What a strange world it is God has created. God could’ve set up the world any way he wanted and yet he chose to create a world where we have to work to hear, discern and follow his will. Think about that for a moment. Wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier if God just told us what to do and we did it? Why all the nuance, interpretation, inference, nudging, leading? Why doesn’t God just make everything more clear? Why does it have to be such a struggle? God could talk to us in an audible voice, pass us a note, send us a text. Just about anything would be easier than the current system. Wouldn’t it have been better if God decided to make following him easier than it is. The simple answer is YES.
Yet (and you knew there had to be a Yet), my wife and I got a text from one of our kids recently expressing appreciation for something we had done as parents (there wasn’t much to choose from but they found something and complimented us for it). It was completely unsolicited; not coerced, guilt-induced, badgered, commanded or in any other way forced. And I have to tell you there was something incredibly gratifying about that kind of voluntary devotion.
It seems as though devotion to God works in much the same manner. When the Bible says, Jesus called the Disciples to follow, and they left their nets and followed, that sentence has power when we realize Jesus didn’t force them to do that. When the Psalmist says “For God my soul waits in silence”, it’s especially meaningful because God doesn’t demand that we sit in silence listening for him. He asks us to do it and waits for us to do so of our own accord. When Jonah went to Nineveh- it’s particularly powerful because he didn’t have to go to Ninevah- in fact, at first, he didn’t go. When Jonah finally chose to go, the partnership with God was that much more meaningful. The fact that you sign on to read these devotionals is even more meaningful because you have chosen this in an attempt to listen to God’s call upon your life as you begin yet another day.
Yes, it would all be a heck of a lot easier if God would make things more clear. It would be much simpler if God had made a world where he told us what to do and we did it. It would be so much less stressful if God set things up so that we didn’t have to try to figure out what God wants from us. But, it’s also infinitely more powerful to live in a world where we voluntarily choose to follow, listen, study, pray, devote, wait, interpret, help, serve and love.
I invite you to take some time to wait on the God who waits on us; as we follow a God who yearns for us to follow but will never force us to do so; as we pray to a God who will never badger us into prayer or coerce us into spending time with him. May we all find the wonder and power of a relationship with God, who values that kind of devotion.
