Week 2: Obedience
Weekly Reading:
Genesis 26 - 48
Opening Prayer
Father God
Thank You for delivering the stories of Your followers who provide us with guidance on how to follow Your will wholeheartedly. Give us the courage to say, “Here I am” to You, Lord. Open our hearts to hear Your word and feel Your presence. Surround us with Your love today.
Amen
Study
“Here I am,” Jacob answered the Lord (Genesis 46:2). Jacob was loyal to the God of his father and became great in his belief in God. Twice God personally spoke to Jacob (Genesis 31:11 and 46:2) and both times Jacob answered, “Here I am!”.
Jacob followed God’s will throughout his life. As instructed, he went to find a wife with Laban, his uncle. Jacob was faithful for seven years working for Laban for Rachel‘s hand in marriage. When Labon tricked Jacob and gave him Leah, Rachel’s sister, instead Jacob is faithful for another seven years.
We see Jacob answer God when instructed. God said to go back to the land of Jacob’s father (Genesis 31:3). Jacob responded despite his fear of his brother Esau (Genesis 32:9-12). Because of Jacob’s obedience, God blessed Jacob when he reunited with his brother, Esau, who greeted him with open arms after a bitter dispute over inheritance and birthright.
Obedience to God‘s will was passed from Jacob to his son Joseph, who was sold into slavery as a boy. God blessed Joseph’s obedience while in service to Potiphar. Potiphar trusted Joseph immensely and rewarded Joseph’s obedience by making him head of household when Potiphar was absent. After Potiphar’s wife wrongfully accused Joseph and he was put in prison he came into favor again under God’s watch. Joseph became the favorite of the warden (Genesis 39:19-23) and was put in charge of other prisoners.
Later, when Joseph is relying on God in interpreting dreams, he states that he can only do so in obedience to God and not through his power (Genesis 41:16). Joseph later, through his obedience to God, becomes second in command of Egypt (Genesis 41:37-40).
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph responded in obedience to God’s calling in their lives. We see that God’s will and calling for each of them was always in their heart, but the specifics changed. By being obedient to the call of God and answering “here I am” to each request made by God, God’s love and favor were abundant in their hearts.
God is calling for obedience in our hearts too. Sometimes the calling is for us to rest with him, sometimes God is calling us to specifics like caring for a friend in need. Joseph’s calling when he was young was to love his father and when he was older it was to be a leader in the house he served, in the jail, and then of Egypt, in all circumstances obedient to God. When we are obedient, God can and does use us to accomplish His will. What a blessing it is to be used by a holy and mighty God.
Responding in obedience to God’s calling in our lives is the same. Saying yes to God means saying yes to peace, yes to blessings, yes to God’s love, and yes to the Spirit that lives in each of us. God’s call to obedience when we are young may have been one thing and as we age quite another. Keeping our eyes on God and our ears open to his word will guide us in obedience to the path we are meant to follow.
Closing Prayer
Father God,
Thank You for helping me carve this time out of my life that I can spend it learning about You and Your desire in my life. Thank You for being my guide through this transformation. Allow my heart to be open to Your message.
Amen
Homework
Try to sit still, by yourself, pray to God to open your heart to his message to you today.
Listen and look for what God may be telling you.
You may hear the same thing from different people
Read something similar in your Bible
Hear something on the radio that is speaking to you
If you are like me, you may feel like you miss God’s message the first 50 times he instructs you, but that 51st time it finally sinks in.
Listen today and say here I am God.
