Following The Lord Is Hard To Do
But why? And why is it so hard to trust the lord?
We all know about the Ten Commandments as listed in Exodus 20:3-17. A lot of dos and don’ts. It true we don’t like rules, but what about the fourth commandment?
Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
You would think we would have no problems with this one. Laying back and taking it easy for the day. But we do work. Or we think about work. Some of us think more about work on our day off than we do when we should be working.
When Adam and Eve first sinned, why did they do it? They knew they were created. They knew everything around them was created. They knew God personally. So why would they make the decision to stop following God. Why would they decide to trust a snake more than they trusted God?
Moses did trust God enough to follow Him, and because of it lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, across a sea bed after the waters had been parted, through the wilderness with God feeding with food from Heaven, and on to the promise land.
King David committed adultery, then murdered the man whose wife he had the adultery with. Yes David sinned. But David repented. David trusted God enough to follow Him. Even to the point of standing before a giant to kill him when he himself was only a boy.
What about Joshua at the town of Jericho? The Lord told him to walk around the town with his men for 7 days then shout on the 7th day, and the walls of the town will fall. How does that work? When I was in the military, if my commanding officer told me to do this; I would wonder if my commander had flipped his led. And everyone else would wonder the same thing. Yet Joshua trusted God enough to follow orders. No matter what.
Joshua 6:20 said what happened when Joshua trusted God.
When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.
When a woman was net by Elijah, she trusted him because of God. God had told her to feed Elijah.
1 Kings 17:8-9
8 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”
The widow and her son were about to run out of food. But even though it made no sense to do so; she trusted God and fed Elijah anyway. Read what happened next.
1 Kings 17:8-16
I would like to say I am good at trusting the Lord. But I’m not. Instead I am like one of the very many Israelites that roamed around for 40 years after leaving Egypt. After everything God has done for His people, they were still whining about this and that, not trusting God and therefor not always following Him.
In the book of Haggai chapter 1, it talks about how things may not go well for you if you don’t take care of God’s temple. We all know the temple is in ruins, and it’s not yet time to rebuild it. But we still go to a church or a synagogue. Is there something you can do to help fix it up if it needs it? Paint, cut grass, maintain the church or synagogue van, upgrade something? Fix the lawn mower maybe?
I choose to do something. It doesn’t always make sense, but I choose to trust my Lord, my God, and follow Him.
My Thoughts 