"Trusting-Obedience" Hebrews 5:7-10

I found when I was with mom that "blogging" was good for my soul.  It allowed me a place to express myself when there was no one around to talk to.  Now that she's moved to her new and permanent eternity with Christ, I've missed being able to sit down and enjoy getting things out that seem stuck inside.  Putting them on paper makes problems more manageable...makes thoughts straighten out a little...makes joys and memories last a lot longer.  So I've been praying about how to continue blogging.  I don't want to just write for the sake of writing...even if I do love it.

But this morning I realized that I could be putting my quiet times on paper.  I could "see" how God is speaking to me and leading me.  I let Him direct me to his Word this morning...that means I did the "open-and-point" method.  I don't highly recommend this method.  But already it's been confirmed that I was reading the "right" thing and that He is wanting me to "learn"  when something very similar showed up in a friend's post on FB this morning.  I love when God validates or confirms the movement of His Spirit in our lives and our "faith" becomes "sight".  I trust God even when I don't "see" Him...He knows that.  But it's like a hug from God when the confirmation comes that we're on the same page He's on in our lives.

So here's what happened in my quiet time today.  I'm not sure I'll always put these here.  But this will give me a place to look back at how He's working on me...because He is still working on me (smile).

Hebrews 5:7-10

While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God's Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then, having arrived at the full stature of his maturity and having been announced by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him. (The Message)

My Reflections on this Scripture:

When we go through suffering, we need to understand that God is working something out in us.  Jesus learned “trusting-obedience”…an obedience that would lead to the gift of salvation for all who believe…but is it enough to just “believe”?  The writer of Hebrews says that our believing ought to lead to obedience.  So many say they believe in God…but they do not obey His Word.  I know I live as if what He asks of me is something He “wishes” and not something He “requires”.  How can I learn “trusting-obedience”?  Through suffering.  You see, suffering takes away our ability to trust in ourselves...our self-sufficiency.  Suffering takes away our confidence.  Suffering takes us into unknown places.  And it is in those unknown places that God is able to have full control of our lives.  We learn in those places that He is the only source of strength.  We learn in those places that we don’t have to have all the answers…we just have to trust that He does.  We come to a place of submission in those unknown places.  And like the sun coming out from behind a cloud to brighten the world, we come out of our suffering to see more clearly how to move through our day. 

Is belief all that’s required of us?  No!!!  It’s easy to say we believe in something.  It’s that step of faith…putting action to our words…that “proves” our belief.  And the more we step out in faith to “prove” to Him that we belief, the more He proves Himself to us and gives us the ability to learn the same “trusting-obedience” that Jesus learned through His suffering.

I know suffering.  I know it in so many ways.  And maybe that’s why my walk with God is one that rarely wavers now.  I’ve walked into the unknown.  And when I could no longer hold on to Him, He held on to me…just as He promised.  I wish I could say that I’ve obeyed Him every step of the way…but what a lie that would be.  But I do know that my desire is to obey…and I have to die to self to be able to fulfill that desire.

Lord, in this quiet time with you today, search my heart.  Direct my paths today.  Be honored, Lord, in my life and my actions and my words today.  I have failed You and others in so many ways and I ask that You would forgive me, as You promised You would.  I’m tired of failing, Lord.  I want to come back to the heart of worship and truly make it all about You…but instead I tend to make life all about me.  Show me, Lord, how to die to self so that I can truly live for You.  Amen.