All week long, it seemed like the Lord was screaming the word obedience to me, everywhere I turned this week just had the same word being reiterated to me in different forms over and over. When I say obedience, I do not mean just obeying the ten commandments or God’s standards that we may be used to but obedience to God’s secret instruction(s) just for us.
To elaborate on this kind of obedience to God’s instructions that I speak about today, I would be focusing on the story of Isaac in the land of Gerar. The land or country where Isaac lived with his family was now plagued with famine which I can imagine must have been challenging times for him and every other person that lived there in that season. Given the situation of things, it could only make human sense that everyone would start to migrate to other cities that seemed to have it going for them. In this case, it looked like Egypt was that country, the country flowing with abundance and many people must have migrated there.
But the Lord said something to Isaac in Genesis 26:2-3 – “do not go down to Egypt but do as I tell you. Live here as a foreigner in this land and I will be with you and bless you.” As easy as the instruction sounds, I can imagine it may be quite a challenge to obey when we start to use our human minds to calculate what could and may not be. But this instruction of the Lord to Isaac at that moment is a pointer to a number of things:
- It is a pointer to the fact that thriving in our physical and spiritual journey on this earth would require obedience to classified information or directions from the Lord per season. This sermon by Apostle Arome Osayi does justice to what I am trying to say, you can listen here.
- It is also a pointer to the fact that God is so interested in our success as His children. But it is always up to us to be that obedient child or not.
Apostle Arome in the sermon I shared above elaborated on a scripture that the Holy Spirit had me dwell so much on some time last year – II Corinthians 2:7 – we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. This wisdom of God that has been hidden, has been hidden for us and not from us so that the enemy does not have access to it. But this hidden wisdom has been hidden for us to unveil as we walk with Jesus closely, as we fellowship with the Holy Spirit. For example, as pointed out in the bible, if the enemy had known that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross would bring the world salvation, they would have stopped Him. This hidden wisdom was only revealed to Jesus as He walked so closely with the father while it was hidden from even His disciples- Luke 18:34
Now back to Isaac’s story, this divine instruction was given and only revealed to him only as well. But interestingly his obedience had a ripple effect on his family and even in the lives of his servants. God indeed blessed him in that land as He promised, Isaac and his servants reaped in hundred folds in the same year that they planted in a land that people were struggling to survive – Genesis 26:12-25
So you see, God has customized instructions and directions for us per time, per season, only if we give ourselves to intentional intimacy with Him. And many times, these instructions are just given to us individually and it is up to us to obey or not. Let us be reminded today that our obedience could make or mar the cause of our lives plus the destinies of people or even nations that may be linked to us. May the good Lord give us all the strength we need right now to obey Him in Jesus’ name.
I’d also like to add that these instructions that God may give us may not make any human sense, but it blesses us to obey Him regardless. It also shows and helps us to build our absolute faith in Him. I can bet that Isaac’s servants might have thought him foolish when he decided to stay back in that land instead of going to Egypt where there was abundance. But after seeing the results of his obedience, it must have served as a great lesson to them, a great lesson of faith.
I pray that as we go into this new week and even into different seasons of our lives, may we trust the Lord with all of our hearts, and may we not lean on our understanding in Jesus’ name. May we be so intimate with Him that we are able to hear His instructions clearly and may we be divinely strengthened to obey him in Jesus’ name.
And to you my dear friend who may be wondering how you could access these classified instructions from the Lord, ponder no more. What you need to do right now is to start your relationship with Jesus, decide to turn away from the things that distract you from being friends with Him. Confess Him as your personal Lord, Savior, and best friend. Once that is done, find you a great bible believing church around you, this would help foster your growth in Christ. You could also send me an email at info@abimbolaswalk.com or reach out to me via Twitter/Instagram – Abimbolaswalk