Does obedience bring immediate blessing?
You would naturally think that our obedience to God brings His immediate blessing.
Consider Abram’s call by God. He is told to leave his home and family and move to a new country.
He is promised blessings and that he would become a great nation.
“The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s home,
and go to a land that I am going to show you. I will give you many descendants,
and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous,
so that you will be a blessing.” Genesis 12:1-2
But look what happens when he arrives at God’s new home for him.
Verse 10 says there was a famine in the land.
What?! How could God send him to a place of famine?
Where is the blessing? He decides to go down to Egypt.
Was that a good decision? Did he ask God what to do?
Some commentators have said that Egypt is a picture of the World.
Before he even gets to Egypt he tells his wife to lie about being his wife.
Why didn’t Abram stay in Canaan? Couldn’t have God taken care of him there?
Often there are problems at the beginning of a task.
William Carey went to India as a missionary from England.
His wife didn’t want to go. A few years after his arrival, his young son died.
His wife was furious and even tried to kill William. He stayed and became,
“The father of modern missions.”
Where has God placed you? Can you stay there by His power and trust His provision?
Have you asked God to do something and He didn’t do it?
Don’t be tempted to walk away from Him and go to Egypt (the world) for answers.
We can do that with our finances (take out another loan),
our appearance (this will make me look good),
our walk with God (I’m upset with God’s apparent silence so I will turn away from Him and look to the world),
or our relationships (I shouldn’t do this but I think it will bring me acceptance.)
God’s blessing will come if we stay faithful to His direction, but it may not be immediately.
He is God and we can’t make Him perform like a little puppet.
