Day 17 – God Speaks Through Obedience
As you begin to spend time with God, settle yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths. Spend a few moments gathering your thoughts, becoming aware of God’s presence with you and in you.
Journal for 5 minutes on yesterday’s reflection and practice. What did you think about and learn? What challenged you? Did God say anything to you throughout the day?
Then, begin today’s devotional.
Read: Mark 1:16-20
As he passed alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. “Follow me,” Jesus told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat putting their nets in order. Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
In the passage above, there are some subtle parts of this momentous scene that always strike me. James and Andrew heard Jesus, and they obeyed – at once. There are some things we don’t know about this event, but there are insights that can help us know how obedience teaches us to trust God’s voice, and how hearing God’s voice should always prompt in us obedience. Jesus was known to them; he grew up in Galilee. They had likely heard Jesus preach about the coming kingdom of God. The way Jesus spoke to them aligned with who they were – fishermen – “I will make you fishers of men.” I believe the Holy Spirit confirmed in their hearts to obey, much like he confirms in my heart to obey when Jesus tells me to do something. Admittedly, I’m not a musical person, but a few times, I’ve heard a single tone resonate with a tuning fork. It is a bit like that. But sometimes, I am a bit like Zebedee, and I linger in the boat and think things like, “Well, he didn’t say my name, so maybe he didn’t mean me,” when I know good and well what he said.
One thing I have learned, and I strongly encourage you to lean into, is how I best commune with God and most clearly hear his voice. For me, it’s being outside in creation. It can be as subtle as noticing the changing of dark to light during sunrise and hearing God nudge my heart and reassure me that a difficult time is easing. It can be recalling John’s words about pruning when I am cutting off once-beautiful blooms from my roses, careful to find the perfect spot to trim so a new blossom can grow. In those moments, I am reminded that I need to let go of a once vibrant season in my life to make room for what God has next. Or it can be as overt as the experience I had just this week, where I sensed a clear prompting in my mind while I was out walking to call my childhood friend for her birthday.
My oldest friend, Lesa, and I met when we were just a year old and my family moved in a few houses away from hers. She and I grew up playing together almost every day while our mothers talked and smoked away the days and years of our childhoods. It wasn’t until I was about eight or so that I noticed Lesa couldn’t understand board games, read books, or play cards. Eventually, I learned that Lesa has William’s Syndrome, which is a cognitive disability much like Down’s syndrome, and she would never progress past the developmental stage of about a 6 year old. When middle school came around, she went to a different school, and we saw each other less often. One thing is for sure—there is nothing more important to Lesa than her birthday. Every year, on January 28th, she would pound on our door and shout, “Traci, it’s my birthday, what did you get me??”
Lesa now lives in a home with other disabled adults with care givers. Her family frequently moves her to different homes like this, so it’s hard for me to keep track of her, but every few years, she looks up my husband’s business somehow and gets in touch with me – on her birthday. Last year, God used the darkness of my morning walk in early January to make me think of what Lesa’s birthday would be like to her if no one remembered it, and I knew he was telling me to do the work of finding her so I could send her a card, call her, or go take her out to lunch. But, I didn’t. I stayed in the boat.
Early this year, on January 1, when it was still dark and I was walking along the Burke Gilman trail, I felt the same conviction. Find Lesa and call her for her birthday. It wasn’t hard – it took about 7 minutes to track down her phone number. Her dad still lives in the same house she grew up in. If you could have heard her voice on the phone, heard her child-like voice say, “Hi best friend!”, you would know the equal measure of joy and sadness I felt that I called her this year and set up a lunch date - and that I didn’t last year. God simply wanted to bless Lesa on her birthday, and to bless me through the simple step of obeying him.
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, thank you that when you call us to follow you or to be your hands and feet, you are our strength and will always walk with us. Thank you that through obedience we experience your joy, peace, protection, and provision. Please help us to know how you speak to us personally, have the faith to listen, and the courage to trust you and obey.
Journal:
Consider the following question(s).
How do you most clearly hear God speak to you personally (the Word, people, prayer, worship music, creation, impressions, etc.)?
When was the last time you knew God asked you to do something, and you did not do it? What kept you from obeying?
When was the last time you knew God asked you to do something, and you did obey? What did you experience through obedience?
Today’s Practice:
Ask God to speak to you about something He would have you do. Spend 15 minutes listening to God in the way you best hear from him (Word, prayer, music, creation). Write down what God is saying. Throughout your day, obey – at once – what he tells you to do. Don’t stay in the boat. It might be small, it might be significant, but ask him to prompt your mind and then do it.
By Traci Grant, Director Academic Success and Advising