What Would You Have Done?
The little tyke had a smirk on his face as he
grabbed the bag of Sun Chips on his way into Subway, as if to say look at how clever I am.
However the look quickly faded as he ran to his dad holding up the bag and
asked, “Can I have these?” and was told no. I waited anxiously to see what his
response would be and was amazed to see him turn and obediently return the
chips to the stand alongside all of the others.
Being pleasantly
surprised, I wondered if perhaps it was a test by the dad, because once the
order had been placed he sent both boys over to get their chips. The son’s
original obedience of being denied what he wanted was ultimately rewarded with
getting what he wanted.
I believe
that sometimes God tests us too. Maybe he answers our prayer with a no or a
wait answer, just to see how we will respond. If obedient like the child to his
father, God our Father will give us what we want or perhaps something even
better. However if we choose to have our little temper tantrum or pity
party instead of immediate, complete and joyful obedience we may never receive
the blessing that God has planned to give us if we just obey.
God wants to
prove our faith. He does it sometimes by the ordinary everyday events that test
us and at other times by big, monumental things that are asked of us. We
can show God and the rest of the world our faithfulness to Him by how quickly
we obey without being forced.
The little
boy at Subway had learned a valuable life lesson—obey…no matter the outcome,
but oftentimes abundant blessings will follow the obedience.
2 John 6 And this is love: that we walk in
obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning His command is
that you walk in love.
www.hearthope.org
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