obedience to God

You Choose

Posted on by Betsy

A phone call between a young doctor in one hospital who was seeking the advice of an oncologist in another quickly became a matter of life or death. Cancer had been unexpectedly discovered as the patient lay open on the operating table. The question of how much tissue to remove prompted the oncologist to inquire about the patient’s age. Learning that she was a young woman of 20, he advised against the normal protocol of removing a significant amount of tissue, lest her fertility be impaired. Chemotherapy should resolve the rest, he postured. Little did he know that about eight years later, she would give birth to my first grandchild, the first of three. In that moment of life or death, he chose life for her future children, and we are forever grateful.

Our Scripture today is also about choosing life or death. Moses was giving his final message to the nation of Israel at the end of their wandering the desert for forty years and he clearly laid out the invitation to choose life. This discourse on blessings and curses was given to instruct them that blessings came through obedience to the covenant God had made with them. Obedience would result in fruit, as the Lord would help them prosper in every aspect of fertility. The land, their families, and their herds would all grow and flourish. It was a simple matter of keeping the Law, the statutes, and the commandments they had been given.

Deuteronomy 30 (Common English Bible)

9 The Lord your God will help you succeed in everything you do—in your own fertility, your livestock’s offspring, and your land’s produce—everything will be great! Because the Lord will once again enjoy doing good things for you just as he enjoyed doing them for your ancestors, 10 and because you will be obeying the Lord your God’s voice, keeping his commandments and his regulations that are written in this Instruction scroll, and because you will have returned to the Lord your God with all your heart and all your being.

God understood that the Law couldn’t be kept and so he allowed a system of sacrifice that brought atonement. We see the ultimate application of this in the advent of Jesus Christ, who came to be the last and final atonement for sin. Moses argued that choosing life was an easy task. The Israelites didn’t have to look far for the answers, because the answers were all incorporated in God’s Word. Good Jews studied and memorized the Scriptures and had them accessible in their hearts. All they had to do was choose to obey it.

11 This commandment that I’m giving you right now is definitely not too difficult for you. It isn’t unreachable. 12 It isn’t up in heaven somewhere so that you have to ask, “Who will go up for us to heaven and get it for us that we can hear it and do it?” 13 Nor is it across the ocean somewhere so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the ocean for us and get it for us that we can hear it and do it?” 14 Not at all! The word is very close to you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart, waiting for you to do it.

How about you? Have you studied God’s Word enough to have it imprinted on your heart? Have you memorized Scripture? Can you tell others what you have learned? The invitation today is the same as it was in Moses’ time. Choose life! It is all in your Bible, waiting for you to open and receive.

Fertile Life by Michelle Robertson

Choosing Obedience

Posted on by Betsy

Canine experts know the characteristics of each dog breed, such as personality, temperament, and trainability. I was curious about this after dealing with my very stubborn dog and was surprised to learn that her breed is not among those considered to be difficult. I have come to believe that my yellow lab is a Siberian Husky or Dachshund in disguise, which are the top breeds for being stubborn. Georgia has a mind of her own and she doesn’t mind letting you know that.

In her case, it is a simple lack of desire to be obedient. I know that her high intelligence means she understands when I tell her not to take my shoe out in the backyard in the rain, but her lack of desire to obey me overrides her thinking and I end up with a soggy sneaker.

Aren’t we all like that? Few among us are ignorant of the behavior our Lord expects of us, yet we struggle to comply when something better comes along and tempts us away from God’s will. When the choice between self-denial and self-indulgence is offered, most of us move toward gratification very quickly. We aren’t helpless to comply, but we choose disobedience.

Isaiah 53:7 (Common English Bible)

He was oppressed and tormented,
but didn’t open his mouth.
Like a lamb being brought to slaughter,
like a ewe silent before her shearers,
he didn’t open his mouth.

In our brief, one-verse lesson today, we see a reference about the Suffering Servant being brought to the slaughter like a lamb and not raising her voice in protest. Reading this through our New Testament glasses, we’re reminded of Mark 15:2-5. Jesus stood before Pilate and chose not to respond. Verse 5 states that “Jesus gave no more answers, so that Pilate marveled” (Mark 15:5, Common English Bible).

 Jesus chose.

He was never helpless as he walked toward his beating, sham trial, excruciating crucifixion, and death, but he elected to be obedient to his Father, who had put him on earth for this very purpose. Why? So that you and I might be saved. Never without options, he willingly suffered in place of his sheep so that the sheep might be saved. Jesus chose to be a sacrificial lamb who was in control of everything that happened.

If this isn’t a call to obedience, I don’t know what is. God desires that we submit to the plan, the purpose, and the calling that each one of us has received in the Body of Christ. Sometimes that means saying yes to something so far out of our comfort zone, we can’t imagine God is actually asking us to do that thing. But it is often in those far reaches of callings that we find out who we are while being reminded of Whose we are. The old cliché is true: God often isn’t looking for our ability, but rather our availability. When we are obedient, we become equipped. Are you struggling to obey?

Say yes.

Boat Queen

War is Hell, but Moving is a Close Second

Posted on by Betsy

A long time ago, I volunteered to help a new music director move into her new home. She was moving to take a job at my church, and a large group of us gathered at her house to help with the unloading of many boxes. One of my friends, an Army wife, showed up in a t-shirt that read “War is Hell, but Moving is a Close Second.” It still makes me laugh!

I spent the first eight years of my marriage moving around the country at the Navy’s behest. During the first two years, we moved four times. I never bothered to memorize my zip code…I just kept it handy in my purse, crossing each one off and adding the new one.

One of the many sacrifices our military service families makes is the willingness to move when and where needed. This probably goes under-appreciated by most people. But if you have ever served, you know the stress, anxiety, fatigue, and uncertainty of moving into a new community with all of your worldly goods, your kids, the dog, and memories of your last duty station and the friends you left behind. It can be heart-exhausting.

Genesis 12 (Contemporary English Version)

The Lord said to Abram:

Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you.

4-5 Abram was seventy-five years old when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran.

I am always amazed at Abram’s obedience. He left everything behind to follow God’s command. He staked everything he had on God’s promise that all would be well if he complied, and even believed that God would bless him as he said he would. And God did. We are the evidence of that.

This example of obedience is a great teaching for us today. Did you notice that he was 75 years old when he left the safety and security of his hometown to go where he was sent? What a wonderful reminder that God calls us at any time of life to follow him, and the wise ones respond with acceptance and joy mingled in with the trepidation.

What is God calling you to do? Where is he asking for obedience today? Are you hearing him telling you to leave something behind so that you can experience a new joy?

The cost of obedience is often high, but the cost of disobedience is even higher. God always has a plan for your life, and that plan is guaranteed to prosper you and not harm you. It is a plan to give you a future with HOPE. Is God calling? GO.

A VERY Close Second by Nancy Bealer