In Obedience

Ex.23:²² “But if you are careful to obey him, following all my instructions, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you.”

John 9:⁷ “He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!” Note that this man could hear, he was blind, but he could hear. So, he heard Jesus spitting and he probably was wondering, what is this man doing? I hope He does not touch me with that thing. Jesus applied the mud on the man’s eyes, and he submitted to what a lot of people will call ‘humiliation’. Note that this man was still blind, yet Jesus instructed him to go and wash in a particular pool. The man was blind, but Jesus did not consider his handicap. In spite of the handicap, Jesus said, ‘go and wash.’

Jesus could have asked Peter to hold his hand and take him to the pool. That appears kind, right? Instead, Jesus gave him an instruction, ‘go and wash’ and the man obeyed it. Which means the man knew his way around or he probably asked people for direction. The point is that Jesus stood where He was and told him, ‘You go and wash in the pool.’ If the man got lost on the way, he would have died blind. If the man sat there complaining instead of following Jesus’ instructions, he would have remained blind. But the man took it upon himself to obey God. How does that apply to us? A lot of times, we want God to do everything, but God will do what we cannot do, and He will not do what we can do. We want God to solve all the problems; ‘I am believing God’ has become one of the most abused statements.

People claim to be believing God and instead of searching for a job, they sit in their homes and claim to be believing God. Some have even gone to church for prayers and have been anointed with a gallon of oil. Then guess what? They go back to their houses, sit down, and claim to be believing God. No, you need to go out there and search for a job. Most people’s work is online these days, so you need to get up and go. It may sound foolish how can you tell a blind man to go to a particular pool and wash? But the man went there blind and he came back seeing. When you obey God no matter how foolish it is, you may go blind, but you are coming back seeing in the Name of Jesus. This miracle is one of the remote miracles that happened in absentia. It was on his way back that his eyes opened, Jesus was not there.

Can you think of other examples of miracles that Jesus did in absentia? The wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus told them to fetch water and take it to the master of ceremony. They fetched water and as they were taking it to the master of ceremony, they did not know when the water changed to wine. The key thing is, they obeyed foolishly. Every time you obey God, it always becomes sweet. It may not make sense, but it always becomes sweet. There is a place for obedience and personal responsibility.

Prayer: Father, I pray that when it is all said and done, that there will be no instruction from the Lord that I have not obeyed and I will have perpetual sweetness, in Jesus Name. Amen!