“Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
Jeremiah 42:6 (NKJV)
I came across this verse as I was doing some studies about obedience. My desire was to locate scriptures about this topic so that I could apply them to my prayers for my children. As I read through this passage in Jeremiah, I got excited because I knew that this would be a great one to add to my prayer arsenal. But as I began to read it and pray, the words began to resonate within me. These words were not just for children to obey their parents. These words were also for the parent.
I thought about all of the times I sensed God telling me to do something and I did not like what he was asking me to do. Or I did not “feel” like doing what God asked me to do. There were so many times that I felt like God’s word was inconvenient. I rehearsed just a few of those times when I sensed the Holy Spirit telling me to tell someone about Jesus or invited them to church or just pray with them and I said no.
I think about the story of the woman with the spirit of infirmity who had been bent over and could not get up for eighteen years. (Luke 13:10-17) The religious leaders saw her and got indignant when Jesus healed her on the Sabbath. Healing was inconvenient and inappropriate for that Sabbath in their eyes. How many times has prayer for someone else been inconvenient and inappropriate in my eyes? Maybe I was wiped out from all of the “ministry” or at least appearances of ministry for that day. Either way I often find myself in the same seat as the religious leaders in Jesus’ day.
Jesus told the ruler of the synagogue, “Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound-think of it-for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath.” (Luke 13:16, NKJV) In essence, Jesus was saying that she should not spend another day bound by this disease because it’s inconvenient for us. It scares me to think about how many people are still bound because I didn’t obey the voice of God because it was inconvenient for me.
“Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord.”
Sadly, my children are not the only ones who struggle with obedience. Apparently, I’m struggling with obedience as well. Maybe the reason my children find it difficult at times to obey their mother is because they are seeing their mother disobey God.
Prayer:
Lord, forgive me for disobeying you. Father I want to immediately obey you when I hear your voice. I declare that it does not matter if what you are asking me to do is pleasing or displeasing for me. I will obey. Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, I will obey your voice because you are the Lord my God so that it may be well with me. In Jesus name, Amen!
