Delayed Obedience

“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.’” 1 Samuel 15:22, NASB.

I had a dream one night. In my dream a voice said, “Go to the prison.” The dream was very vivid. The next day I told my wife about it, but I decided to wait on actually going to the prison. Over the next several days, the Holy Spirit kept prompting me to go. I had delayed because I didn’t want to look silly going to the prison saying that God had told me to come.

Finally on the fourth day I couldn’t bear being disobedient any longer. I went to the prison and knocked on the front door. A guard gruffly asked me what I wanted through a small opening in the gate. I said, “God told me to come here in a dream. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do, but I’m trying to be obedient.”

No other questions, the guard opened the gate and took me to the prison warden. Dreams are taken very seriously in this culture. When I shared with the warden, he had no ideas as to why God may have asked me to come to the prison.

As I left the prison that day the Spirit convicted me that delayed obedience is not obedience at all. Who knows what God would have accomplished through me if I had gone to the prison on the day He prompted me to go? I was sad that I’d disappointed my heavenly Father. I asked God to forgive me and committed myself to obey God’s future promptings without delay.

Pray that:

Believers in the Pacific Rim will immediately obey God’s promptings.

God will guide believers to people of peace on a daily basis so they can share the Gospel with great joy.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.