Psalm 33:18 The Lord watches over those who obey him, those who trust in his constant love.
I love how the Good News Translation says obey instead of fear, as the King James Version would say. It’s more understandable for a kid. Don’t get me wrong, the KJV tells to “fear the Lord”, which works for me too! Just be aware, that exact Hebrew word means to “awe, or reverence”. It does not mean to be afraid of. The translated word ‘fear’ works as well as ‘obey’. I like ‘obey’ better, but whatever works. Remember, the only Word of God is not KJV, but the Hebrew (Old Testament), and Greek (New Testament).
People inadequately try to describe God, His Spiritual manifestations and His Kingdom with terms for an ordinary man. It is impossible to describe God things in human terms. Because I know I can’t adequately express eternal thoughts in human terms (all I have to work with) my gauge when I write and talk are the children and the primitive Indians I worked with in the Amazons and Panama. Is it understandable at their level. If children could understand it, Indians can, and visa versa.
Everyone fears God. Everyone. Atheists, Agnostics and Luke Warm Christians all fear God. I remember the first time I heard about Noah’s flood, in a lukewarm church, it terrified me. I was like 3 or 4. Fearing God is normal, but it isn’t necessarily Godly. Obeying, I believe, is a better, more exact term. Obeying God is Godly, fearing Him not so much.
Enoc, Able, and Noah were a few (out of millions) that obeyed God before the flood. (As you can see I am teaching through the Bible again, just finished Genesis 8!). The message today was ‘trust the Process’. During the flood, everyone feared God. They ran to the place where they knew He was. In Noah’s day, it was the Ark. Today it would be a church. In Noah’s day, only the people that obeyed Him were saved. Today it’s the same.
I was in a Bible study by zoom back in during the days of the COVID thing. I really didn’t like the tone of this particular one. I was in up to 6 zoom Bible studies/men groups during the peak of this scare. Now I am back to only in one (5am) as our ministry has grown and responsibilities at home. But at the time, I knew I had to be immersed in these Bible studies for some reason unknown to me at the time. I know the reason now is because I made some genuine lifetime friends in these things.
The worst zoom Bible study I was on though, I learned the most. God really spoke to me. I had my finger on the ‘permanent good-by button’ when suddenly one of the bros (who is still a great friend of mine) said ‘trust the process’. That phrase reminded me of one of my favorite Sunday School Songs ‘trust and obey https://youtu.be/4dh02OnJpIE’ which exact wording was only found in my Sunday School Bible, the GNT. Written at a child’s level. By the way, the director of YWAM Panamá, a Godly man, was saved at the age of 10, by reading the GNT. God’s ways are higher than ours. Isaiah 55:8-9
Trust and Obey, Trust the Process, or As our Lord said, ‘have childlike faith’, are all that we need to please God. If we obey, it’s because we trust. If we trust, we will obey. Faith in God pleases God. Only God is worthy to be trusted. Only God is worthy to obey and to have faith in. I personally don’t trust the government and TV news, so I don’t obey their recommendations or mandates. I don’t break laws *mandates aren’t a law*. I just basically avoid going places where there are laws that I struggle to obey. I don’t trust the politicians, news or the press because they have proven themselves unworthy of trust. They are not trustworthy. Only God is trustworthy.
Obedience is given freely from a trusting, joyful heart. It also is demanded for through the fear of a cruel master. I fear tyranny but I fear *obey, reverence* God more. I don’t fear, as in be scared of, God. I respect Him. I trust Him. I reverence Him. I obey Him because I trust Him, even if it hurts or doesn’t make sense. Even if I don’t see the outcome or purpose, I will do what He shows me to do.
Think about poor Noah. He did exactly what God told him to do. The news, the politicians, the whole society was untrustworthy. Noah trusted God when it was unpopular to trust God. He knew nothing of boats. Never saw one, they didn’t exist. He probably had never even seen a mud puddle. Never saw rain, nor a waterfall which describes more of how the water came down. Yet God showed him step by step how to build the first and best ship ever in world history. It’s still there on Mt Everest, 5,000 years later. It took Noah 100 years to build it. He didn’t know it would take him that long. He was 500 years old, he just plodded along, taking the abuse of all his friends, trusting and obeying God. Then his whole family got into the boat for 7 days, and still nothing, they just sat there in a dark Ark, with not rain, no flood, feeling pretty foolish. Pretty much hating Noah. They were only only there, because God told Noah to do it. Can you imagine the cat calls and the people laughing at them? Then, suddenly, the waterfalls fell out of heaven, people charged them, and they got locked into the Ark by God and spent a whole year at sea without a clue of what was going on. Not any idea if they were ever getting out. Their last memory of the earth was their friends and neighbors begging them to let them in.
Noah, Abraham, Moses, you, me, all of us are asked by God to do things that make no sense. To step out and act without any guarantees or anything except knowing our Father in heaven’s wishes. He sees us trusting the process, trusting and obeying Him, and He is pleased. And we are just scratching our heads, trusting and obeying.
I could be in the states right now, with my wife and kids, living a beautiful life, but God has us here. Winnie and I are here as a team, just trusting and obeying God. We know that God has a future and hope for us. We are to be a blessing to the children here in Nicaragua while our kids are safely tucked away in the states. For how long? Does it make sense? What is the out come going to be? It’s not for Winnie and I to know. God loves the children and their families that we are called to serve. He loves our own kids as well. We are in God’s hands, feet and eyes. We show His heart, IF we are obedient. If we trust Him. If we have faith. He will take care of our own kids as we take care of His kids down here, frp, tje ages of NEGATIVE 9 months to 120 years old. That goes for you too. All of us are to just finish the race well, in a way the brings glory to God. The only way to do that is by trusting and obeying.
As Paul said,
◄ 2 Timothy 4:7 ► I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. whatistheloveofGod.com
Love You
Dean AndWinnie