate report that not only had what his boss needed, but also took the solution much further and added “additional value.” Once complete he sat back in his chair, looked at the incredible report he had just produced, and thought to himself... “This is good!” He just knew his boss would be impressed.
The next morning the boss rushed in, saw the report laying on the young man’s desk, grabbed it and sped out the door. The young man had wanted to tell him about the improvements, but thought to himself “He is going to be so surprised and pleased.” Later in the day the boss came back and called the young man to his office. As he walked through the door he was thinking that this was the moment he would be praised, and maybe it would even lead to a promotion.
The boss told him to sit down and then proceeded to ask him how he could have screwed up such a simple assignment. The young man was floored, and tried to explain how much better his interpretation had been, when the boss stopped him short.
“This morning I was heading into a meeting of the Board of Directors to present a finding that would save this company millions of dollars. It was simple and easy to understand if they looked at the numbers I asked you to produce, but when I opened your report it was confusing to them and nearly cost us the savings.” Then he leaned back in his chair and looked at him for a long while before finishing his thought. “I saw brilliance in your work, but it wasn’t what I needed. Fortunately, I was able to salvage things this morning, but if this occurs again I will have to let you go.”
When God gives us an assignment we often put it off, or at other times obey right away but think that we can improve upon it. We believe that we know where He is going with His will, and that we can “add value” to what He is trying to do.
Or...
Maybe we are walking down the street and see a man huddled in some cardboard shivering, and the Lord says “give him twenty dollars.” Then we procrastinate, and walk on by him, but a block further down the road we decide to obey and by the time we get back to where he was huddled, he is gone. Later that night the police find him in an alley dead of exposure.
Or maybe we see that same man, and God gives us the same command “give him twenty dollars.” So we respond by buying him a hot meal, and putting him up in a nice hotel for the night.” Better right? But Two days later the police find him dead in an alley of exposure. In both of these scenarios we didn’t do what God had asked. What we didn’t know was that moments before we had arrived, and God had asked us to give this man twenty dollars, he had prayed “Father, if I had twenty dollars I would buy a bus ticket home to my family. I am ready to go home.”
Don’t put God off, and never second guess Him by thinking we can take His perfect will and make it better. Don’t build a cathedral where God wants a quaint country church, or leave money to grow in the bank when God says send it out. Listen, obey, and do exactly as He asks.
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your perfect will in my life, and in the world. I thank you for leading me and using me to do those things that you see as good. I pray Father that I always answer your call without delay, and that I do exactly as you ask me to do. What you see Lord is clear and far reaching, but what I see is through a glass darkly, and hindered by the weakness of my eyes. Give me faith; a faith that is based on trusting you. Let your pleasure be found in my obedience, and in the precise way I obey your Word. In this Father I will not disobey, nor attempt to usurp your authority. In this I am a good and obedient child who does his Father’s will. May I bring you praise and glory always in my obedient service to you. You Father are the author of all good things... and I am but the pen in your hand. Great and glorious are you whose will is the story of life everlasting!
Rich Forbes