“Whatever He says to you, do it.”

I dream almost every night and usually I have more than one dream. Most of them vanish from my thoughts a few brief moments after I awake. Once in a while I will have a dream that stays in my thoughts and leaves with me with a sense that God has been saying something to me. I had such a dream a few weeks ago. Let me tell you about it.

In the dream, a man was in his office when his boss walked in. The boss went up to the man and gave him a simple task to do. It was a task that would only take a few minutes to fulfill and there was nothing about it that was complicated or confusing. When the boss left, the man got up from his chair and immediately starting scurrying around his office wanting to prove to his boss what a good worker he was. As he scurried, the man frantically started gathering things up in his arms. Little by little the load in his arms got so big that he could not possibly hold another thing. At that moment the boss returned to the man’s office and could not believe the load of things that was in the man’s hands. When the boss looked at the man’s face he saw an expression that said, “See all that I am willing to do for you. I hope you are pleased with me.” At that moment the boss drew close to the man and looked straight into his eyes. With a compassionate but firm voice the boss said, “Stop and look at me. I want you to listen to what I am about to say. It’s not about what you do; it’s about what you have been asked to do.” It was at that point that my dream ended and I awoke.

That statement has not left me since that time. It has helped to bring greater understanding to the Scripture passages that speak about obedience. One of those passages is 1 Samuel 15. In this passage we discover that Saul was given a very clear command from the Lord. Saul did what the Lord commanded him, but not fully. Saul added something that God did not tell him to do. When Samuel confronted Saul with his disobedience, Saul tried to explain. Samuel was not impressed with Saul’s explanation and told Saul, “Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…”1 Samuel 15:22

What is the best thing we can do as we follow the Lord? The answer is simple. The best thing we can do is what we have been asked to do. God does not want us to complicate things or put our own spin on it. Not doing what God asks us to do is disobedience, but adding something to what God has asked us to do is also disobedience. Let us walk with Him daily in simple trust and full obedience of faith.

When the Apostle Paul first met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he asked a very simple question; “What do you want me to do?” Paul spent the rest of his life doing what Jesus asked him to do. What is Jesus asking you to do? How does He want you to spend this day? As you do what He asks, you will find His grace to be sufficient, His strength to be abundant, His provision to be complete, His peace to be abiding, and His presence to be enough.

“Whatever He says to you, do it.” John 2:5

Comments

[Linda]

Thanks for the timely reminder. It is not about meeting other people's expectations but rather doing what the Holy Spirit is asking us to do. Too often we weigh ourselves down with the expectations we, along with others, put on ourselves. What is God asking of me right now?

[Jennifer]

So, I have been thinking on this post for the past day and have tried to type a response of some sort, but the words just will not come. So to put it simply, thank you for posting this. It is something that I have been needing to hear for a long time now.