Take Action II

I wrote last week about God asking us to take action and offer what we have through the parable of the woman ready to die from debt in 2 Kings 4. When she obeyed and did, God filled them with oil overflowing. There are many such stories in Scripture to inspire us to action. I also recognized that God responded when I obeyed or stayed or prayed in His will even when I did not feel like it.

Think of Jesus’s first miracle of turning water to wine as the wedding at Cana in Galilee told in John 2. In this story Jesus is at a wedding when the party runs out of wine. We read how His mother asks Him to do something and Jesus tells the “dear woman” that it is not His time yet. He wasn’t thinking it was time to let the world know that He was God. Are we ever ready for action? Do we find ourselves in times of trial or temptation when we do not expect it? Yes, I believe that is just the way life goes. We need to be ready always. “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). Jesus told the servers to fill the empty jars with water just at Elisha told the woman to go and find jars to pour her little bit of oil into. You need to obey and always be prepared to ‘Do whatever He tells you’ (John 2:5). There is the key to taking action. Be careful Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:15 saying, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  So how do we do it? I believe that the faith chapter in Hebrews 11 gives us words of action from the many that have gone before in faith. Everyone from Abraham, Rahab the prostitute, to Samuel and the prophets all took action or had it done to them as we read words like; brought, built, obeyed, enabled, embraced, reasoned, blessed, refused, persevered, conquered, administered, gained, quenched, escaped, were tortured, persecuted, mistreated, yet ALL were commended for their faith.  Would you have built the ark in the desert over 120 years of labor? I sincerely doubt that I would have. But God calls us and through the still small voice of His Holy Spirit He tells us to take action through His strength even in very tough places. Often God says to wait while He is working. But keep trusting in His guidance.