“Late at night, we might feel a ‘911’ in the spirit. That’s a nudge for you to pray, to enter into that quiet place with the Lord. Let Him bring you a word of comfort and a word of hope.”

Joy Ware Miller

If you walk long enough with Jesus, He’ll ask you to do something that doesn’t make sense to you, like waking up in the middle of the night to pray, saying something to a stranger, or buying the person behind you in line a coffee. In a world where logic seems to reign supreme, this can prompt the people around you (and even your own mind) to say, “that just doesn’t make sense!” Rest assured, you’re in good company. There is example after example of situations in the Bible where God asks someone to do something that doesn’t seem to make sense to our human minds, but from God’s perfect perspective, there’s always a reason! One of the reasons is usually to grow your faith and to teach you to obey. May these stories increase your faith and your trust that God knows what He’s doing, even when we can’t see the whole picture. 

Numbers 20.7-12

 “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.’ So Moses took the staff from the LORD’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, ‘Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’

Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.’”

Numbers 20.7-12 NIV

This story is fascinating because it’s so easy to see yourself in it. It’s important to know that earlier in Moses’ life, as recorded in Exodus 17, the Lord told Moses to strike the rock in order to make water flow from it. In this situation, as recorded in Numbers, Moses is frustrated and hits the rock twice, instead of doing what the Lord told him to do, which was to speak to it. Can’t you see yourself there? Moses might have reasoned with himself, saying, “This is what I did before, and it worked.” Or, he might have just been so annoyed he wasn’t thinking about what the Lord said, he was reacting in the moment. Either way, we can see how even though the Lord’s instructions might not have made sense to them at the time (and maybe His punishment didn’t either!), but there was a reason, and God cared how it was done, not just that it was done. 

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Hebrews 11.8 

“Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going”

Hebrews 11.8 NIV

Abraham’s faith and obedience is such a great example for us today. Imagine yourself in the same situation: God tells you to move, but He doesn’t tell you where you’re going.  You might be tempted to think that doesn’t happen anymore, but it does! It doesn’t always look like moving physical locations (although sometimes it does…) Sometimes it might look like God leading you to a job change that doesn’t make sense to you, giving when you don’t have enough yourself, or a random act of kindness. And all it takes is the belief that you can trust God’s wisdom more than your own. 

Have you ever experienced a leading from the Lord that didn’t make sense to you? What did you do? What did you learn from your obedience (or disobedience)?

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God bless you. Stay hopeful! ❤️