Obedience to the Call
"Obedience is the key that opens every door." - C.S. Lewis
I am a planner. I plan things out to my little heart’s content and then I procrastinate for what seems like a millennia as I lack confidence in my own ideas. Before even attempting to draft this blog, I carefully took notes and wrote down my thoughts, believing that I was opening my laptop to finally write what I had in planned in my journal.
But the Lord had different plans, and was calling me to write something that hadn’t occurred to me, yet was very fitting.
Before I could start to share a message with you all, I found myself drawn to a passage that I had previously book marked and that seemed to take on a whole new meaning, as it was aptly titled, “Obedience to God’s call”. This was something I only breezed over earlier, but today this message was jumping out at me in a way I couldn’t ignore. It is in Haggai 1: 12 and is as follows:
“Then Haggai, the Lord’s Messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you’ declares the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of people.”
I went on to read the next passage, which was further driving the point home:
“Be strong, all you people of the land,” declares the Lord, “and work. For I am with you.”
In this portion of Haggai, God is giving the Jews a directive to rebuild his temple. Specifically, he “stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel” to make this happen. The Jews had been released from Babylonian captivity and had begun the process of rebuilding the temple, only to have another emperor come along and put a stop to it. So for the next 17 years, they lived without a temple.
Until the Lord calls Haggai into action, and stirs their hearts.
I understood that God was sending me a very specific message by directing me here. The moment the idea came to me to start this blog, although I was full of enthusiasm, I was also crippled with self doubt. Was the Lord really calling me to do this? I thought. What if I couldn’t find the right words? I had been sitting on ideas on what to write for almost a month, hemming and hawing, going back and forth. Doubting. Until finally, this morning, He stirred within my heart and I had my answer.
A gentle nudge. Be strong, I am with you.
That’s the funny thing about obedience - even when you think you’ve got it figured out, you don’t.
I am frequently amazed at how even when I approach his word not confident that I will understand what it is that he is trying to tell me, he reveals himself. This isn’t going to be the longest message I post here, but it is, undoubtedly, one of the most important. If anything it is a display of the character of our Lord and how he is there to provide the assurance we need in times of doubt.
He is the God who waits on us with incomprehensible patience.
He is the God who will help us find the words.
He is the God who will stir the need to be with him within us, as there is no other that knows our hearts as intimately.
And he is waiting for all who call on him.
God Bless.