DELAYED OBEDIENCE ISN'T OBEDIENCE!
"And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him." - Matthew 9:9 (KJV).
This was the account of the call of Matthew to follow Jesus as His disciple. Matthew was a tax collector of no mean repute at the time of his call. The Lord Jesus met him "sitting at the receipt of custom" and upon the call of the Master, the Bible says "he arose and followed him". The response of Matthew was one of instant obedience. You'll appreciate Matthew's response when we consider The Passion Translation. It says: "As Jesus left Capernaum he came upon a tax-collecting station, where a Jewish man named Matthew was collecting taxes for the Romans. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said to him. Immediately Matthew jumped up and began to follow Jesus." - Matthew 9:9, TPT. Note the word "immediately".
It's been rightly said that instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is! Delayed obedience is disobedience! Every time God calls us to any duty, He is not only watching to see our response, but He's also out to make a covenant with us. Doing the duty is our part, and He will do His part in special blessing to us. Any wonder that in the matter of Matthew, the Lord by way of divine appreciation, allowed his name to remain in perpetuity through a Gospel that bears his name? (Matthew was the author of the Gospel of St. Matthew in the New Testament.)
Has there been any occasion when the Lord has asked you to do something for Him? What was your response to His request? Did you respond with the urgency that such matters deserved, or was your response nonurgent and skimpy? I've known men who were commanded by God to bless someone financially, but they delayed and eventually, when they obeyed Him, the sacrifice had lost its intended value. I've also seen men called into ministry who have delayed in answering the call, on flimsy excuses but only to answer Him at a much later time. Others, as a result of fear have delayed. These are terribly wrong responses towards God! Every call of God to duty or command by Him to accomplish a task deserves to be treated with urgency and with immediate attention.
Let's consider Abraham. When God requested him to circumcise himself and every male in his household, the Bible account his response goes thus:
"And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin IN THE SELFSAME DAY, as God had said unto him." - Genesis 17:23, KJV (Emphasis mine). Abraham responded to God's demand "in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him". Beautiful!
Make no mistake about it: the only way we can obey is to obey! To postpone a call to duty and then later on do it as fully as we can, is not obedience. Nothing measures up to instant obedience to God’s call. To respond late to the call of God to duty is at the best, only a crippled, disfigured, half-way sort of duty-doing. What's more, a postponed duty never can bring the full blessing that God intended. What it brings is a sham in comparison to what it would have brought if done at the earliest possible moment.
Another moment of instant obedience in the life of Abraham was in Gen 22:1-2 when God requested him to sacrifice his son Isaac unto Him for a burnt offering. Thereafter, the Bible records regarding him that "EARLY THE NEXT MORNING Abraham cut some wood for the sacrifice, loaded his donkey, and took Isaac and two servants with him. They started out for the place that God had told him about." -Genesis 22:3, GNT (Emphasis mine). Abraham responded "early the next morning" after God spoke to him. Again, any wonder that in the end Abraham came out of the transaction most blessed?
God frowns at delay, but rewards instant obedience to His demand. Instant obedience depicts not only the knowledge of God but also the existence of fear and reverence for God! Remember Pharaoh? Didn't God ask him to let His people go? Did he let them go as God demanded? What was Pharaoh's response? It's recorded in Exodus 5:2. His response was, "WHO IS THE LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I KNOW NOT THE LORD, neither will I let Israel go." Indeed, those who know the Lord are quick to carry out His demands. Only those who don't know Him question or delay to carry out His command. As for Pharaoh, when he eventually obeyed God's demand, it was a delayed obedience which was at the pain of God's Judgment upon him and the entire Egypt.
Too bad! Don't let that happen to you, please.
PRAYER:
Dearest Heavenly Father, I'm sorry for having delayed in obeying your Word. Henceforth, I'm quick to respond to your demands and commands. Thank you for blessing me for doing so, in Jesus mighty name.