The Rewards of Obedience 

Anyone who knows me knows I love to shop.  I really love to shop when there is a sale and I have coupons for an extra percentage off the sale price.  That is where this story begins.

One Sunday in June, our pastor was making an announcement about our progress toward beginning construction on our new sanctuary.  He talked about a Sunday in the next weeks that we would be asked to give a sacrificial offering.  I was planning a trip to the mall on this day to shop with $200 and some great coupons.  This $200 was money given to me as gifts so it was extra special shopping money.  The Lord spoke to me in that moment and told me that giving that $200 would be a sacrifice.  How well I knew that!  When we got home after church I told my husband that I wanted to give that money toward the building fund as my sacrificial gift.  When Teddy was given money for Father’s Day, he said, “Well, you know what I am going to do with this.” 

Sometime in July, a check for over $5,000 came in the mail as part of my retirement that I was not expecting.  Teddy and I both were concerned that an error had been made and that this would in fact be a tax burden for us.  We immediately checked in to it and found that I was indeed to get that money and that it was not taxable.  (That fact alone should make this an incredible story.)

A few weeks later we got another check that contained another $300 that we felt was in error and called and tried to give it back.  No, in fact, it was correct and was ours to keep.

In August, I went to the doctor for my yearly checkup.  I had an early morning appointment so that I could get on to work.  My doctor only had one appointment before me but was detained with that patient for some time.  When he came in to see me, he just kept apologizing for making me wait and told me that he felt so bad that he was not going to charge me the deductible that I would normally be charged.  (When have you known of a doctor to apologize for being late?)

On Labor Day, Teddy and I got up early and went to have breakfast out.  I decided to get a flu shot and stopped at a Walgreen’s that we never use.  They gave me my shot and told me that I was free to go.  I reminded them that I had not paid.  She said, “Our computers are down, just consider it a public service.”

Teddy and I have talked about these events and laughed about how God has blessed our obedience to give sacrificially.  We tithe and give to our building program on a routine basis.  God wanted us to be obedient.  I do not believe that it was so much about the money as it was our obedience to Him.

When I go shopping and get the receipt, it often tells me how much money I have saved. (Teddy always asks me if I brought home the money I saved.)  God’s blessings cannot be measured on a receipt.  If I had gone on my shopping trip that Sunday afternoon, I would have brought home something that may last for a short time.  The blessings that we received from this experience will last a lifetime.  We do not measure them by the money that came our way or by the strange way they appeared.  We would have been blessed if no money came.  We would have known that God required us to give sacrificially and that we were obedient. 

Thinking back on my life, I wonder how many times God has asked me to do something for Him and I did not respond with obedience.  Instead, I made excuses, procrastinated, followed my own mind or just flat refused.  I wonder how many blessing I have missed by not being obedient to that small voice that leads us to do His will.

Obedience does not always mean giving money.  It may mean speaking to someone about his or her relationship with the Lord. It may mean taking a meal to someone in your neighborhood or visiting someone who is sick and lonely.  It may mean forgiving someone who has hurt you. It may mean sending a card to someone who needs a word of encouragement.  It may mean laying aside some sin that is in your life.

What has the Lord asked you to do this week?  Where has He asked you to go?  Who has He asked you to minister to? Were you obedient?  If not, why?  The Lord has not always asked me to do easy things, but He has never asked me to do something that He would not empower me to do. 

I believe the greatest blessings we receive are the ones that come at the end of obedience.

Look for ways this week to be obedient to the Lord’s call on your life.  If He has not asked you to do something, just be obedient to His word.

1 Samuel 15:22

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

As in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”

Enjoy the blessings which the Lord has in store for you.