Obedience

A few days ago I asked my friend, “What do you do when spiritual things begin to feel tiresome and trite? When you feel almost dead and incapable of stirring yourself up to anything?” She smiled sardonically and said, “If you find out, let me know.”

This one’s for you, courtesy of Ray Van Neste. In his reflections on the poem "Do the Next Thing," he writes:

Since God is still in heaven and His steadfast Word declares His love for you, just carry on and do the next thing. Take the next step of obedience. Do you worry how your children will turn out, what the future will hold for your church, how the finances will look at the end of the month? Resist the allure of self pity, and just take the next step of obedience. We are typically given enough grace just for the next step. Fret not about what lies around the bend. Perform faithfully the next step, and we will make it home safely in the end.

We read in James that faith without works is dead, and I think that is what I have been experiencing. I can ask myself one simple question to get to the heart of the matter: Is there anything that I have been convicted about in my life but have not yet begun to change? Is there any area of my life that I have been unwilling to relinquish to the Lord's control? Whatever that thing may be, I must...

Do it immediately, do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
Leave all results, doe the nexte thynge.

The Lord will meet us when we take a step of obedience, and he will work in us "both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil 2:13).