What God Told Me To Do

“Have you done the last thing I told you to do?”

There I was praying to God for direction and guidance when mid-sentence He hits me with that question.

I realized that I had partially complied with His request to pursue enrolling in Divinity School. I submitted my application and paid the application fees, but as the pressure increased in other areas of my life I pushed the remaining requirements to the bottom of my to-do list. I had more pressing concerns.

I made the commitment to respond in obedience by taking the initial steps to get started, but there were things I still needed to do in order to complete my enrollment. I was so focused on the discontentment I was experiencing at work and the need for career guidance that I pushed the enrollment process to the wayside. In my mind, it could wait. I still had a few weeks on the application deadline. The tangibility of impending bills and the anguish surrounding the stress of my job were at the forefront of my mind. I needed God to focus and pay attention to the matters at hand and THEN with the stress alleviated I could move forward.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord, And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” --Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)

We only have hindsight and insight. God is gifted with foresight. He knows what’s coming next. We don’t know what’s connected to that one act of obedience. It may not seem relevant to our current needs, but that one task could fuel the change we’re seeking within another area of our life. Maybe what we perceive as a lack of clarity or guidance is merely God waiting for us to respond in obedience to the last task He assigned. The next piece of guidance may not make sense until we’ve completed the last assignment.

So, today do what God told you to do. See the task to completion. There’s no room to “TRY.” We need to make the commitment to go ALL IN with God. We can’t afford to waver in the middle waiting for conditions to settle and become more favorable. We must trust that if God guided us to do it then it’s important. Not important later, but important NOW. We must maintain a sense of urgency with the knowledge that the enemy will send distractions (good and bad) to deter our willingness to respond in prompt obedience. Stay focused. What’s the last thing God told you to do? Have you done it?