Courage to Obey

 The mission was simple. Infiltrate opposition land and discern the threat level. Brave men stepped away from comfort and security to stealthily cross over into hostile territory. The mission took over a month to complete. Each soldier returned safely and gave their report. The consensus was not united. The majority thought the risks were too great and the enemy forces too formidable for occupational success. There were a small number of holdouts who thought the mission possible for success. 

The majority won the vote and the consequences were lethal. An opportunity was missed. An open door was shut for decades because of a bad report from a handful of soldiers. You can read about this story in Numbers 13:1-25. 

Caleb and Joshua were the only two hold outs in a nation of over one million people. Nobody sided with them. They had courage to obey God no matter the odds. They did not put their confidence in their own military might. They went all in on God's unlimited ability to do what He promised Abraham centuries before. It took courage to believe God and to follow. Sadly, the majority embraced cowardice instead of courage. They suffered for that decision forty years. A whole generation of faithless people had to die before God allowed them to possess the promised land. 

Do we have the courage to obey when God calls us to do something? It is easy to say yes in the comfortable confines of our cushioned sofa or in the plush pews of our church. Saying yes leads to a crisis of belief we learned from Henry Blackaby. There comes a moment when you have to go all in, sell out, surrender all, and courageously obey even though you cannot see the outcome. 

We operate just the opposite. We want guarantees in place. We want to minimize risk and maximize reward. We profess Yahweh is God, but we are at times reluctant to really radically obey. We come up with excuses because obeying is not a good option. The Bible and history are filled with the stories of people who ignored all that and courageously obeyed. These are the history makers, the Kingdom shakers, and the promised land takers. 

I for one have no intention of sitting around the rest of my days reading about the great stories of mighty exploits through God spectating from the sidelines. I intend to courageously obey even when I am frightened out of my mind and logic tells me how foolish obedience to God may be. I don't just want to be a preacher. I want to be a testifier of the great things Almighty God does. I want to live similar stories like the ones I read about in scripture. I do not want to be in the audience watching others do mighty things for God. I want to courageously follow God and see Him do mighty things in me, through me and around me. 

Just as sure as I write those sentences, I know exactly what I am doing. I am inviting God to call me to something impossible, improbable, illogical, and yet hopelessly irresistible to the adventurous thrill seeker faith walker like I dream to be. Something that the majority may not support. Something that forces me to trust God like I never have before. Even if all of that happens and God calls me out of comfort and security, I must courageously obey or forever shut my mouth about faith walking trusting God. Even if none go with me, I want the courage to follow and obey. I believe there are multitudes who have the same desire as I do. May we all surrender and courageously obey no matter what. What glorious thing will God do next because of our courageous obedience?