Hear And Obey

Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac—O LORD, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’ [Genesis 32.9]

There are two things I see here:

First we need to act upon what God has said to us. As much as we get distracted with life and our world, we need to remain focused on doing what God has said to do.

And, that brings to light the second thing I see today:

One cannot act upon what God has said if one has not heard God say anything!

The Bible remains our direct communication with God. Unless a person looks to the Bible, there is little chance of having any clear directive(s) from God. It is our duty to simply hear and obey.

When we hear and act upon the directives of the Bible, we can confidently trust our circumstances to the hand of God (for everything He is).

It comes down to submission to God. Is the existence of myriads of volumes of literature any wonder when the enemy of God and man's soul is such a deceiver and misses no opportunity to dilute God's message to man? In fact, if God's message is diluted, the likelihood of anyone effectively acting upon God's will is minimal. We must know God's Word - that is indeed our first submission.

When we know God's Word, we are given then the opportunity to act upon it in faith regardless of circumstances or reason. That is what Jesus did. That is what Jesus told us to do.

Jacob's return home, from all appearances, looked like a suicide mission. There is, no doubt, that Esau's army of 400 men set out intending to annihilate Jacob and his family. Jacob's prayer here in Genesis 32.9 is a lesson for us to know the will of God and rest in it.

What has God spoken to us? What has He spoken to me? To you?

Are we acting upon God's Word to us?

Father in heaven, help me to be clear in my understanding of what You have said and are saying to me. Then, help me be obedient to do Your will regardless of what the outcomes appears to be...