The Great, "What If?"

"Wake", it is 1am.... "Try to sleep.  You must sleep..." 4am, "You cannot get up yet," I tell myself.  4:20, "Not yet, you must rest." 5:15, "Now, now you can  get up."
Coffee is brewed.  Blanket is waiting.  I get my things together and head for the front porch.  "Oh God, quiet my mind.  Still my heart." Psalm 91, is the only thing that I can remember.  "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  This I declare about the Lord: He alone is MY refuge, MY place of safety;  He is MY God, and I trust Him...." I recite this over and over again.  Now I am ready to hear.  I am ready to walk this thing out, not in fear, not in the great "what if?", but in knowing that I know Who My God is and I trust Him!
It is still too dark to open my bible just yet, so I grab my phone.  I go the Ravi app and open yesterday's reading that I never really got a chance to finish. Who am I kidding?  I read the first two lines yesterday and was never  able to read any more.  But today, I read, The Risk of Obedience.

In this walk with God there are no sure things.  He never says, "Here do this and this will happen.  If you will do exactly what I say, then I will bring you great things."  He never says this.  In fact, the only thing He promises is that it is going to be hard, you will find yourself alone many times, But that He Is God and He Is Good. 

My heart has been very heavy over one certain situation that I have been involved with for, man, quite some time.  For over a year, God has been bringing to my attention one certain situation and has been asking me to respond out of obedience.  I have been avoiding it like the plague.  Here recently, He has thrown it in my face and said, "Are you going to obey me or Not?"
"Yes," must be my final reply.  I know I must, but that does not stop my fear from creeping in and overwhelming my heart and interrupting my rest.   The great "What if?"  What if, others see what I do and think that I am being unkind?  What if, I am seen as unloving?  What if, everything backfires and nothing comes out the way that I think it will.  What if.... What if.... What if??!!

"There is a risk to following God, a risk to obedience. But as God declared to Joshua, it was declared again by his Son, 'I will never leave you or forsake you.' The Christian is invited to seize God's promises knowing that she won't know the outcome of her days, but that God himself is more certain than anything else. In risk and in suffering, uncertainty and disappointment we are assured and instructed by the same words given to Joshua. As he weighed the risk involved in seizing God's promise, Joshua was told: 'Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.' God asks us to boldly follow and then carries us through the risk."

 "This I declare about the Lord: He alone is MY refuge, MY place of safety;  He is MY God, and I trust Him."  It is obvious that I must obey, but my strength to obey does not come from knowing the outcome, but in Me Knowing Who My God Is. 

"Okay, I am ready to hear."
I now open my bible to my marked, next reading.  Luke 17, "One day Jesus said to his disciples, 'There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting!  It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.  So watch yourselves!  'If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.  Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.'”

No Way!  I see, I hear, I will obey.  You see my issue is that over a year ago I was asked to confront.  I Hate Having to Confront!!  "I've been there And I have done that," I keep saying to myself.  "Who am I to confront anyone!"  And yet, through the words of a dear friend, "You are the perfect one to be saying anything, simply because you have been there and done that."

It is for others who are following.  Others are watching what is happening on all aspects of the situation.  It is for the others who are being led astray by this person and by me if I do not obey.  This verse is going to turn around on me and I am going to be the one that this is talking about when He says, "but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting!"  For I will once again be this person!  I have been the temptress in this passage before.  I was leading others astray by my wild living.  I have written in my bible, "I was a temptress.  Oh God, help me to never be that again!"  But that is exactly what He is saying to me now.  If I do not obey, if I allow this to go on, What if He then says to me, "I called you to confront this situation.  You did not, and because of your disobedience, others were indirectly led astray by watching you Not confront!"


The Great, "What If?"  It does not really matter what happens.  It does not really matter how others respond to the situation.  All that really matters is, Did I obey?  Do I really believe who I say He is?  Do I really trust that He will work this whole thing out?  Am I really willing to risk everything for Him and His children?  I would like to say this whole situation is about this other person and their obedience, but it is not.  This is about me and my relationship with my God.  Am I going to put into practice what I preach?  Am I going to trust and obey, no matter what the outcome?  Do I really believe, "He alone is MY refuge, MY place of safety;  He is MY God, and I trust Him...."  Do I really believe this?  I now know that I do.  I will walk in obedience to Him, knowing that no matter what happens, He is my refuge, my safe place, my God and I Do Trust Him.  Do you?


8am, "Thank you God, I needed to hear this." Lessons From Royalty (pt, 2)