marble and mud

We miss the importance of obedience. Instead of asking, “Will this decision glorify God and help me grow closer to him?”, we ask specifics like, “God, can you show me whom I should marry?” or “God, will you reveal the right job for me?” We ask for signs. We interpret the signs based on our own narrow view of existence, fostering misinterpretation and disobedience.

We should ask for specifics. But we need more ambition, more of an eternal mind when we seek God's will through prayer. Colossians 1:9-13: “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.” I see no clearer commendation of growing in the knowledge of God as a means of obedience and understanding his will.

Take Harry Potter. I’m not talking allegories. Manufactured allegories tend to trivialize good stories. But one clear message is that obedience often means acting on minimal information, or just enough to “get you by.” Dumbledore frustrates Harry with his cryptic messages, and in all truth, Harry has no idea what will happen to him or how events will unfold. But, as Dumbledore told Snape, “the way forward is clear.” Harry’s life was particularly unpleasant and hard, but his way was clear nonetheless; in the end, his choice to be obedient and faithful reaped greater rewards than choosing the easy, painless route (perhaps it wasn't possible to choose an easy route, but little choices he made along the way – like saving the lives of his enemies, against his friends’ better judgment – contributed immensely to his maturation into adulthood). Was the way forward really clear? Not in terms of his limited understanding, but in terms of his choices.

On Mercy Ships, I witnessed several people back out of long-term commitments of service on the ship because they “heard God telling them to leave.” I wanted to give these people the benefit of the doubt, but I couldn’t help thinking – isn’t believing in a worthwhile commitment more important than believing in signs telling you to “cut and run,” as it were? At my lowest point of disgust, I thought, most of these people are Americans who miss the comforts of living back home. I don’t want to think that was true, and it probably wasn’t. But I knew I was guilty of it. I longed for all the things I didn’t have and wondered why it couldn’t have been God’s will for me to attend college straightaway instead of wiping tables and washing dishes in wretched heat for three months.

In this day of endless choice, it’s difficult to bear down and say, “God, this isn’t my favorite thing to be doing right now, but I’ll stick with it as a means of fulfilling your will, even if it means enduring pain. Even if I don’t feel completely happy.” And of course Jesus, the ultimate example: “Father, if it’s your will, take this cup from me.” But the way forward was clear.

wow, Laura, thank you for writing this. It's what I needed to hear right now.