Obedience

February 3

Exodus 11-12

Psalm 18:20-24

Proverbs 4:3-4

Matthew 22:1-22

Obedience

“All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.  And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.” 

Exodus 12:50-51 NIV

The Israelites followed the Lord’s instructions completely.  They did exactly as He told them, and they were rescued. After 430 years in Egypt, God brought 600,000 men plus women and children out from the bondage of slavery.  They did not have to fight Pharaoh’s army or sneak away in the middle of the night.  They were begged to leave, and they didn’t leave empty-handed.  The Egyptians gave them gold and silver, clothing, and everything they were going to need to build and furnish the tabernacle in the desert.  After years of living in bondage to these people, the Egyptians were now giving them everything they owned just to get them to leave.  The Israelites obeyed God’s instructions and then sat back and watched in amazement as God performed a miracle on their behalf. It must have seemed impossible that God could rescue them, but they did as they were told. How often do we miss out on the miracles God wants to perform in our lives because we fail to obey His instructions to us?  When we don’t understand what He is saying, it just doesn’t make sense to us or we don’t like what He is telling us we stall, rationalize, or ignore Him hoping He will change His mind.  Then when things don’t turn out right, we blame Him, or we run to Him to clean up the mess.  In this instance the Israelites obeyed.  As we read further, we will see that there were many times when they followed their own way and got into trouble.  Whenever they were obedient, God was with them, and their path was smooth.   May we always be obedient to His leading.