Matthew 25: 22-26 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!
What did you do with the ”talent” you received in the form of the multitude of preachings and Biblical teachings God has exposed you to? Did you just bury it immediately in some deep part of your brain and forget about it? Never bringing it back to remembrance so you can chew on it, meditate on it, think about it over and over, comb it through your mind until you have understanding of it. Understanding makes it applicable, bringing things from the abstract making them actionable things you can put into practice. Once you understand, do you act on it or just say oh! Now I get it! That’s good. What you learn will only yield results for you if you act on it. Peter and John stretched out their hand to the lame man. If he never reached out to grab it he would still be lame to the day he died. The disciples cast their nets to the other side. You may ask, wouldn’t some few fish have still swum to where the net was on the opposite side since the fish were too many? All creation answers to the voice of the Lord. That is why a raging sea will be as still as a slab of iron at the Lord’s one command: peace be still. So, when the disciples cast the net, it took effort on their part. Jesus could have as well said, ‘’net, fly to the other side, collect the fish and fly into the boat.’’ But the nature of God is such that He requires partnership from us. That is why He gave us free will. He wants us to use our free will to choose Him. To choose to follow and obey His instruction. The nets were heavy. Lifting them to the other side made the disciples wet, they had to make sure the boat remained balanced and did not capsize as they switched the nets from one side to the other. This process took strength, it took time, it took effort, it took will and it was not in vain.
What does obeying God’s instruction look like to you right now? It will take trust, it will take effort, it will take exerting and pushing yourself, it will take time, it will take obedience to do what He has said to do and how He has said to do it, even though it seems silly and does not make sense to you at the time. It will take using your free will to choose God over logic, over comfort, over public opinion and over nature. And it will be worth it because God always does exceedingly abundantly more than we can ever ask or even imagine. We serve a big God, and He will not be out done. He has never been outdone and will never be outdone.
Genesis 7:15: Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them CAME to Noah and entered the ark. Just like how God brought all the animals to Noah in a divine orchestration of events they came without human intervention so they could be preserved in the ark when Noah followed the seemingly ridiculous instruction to build a large boat because God planned to flood the earth with rain, way back in the Old Testament.
John 21:5-6: Jesus asked them, “Friends, haven’t you caught any fish?” They answered him, “No, we haven’t.” Then He said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.
That same God brought the fish to jump into the nets of the disciples when they chose to obey His instruction and cast the net on the other side as though that would have made a difference on any other ordinary day. The difference was that it was God’s instruction.
That same God who worked in Noah’s day, who worked in the disciples’ days, still works in our days too because His Word tells us that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So, follow His instructions to you today, do it how He says to do it, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, the results will speak for themselves. The more we follow God’s instruction, the easier it gets to trust and follow Him the next time and the next and the next.
Psalm 19:7-8: The Lord’s teachings are perfect. They give new strength. The Lord’s rules can be trusted. They make plain people wise. The Lord’s orders are right. They make people happy. The Lord’s commands are pure. They light up the way.
PIN THIS!
Read more of Rachel’s contributions to AllMomDoes here.