What is prompt obedience?

Hey kiddos!

I figured if I'm requiring you all to sharing your lessons learned on this blog, I should set a good example and do so myself.

Today I want to share about what I learned in Genesis from Abraham. There is one specific instance where he showed VERY immediate obedience and I want to compare that to what we might go through in everyday life.

So imagine yourself... Really happy and joyful about everything your parents just got you on Black Friday ... As Christmas gifts... You know what a few of the gifts are ... but some of them are surprises...

And so you wait... Day after day after day... Until it's finally here...Christmas morning... You've been waiting for over a month to see all the cool gadgets you received.

Awesome! The hottest new phone or toy or laptop or whatever! It's new; it's awesome; it's SHINY!  You love it so much... you're going to do lots of things with it. You're going to have fun with it and you're going to share the fun and love with others.

A couple days later, your parents bring you into the kitchen and speak very solemnly and firmly to you.
"[Child], we have to take your [device] away. Please go upstairs and wrap it up in new wrapping paper and tie it up with a bow."

That's it! No explanation. No sorry. Nothing!

Now you have a choice. Are you going to obey? Or are you going to throw a hissy fit? This is the toy or phone or laptop you've been waiting for so long to get! You love it so much! It's beautiful! It works so well and you enjoy playing with it so much!

Now go and read Genesis 22:1-19.

Now go back and reread Genesis 22:3.

Here, I'll type it out for you:

Genesis 22:3 (NASB)So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife.

See that?! He got up EARLY in the morning! Now, you might be thinking... if he really went immediately, he would have gone home right then, grabbed Isaac his son, and gone up to the mountain, without the fire and the knife.
But if you think about it, Abraham didn't have a Jeep or some fancy car he could jump in and ride up the mountain with his son in. Nope, if you read carefully, they didn't see the place where God wanted Abraham to sacrifice until the THIRD day! (in verse 4).

But back to the original lesson of Abraham and how he obeyed immediately. He quickly obeyed to sacrifice (or in other words kill!) the most precious part of his life.
He didn't even bargain with God and say, "Hey, I love you, God, and I do want to obey you, but I want to spend a few more months with my son before he dies. Is that ok with You?" Nope! He heads home, gets a good night's sleep and wakes up earlier than you all have ever gotten up before.
Think about this: he had waited 25 years for Isaac to be born.  He loved his son so much and Abraham was already very old, so there was no way he would be able to spend much time with Isaac anyway.
And now? God was asking Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son.
But still, Abraham decided to get up VERY early in the morning, probably before the sun even rose... and go to wherever God would show him to give his own son.

Now think about the things that your parents have asked you to do.
Has ANYTHING ever been so difficult for you, so painful and saddening to you, something you could never handle obeying your parents in... like killing your own baby?
And when they ask the smallest things of you, do you IMMEDIATELY obey your parents and your authorities?
I don't think so.
So next time your teacher, your Mom, or your Dad tells you to do something and you feel like waiting or finishing up whatever you were working on before...
Think about Abraham, what God asked him to do, and how QUICKLY and faithfully Abraham obeyed God.

Let me know what you think in the comments!

~VCZ