June 16 Something Fishy About Obedience

Jonah 2:10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Imagine that, God commanded a fish and it obeyed! God used the sailors as well to accomplish his purpose in Jonah's life. We know Jesus commanded the winds and seas, and they obeyed. But God gave us a will to exercise, even when we do so against His will.

I've been thinking a lot about the exercise of our will lately...and that sometimes God's will in our lives might lead us through difficult circumstances. He does allow us to choose whether will go because we love and trust Him or whether we go kicking and screaming because He has a purpose for us that must be achieved in this way. There is also another alternative: sometimes we choose not to go, and He allows that. We end up missing the beauty that lies on the other side of the trial.

Rod Mac Iver said this: Yes, the strange and beautiful is important to a full life, but sometimes it lies on the other side of the scariness. A ship in port is safe but that’s not what ships are for. It is easy to design a safe life, but that’s not what life is for. Tigers belching, monkeys howling, mysterious swamps and chasms and lightning storms -- some of the best times of my life have been when I’ve experienced things like that. Or when I made it through them and calmed down.

Now, I have no way of knowing that Mac Iver is a believer in Christ, but what he says here is valid. It is in the challenges that we learn the most, about God and about ourselves, and where we achieve the greatest of blessings.

But we don't like learning that way, any more than college students like learning through the hours of study, home work and lab experiences they face. As I think about this I wonder what we do miss when we choose the easier path or when we cave in under the stress, chasing an easier road.

Yes, obedience may cost. It eventually cost Christ first, the apostles and then Paul great suffering and finally their lives. Today we understand there have been more martyrs for their faith than at any time in history. I wonder what God thinks when we beg Him too often to let up on it, to help us find an easier way to serve....whether we actually voice that prayer or just think it.