Believing God at His Word!

(Exodus 17:10) “So Joshua did as Moses told him…”

We have been taught that “obedience is better than sacrifice”, but what does that actually mean? It means to simply obey what we have been taught to follow! To trust God’s Word and then to submit to what it instructs us to do. “So Joshua did as Moses told him.” Although I give my body to be burn and I have not love I am like a clanging cymbal, an out of tune racket! Sacrifice often leads to “dead works”; when we do something to justify our standing before God, we try and earn points with Him and also from others. We forget that we have been justified through faith which is by grace and it is a gift of God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Sacrifice often leaves us boasting! Look at what the great Apostle Paul had to say: “I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Corinthians 12:1-10)

Any form of boasting puts us in the driver’s seat and it takes away from Christ’s accomplished on our behalf. It takes us to a place that can only ever end badly, it puffs us up and we know how God reacts to pride; “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."” (1Peter 5:5) – Opposition may often leave us having to endure far more than we ever needed to because of our pride.

With that established let us seek Gods face and learn to obey His Word above any other priority that may rear its head. “Joshua did as Moses told him.” Simple and yet profound, nothing complicated about it, this is why I believe we sometimes miss the clear instruction of God’s Word, sadly we feel that we must do more! Christ has done it all! Let us be constantly reminded of that truth, praise his name now, into eternity and beyond, Amen and Amen!

My prayer is that all of God’s children would be like Joshua; there is so much to learn from his example, if God has said it, BELIEVE IT! There will always be the naysayers that speak out against God’s Word; I suppose we will all need to find grace to combat doubt. Life teachers us to be realists, but faith believes God at HIS WORD! When the chips are down and there is no food on the table, if we obey God’s Word and seek His righteous we will be fed, no debate! God has said it, it will happen! If we are taught not to be anxious for tomorrow, let us obey and live for today, as unto the Lord, for tomorrow will take care of itself. There is enough we have to get through on a daily basis, when we worry about the future we get swallowed up by anxiety. If that happens we haven’t obeyed God’s instruction; “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34)

Obedience is far simpler than I once thought it to be, we must stop second guessing the Word of God, because it is our downfall. All it does is proves our unbelief. Pay careful attention and examine what I say now; Gods Word is not linked to our faithfulness but to His, our unfaithfulness may keep us from the benefits of His faithfulness but He will always remain true to Himself. He is the great “I AM”. God is perfect in Himself and it is impossible for God to lie. Think about that and it may wonderfully free you to take your trust to a far deeper level. How I long to learn to trust God’s Word like Caleb, Joshua, and David or many of the other great examples we find in scripture. Look at Abraham’s example; he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac because He believed God at His Word. God had made a covenant with Him and Abraham had faith toward God, end of deliberation!

Obedience is much nearer than our carnal minds would lead us to believe. Ask yourself this question; has God ever said anything that He hasn’t carried out on what He has settled his mind on? That will never happen! How do I know that? Because God has said it! And whatever God says will eventually come to pass; “so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:18) – This truth has now also been record for us on a doctrinal level, so we can be confident with trusting God at His Word; He himself has confirmed it through the writer of Hebrews.

When we believe God at His word we feed our hope, when we place our current predicament above the Word of God we lose sight of any hope…

Signing off

Tyrone