Story time with my daughter is almost always interesting. Normally her go to story first is the story of creation. For some reason, last night, the first story she chose was ‘Let my people go’, with the story of Pharaoh not allowing the Israelites to leave freely. It mentioned Passover, and she asked me what Passover meant. As I was trying to explain in terms a 4 year old would understand, that God killed the first born of all the Egyptians, but He saved the Israelites based on the lamb’s blood on the door post, even that was a hard concept for me to grasp. I choked up as I tried to explain that God had given Pharaoh many other chances, nine to be exact, to let the Israelites go, but it took something as devastating as losing their first born child for him to finally listen and be obedient.
There was that word again. Obedience. My daughter understands obedience well. She knows there are consequences to not being obedient, and some punishments are more than others. I think this is one of the lessons Pharaoh had to learn. Even after he let them go, he still was not obedient and went back after the Israelites. He not only lost his life, but that of his army.
Conversely, I had just had a conversation with a friend earlier in the day on obedience, and how rewarding it can be when we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit prompting us to do something. Sometimes we don’t understand the instructions and sometimes they don’t even make sense, but we are called to follow. The testimony he shared was that he was sent somewhere specific to get lunch, to order more than he thought he was capable of eating and to take it back home. Jeesh. Lots of instructions for someone who’s already hungry. But by listening and being obedient, he was able to minister to the physical need of food to a homeless person. The lesson he was reminded of is that God cares about all of us, no matter who you are, and God still provides ways of taking care of His own.
What is God asking you to be obedient about? There are consequences or rewards. Sadly, some consequences are more severe than others, and sometimes, it’s being rewarded by seeing God’s love evident in our lives. It’s by being obedient that we can fully see and hear God speaking to us.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit that provides a compass to direct our paths. Help us to listen but also to be obedient to what we are being lead to do, no matter how difficult we find the task.