Today's Devotional Thought
August 18, 2010 by Wendy Foreman
Obedience or Action
Are you obedient to God or do you just act? In today’s scriptures and all throughout the New Testament, we see that Peter is all about action. In today’s verses, Peter has seen the transfiguration and wants to do something to remember it. It is a moment that he is caught up in, doesn’t want to leave, and just wants to do something.
If we go back to 2 Samuel, we can see another man in the Bible who was full of action. In 2 Samuel, King David wants to build a temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was where God’s presence was housed in the Old Testament and building a temple to house it was a very noble thing to want to do (after all, it was God’s presence!). But, when you look at the story, you don’t see that David even once prayed to ask God where He wanted the Ark. David started doing what he thought would be right, much like Peter wanted to do what he thought was good and never asked God if they should build shelters in remembrance of the transfiguration.
How often do we do the same thing? Sometimes we see opportunities that we feel are right or good. We think that God would definitely want us to pursue them. And, we begin to move in the direction that WE feel is right, with good intentions. But, did we pray? Did we ask God where we are to go?
It seems that so often, we feel like we need to be moving and acting for God. But, I would argue that sometimes, we need to be still and wait. Psalms 46:10 says “Be still and know that I am God.??? Be still. Right there is a reminder that we don’t always need to be moving and acting. Even though we may have the best intentions, sometimes God just wants us to be still and get to know Him. We must follow Him in obedience not always in action.
Henry Blackaby writes: Every now and then, someone will exclaim, “Don’t just stand there; do something.??? In contrast, I think God is crying out to us, “Don’t just do something. Stand there! Enter a love relationship with Me. Get to know Me. Adjust your life to Me.
Peter became the rock of the church just like Jesus said. Anyone who has spent time in scripture reading about Peter has learned that he acted many times before he thought and it is clear that Peter always had the best intentions. He was a man full of passion and action. The problem is God requires obedience to Him first, then action.
How many of us are like the Peters or Davids of the Bible? We love the Lord and want to honor Him and lift Him up, but like Peter, we so often do that in the way we feel is right and leave God out of the decision making.
Maybe today you see an opportunity before you that seems like it would honor God and bring glory to His name. Allow me to suggest to you that you stop and pray until you hear from God and know the direction that you are to go. Many times when we may see an opportunity that is good, God could have one that is even better and we could very well miss out on it when we aren’t listening to Him and striving to be obedient to Him.
December