Daily Inspiration

To Hear, To Obey

Our speaker at church on Sunday was a lay person. He had never before given a sermon, but he did a fine job. His story, the one leading him to speak for the Lord, was interesting.

Tom’s faith was much that of many Christians. He attended church when it was convenient. He prayed when he needed something. Then, someone invited him to attend a Walk to Emmaus and his life and faith were transformed.

The Walk to Emmaus is something United Methodists do, but it isn’t limited to that denomination. Here is what the web site says about this spiritual adventure:

http://www.upperroom.org/emmaus/whatis/about.asp
         The Walk to Emmaus is a spiritual renewal program intended to strengthen the local church through the development of Christian disciples and leaders. The program's approach seriously considers the model of Christ's servanthood and encourages Christ's disciples to act in ways appropriate to being "a servant of all."
         The Walk to Emmaus experience begins with a 72-hour short course in Christianity, comprised of fifteen talks by lay and clergy on the themes of God's grace, disciplines of Christian discipleship, and what it means to be the church. The course is wrapped in prayer and meditation, special times of worship and daily celebration of Holy Communion. The "Emmaus community," made up of those who have attended an Emmaus weekend, support the 72-hour experience with a prayer vigil, by preparing and serving meals, and other acts of love and self-giving. The Emmaus Walk typically begins Thursday evening and concludes Sunday evening. Men and women attend separate weekends.

Before going on the Emmaus Walk, Tom used to walk on the beach each morning, grumbling about his hectic life, complaining about the stress he experienced. Since his spiritual weekend, Tom’s walks on on the beach are different. He talks with God, gives his stress issues to Him. He notices the beach, the sand, the birds, the water, in ways he never did before. He appreciates his walks each morning now, and feels refreshed afterwards. And every morning as he talks with God, Tom now asks God to use him. That’s how he came to be giving the morning message on Sunday.

It was evident that Tom wasn’t entirely comfortable speaking for the Lord on Sunday. But he did it because he had told the Lord he would be obedient to Him. So, when he was asked to speak, he said yes. (The pastor had to be away on Sunday.)

Tom used two Bible references in his sermon – Genesis 22:1-18 and Matthew 22:34-40. At first glance, it wasn’t evident how they related.

The Genesis passage was about when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. I’ve read that story many times, but Tom pointed out something I’d missed before.

Abraham went up the mountain, obviously ready to be obedient to God. But, he also trusted that God would provide a lamb for the sacrifice, even as he prepared to sacrifice his son. I had missed that part before – that Abraham trusted God would provide the sacrificial lamb. His words seem to indicate that, though.

In Genesis 22:5
He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

Abraham was convinced that he and Isaac would both be back. (Either that or he was lying to his servants.)

Further proof that Abraham believed that God would provide is in Genesis 22:7-8
Isaac spoke up and said to this father Abraham, "Father?"

"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.

"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

Abraham must have been convinced that God would provide. (Either that or he was lying to his son.)

As I sat in church, I wondered how I had missed that before. I could easily blame pastors whom I’ve heard in the past. They never pointed this out to me. But I’ve read this story many times before myself, and I missed it. Pastors have preached on this story, and their emphasis is always, rightly, on the fact that Abraham was prepared to be obedient to the Lord. He was, of course. But he also trusted that God would provide. I think that obedience and trust go hand in hand. And that’s what our speaker on Sunday was trying to emphasize.

But what of the Matthew passage he also mentioned? That’s where Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, and he answered that loving God and loving our neighbor were the two most important things. Jesus said if we obeyed these commands, we would be following all the others. How true, indeed.

Tom told us that in Hebrew, the word obey is actually translated "to hear." It was considered a fact, I guess, that if one heard from God, one would, of course, do what God instructed. He tied the two stories – one about obedience and one about loving God and our neighbor – together quite well, saying that if we do love God, we’ll listen and obey.

A pretty simple message, I think. But one we all need. It’s easy to just go about "being Christian."

Many in this country think that having been born in a "Christian country" or to "Christian parents" makes them Christian as well. But being a Christian really means that we’re striving to be more Christ-like, and that takes much more than attending church, praying once in a while, or reading the Bible once in a while. It takes truly loving God and wanting to share Him with those around us. It takes devouring God’s word, so as to learn about Him and to love Him more. It means praying, yes, but as a means of communicating with God about everything. Our prayers shouldn’t be just a laundry list of wants and needs, but a time for praise, a time for presenting the problems of others around us to Him.

It was fun to see God at work in this man who spoke on Sunday. Even though speaking for God was not something he ever thought he would or could do, when called, he responded, "Here I am, Lord." And that’s all any of us need do. And God will provide the means and the strength for us to be obedient to Him.