Delayed obedience is disobedience. Our God is a god of details. When he tells us to do something, it’s not just about the action, it’s about the timing.

The mark we’re aiming for is constantly moving. It’s not a stationary target. So when God says, “shoot the arrow now”, but you delay your action and shoot your arrow later, the target has already moved and you hit nothing. Wasted shot.

Imagine bird hunting. You see the bird flying, there’s your shot, but you wait 5 minutes to pull the trigger. Why are you waiting? You’re planning, you’re researching, you’re seeking to gather all the details, you’re talking about it. How ridiculous that 5 minutes later you pull the trigger shooting at where the bird WAS in the sky, but is no longer there. You can’t get frustrated that you missed the shot when you delayed your action.

For someone listening today, God has said NOW, but you’ve still been waiting. That’s a problem. You’re trying to make it perfect when God never asked you for perfection, he only asked you for obedience. And the timing for obedience is immediate.

Imagine if you told your dog, “sit”. Instead of sitting he just runs wild. Imagine 3 weeks later you find your dog in the woods and he’s sitting. You wouldn’t celebrate that. Him sitting later is not obedience. No, he just got tired of running.

God is looking for a girl with a heart that is fully committed to him in obedience with not only what to do, but when to do it. 2 Chronicles 16:9, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” A fully commitment is not only obedience in action, but obedience in timing. And here’s the wild thing – if you will just commit to God in action and in timing, then he has promised to give you the strength you need. Read that scripture again. The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth (he’s looking, searching, checking every one of us), and he’s looking to strengthen those whose hearts are FULLY committed to him. Supernatural strength is yours when you commit to God’s details and trust his timing.

God is the god of details … you are not. The details are his, not yours. Jesus said in Matthew 10:30, “The very hairs on your head are all numbered.” That’s a detail God knows – he literally knows precisely how many hairs you have on your head at this very moment. But that is NOT a detail he gives you or asks you to be concerned about. If you tried to count your own hairs, you would go insane. But God holds that detail with no effort.

What details are you obsessing over that simply are not yours to know? What details are you delaying over that are causing your disobedience? God said do it, and you may very well get around to doing it once you’re satisfied with your understanding of the details, but God is not impressed by that. You’re as good as that dog who ran wild for 3 weeks when told to sit. Later isn’t good enough. You’re missing the timing because you’re caught up in the details.

The details belong to God, and because they belong to him, you can trust him with them. How hard is it for you to say this: “God, I trust you with the details. I don’t have to know to go.”

There’s a super famous story in Mark chapter 7 about a miraculous power move of Jesus. Jesus was teaching a crowd of thousands and thousands of people in a very remote place. The crowd had been there all day listening to Jesus. Now, it’s beginning to get late in the day and Jesus’ helpers, his 12 friends the disciples, are thinking about dinner. They’re hungry. The crowd is hungry. There’s no food here. So, Jesus’ friends suggest to him that he end for the day and send everyone away so they can eat. That sounds extremely reasonable. BUT JESUS HAD SOMETHING ELSE IN MIND.

Jesus says in verse 37, “Nope, you feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”

Jesus then tells them to go find out what they do have. They go out and ask around and find there’s only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish in the entire crowd. Again, there were THOUSANDS of people. Then Jesus tells his disciples to divide the people into groups of 50 or 100 and have them sit down.

BUT WHY? What’s the point of organizing the crowd when there’s clearly nothing to give them. DETAILS.

Jesus did not give the disciples the details of what he was going to do and how he was going to do it. He gave them an action and obedience required they respond immediately.

But imagine if they wouldn’t have. Imagine if they would have said, “What’s the point of directing this crowd of thousands of people to sit down in numbered groups? This seems pointless. Explain to me WHY! I need to understand why I’m doing this because it seems like a waste. I don’t understand, Jesus.” That would have been disobedience.

DEMANDING THE DETAILS BEFORE AN ACT OF OBEDIENCE IS DISOBEDIENCE.

But what can happen when you respond in obedience of action and timing? Something miraculous!!!! If you want to be part of something miraculous, you must be obedient without the details.

The disciples divide the massive crowd into smaller groups just as Jesus had said. Then Jesus begins breaking the bread and giving the pieces to the disciples. First, there was enough bread to give to the first group. But imagine feeding the first group, knowing there’s no possible way there could be enough for the second group. Imagine knowing the action you’re taking will NEVER BE ENOUGH. What’s the point in even trying?

But each time the disciples returned to Jesus for more bread to give out, he had more. More and more and more. It never ran out. Eventually, the entire crowd was somehow fed. Verse 42, “They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up 12 baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.”

Jesus never gave the disciples the details of how it was going to work. If the details were required, the miracle would have been missed. Instead, Jesus invited the disciples into partnership with him and all that was required of them was their obedience. They didn’t have to multiply the food. They didn’t have to provide it. They didn’t have to figure it out or understand it. They simply had to keep coming back to Jesus and spread what HE was doing.

That has been the key to my life. I don’t have to understand it or have enough on my own, I just have to keep coming back to Jesus and spread what HE is doing.

In early 2013, we had just sold everything, given the rest away, and moved our family to a little beach house in Southern California. We were struggling, we had no great plans for the future, and if we were going to pay rent the next month, God was going to have to come through for us. One day, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Pamela, start hosting a devotional call.”

There were a few problems with this. One, I was NOT used to hearing from the Holy Spirit so it was really hard for me to know it was him. Second, I had no clue what a devotional even was. So, I went to the local Barnes and Noble and I bought the first book that was labeled as a devotional. The next morning I hosted a conference call and read directly from that book. And that was the beginning of what is today the #1 daily devotional podcast in the world.

I can’t credit it to any greatness of my own. Rather, I was naive enough to just do it hoping God would let me off the hook after a week. It’s funny how the very thing I didn’t want to do is now the thing God himself would have to make me stop doing. It’s amazing how if I just keep coming back to Jesus, he has more for me to share.

What I’ve learned is, God knows what he’s doing. Like seriously. He knows. And if he tells us to do something it’s because he’s invited us into partnership with him. You don’t want to miss out on it! He will not give you the details first.

He will give you an invitation that doesn’t make sense, scares you, and seems ridiculous at times … ACCEPT. YES! I’m in, Lord!

And then, just like the disciples, you may find yourself in the middle of the impossible, passing out pieces of a miracle. The details will keep you stuck because they are not yours to hold. The details belong to God. The obedience is up to you.

Delayed obedience is disobedience. Respond now. What are you going to do about what God has been telling you?

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