Lessons in Obedience

I would say one of the biggest lessons for me over the past year has been obedience. OH yes, it sounds so simple, but it can be OH so complicated. I would like to take it back to a few months ago, when an event sparked my interest in starting to blog (months ago, thats how long it took me to actually do it.)

So one morning I got up and went downstair to our laundry room and when I walked back out of the laundry room a massive spider had emerged out of our storage area. Now, let me just say I know that people have a tendency to exaggerate in these types of stories (spiders, fish, snakes, lizards, etc.) but please know that when I say it was huge, I mean it was huge. It takes two hands to make the circle as big as he was (don't ask me why I automatically said he was a "he". I'm sure there's some deep psychological reasoning, maybe on another post.). So despite the fact that the spider is a good 15 feet from me I, gracefully, hop up on the loveseat to protect myself. I yell to one of my roommates to please come downstairs and bring shoes. Because of course thats the only reason I could not kill it, because I did not have on shoes. It had nothing to do with how large it was or anything. She comes downstairs and brings me shoes to put on to kill it. This was not what I had planned. So I am now "equipped" to kill the spider, but that is not exactly what happens. Let me remind you that he is in the middle of the floor. Wide open space, and I have plenty of opportunity. Well being the brave soul that I am, I manage to stare at him and freak myself out so much, that it took me 30 minutes to finally kill him, and by the end of his life, I was 30 minutes older, our living room had been completely rearranged because he moved, and I had a full day of reminiscing on this event.

This was one of those things that shortly after it happens I think "Oh my gosh, you are so dumb." Let me be really honest though and tell you that this happens so much in my spiritual life. I often look back on things that I have done and things that have happened and think to myself "self, that was really dumb." But seriously, here is where the lesson in obedience comes in. While I was psyching myself out, I was also trying to be realistic by telling myself things like I am so much bigger than him, and asking myself questions like what do you think is going to happen and my answers were SO unrealistic. Like he'll eat me, or a giant convoy of others are waiting behind the curtain, or somehow I'll miss him and he'll bite me and I might die. Again, so unrealistic. But that is me in so many situations in life sometimes. I have every opportunity and am more than equipped to do what the Lord has called me to do, but I psych myself out or just wait. I have all of these fears that may even seem realistic, but when I hold them up against God's Word and what I know to be truth, they are so unrealistic. You see, the thing is, I could have killed that spider in the very beginning, when he was in the middle of the floor and it would have been over. No dancing around him in my living room for 30 minutes. No 30 minutes of straight fear and anxiety. It would have just been done. Instead I wasted 30 minutes just to do what I could have done to begin with. I wonder how often I really do that with God. How often do I just sit around and think about what I know the Lord wants me to do or just postpone doing it because of fears that I may have or things I may not understand. It all reminds me of the story in Genesis 19 with Lot being warned about the destruction of Sodom. Just as Lot was warned of the destruction to come, the Lord graciously does the same thing to me, and at times I just sit there. After Lot had been warned twice in v. 16 it says "But he lingered..." He lingered. My tendency is to say, boy he's dumb. But then I look at my own life and see times where I have sat in Sodom after warnings of destruction and just as Lot was, I have had to be dragged out. In another attempt to do his own thing Lot asks to not flee to the hills as he is told but go to a city closer. His request is granted, but ends up leaving anyway because he was fearful in that city. But I love in v. 22 it says "But escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you arrive there." We are not able to experience the fullness of what Christ has intended for us until we learn to walk in obedience to what he has asked us to do.

O God, how I pray that we will daily remember the joy of obedience and times of disobedience. I pray that we will remember Your Son and the perfect example of obedience that was shown by His walk here on earth all the way to death on a cross. I pray that through His example and Your power that we may be obedient in the small and large things and grow everyday in trusting you and being more obedient.

Take some time to read Genesis 19 if you have the chance and please feel free to share any other passages on here that contribute to this, or not.

Dumb spider. This is me being super brave.