When Obedience Costs You Something
There are moments when following God means losing something you love. In this episode, discover what it looks like when obedience stops being a concept and becomes a cost, and why God has never failed anyone who said yes.
There are moments when following God means losing something you love. In this episode, discover what it looks like when obedience stops being a concept and becomes a cost, and why God has never failed anyone who said yes.
Obedience sounds inspiring on Sunday morning. It sounds clean and simple when it's someone else's story. But there are moments when following God means losing something you love, saying no to something you want, or walking away from something that has been the center of your life. That is where faith stops being a concept and becomes a cost.
In this episode, we follow the story of Ramata, a 17-year-old girl in the Ivory Coast who came to faith in Christ after a miraculous healing. Her family was Muslim. Her community was Muslim. When word got out that she had trusted Jesus, her family locked her in the house, took her food and water, and gave her four days to renounce her faith.
She wouldn't.
What happened next cost her everything she had built her life around, and opened a door she never could have found any other way.
Her story runs parallel to one of the most overlooked lines in all of Scripture. Genesis 12:4 says simply: "So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed." Four words that contain one of the most remarkable acts of faith in human history. Abraham was 75 years old. He had deep roots, a known identity, and a life that made sense. God told him to leave all of it for a destination He did not name. No map. No explanation. Just go. And Abraham went.
That is still the shape of costly obedience. Not a dramatic moment of courage, but a quiet decision to trust God's character more than your ability to see where you're going. And most of us, if we're telling the truth, stall out right there. We'll follow God as long as the cost stays manageable. When it requires a real loss, that's when the negotiating starts.
This episode also includes something personal. I was ten years old when my family first heard that salvation was a free gift because of what Jesus did on the cross. That night changed everything. And it cost us. My grandparents decided we had betrayed them and their religion. The relationship went cold for years. I watched my mom carry that. The obedience came first. The restoration came later, on a timeline none of us controlled.
Through Ramata's story, Abraham's departure, and that personal piece of my own family's history, this episode makes the case that God does not ask for sacrifice carelessly. He sees what He's asking you to leave. And He has never called anyone forward and then abandoned them in the going.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:
- Why costly obedience requires trusting God's character more than your ability to see the destination
- What Genesis 12:1-4 reveals about the kind of faith that moves before it has the full picture
- The difference between the yes that costs nothing and the yes that changes everything
The elder's curse didn't hold. God's call did. And it never has failed anyone who said yes.
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Ramada was 17 years old when she got sick and no doctor
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could help her. Her aunt told her about Jesus and prayed over
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her. One month later, Ramada was healed. A pastor told her that
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if she accepted Jesus, God would forgive her sins and she could
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spend eternity with She said She'd grown up Muslim in the
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Ivory Coast and her family was Muslim. Her community was Muslim.
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Everyone she knew and loved was Muslim. And word got out. Her
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family came for her and locked her in the house. They took her
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food, they took her water and for four days she sat in that
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room and every time she called out, she heard the same answer.
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Renounce Jesus. Take it back. Come back to us. But she
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wouldn't. We'll get back to what happened in that room in just a
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moment. But
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first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm
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Bart Obedience sounds inspiring on Sunday morning and it sounds
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clean and simple when it's someone else's story. But there
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are moments when following God means losing something you love,
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saying no to something you want, or walking away from something
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that's been the center of your life. And in these moments,
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obedience stops being a concept and it becomes a honest. That's
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where faith becomes real. Not in the easy yes, but in the costly
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one. Here's what Genesis 12: 1-4 says: "The Lord had said to
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Abraham; Leave your native country, your relatives and your
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father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. I
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will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and
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make you famous, and you will be a blessing to 7-4 "I will bless
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those who bless you, and curse those who curse you with
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contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through
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you." So Abraham departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot
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went with him: "Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran."
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That last line is easy to read past. "Abram was 75 years old
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when he left. He wasn't a young man with nothing to lose and
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nowhere to be. He high, but he was a man with a man with deep
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roots, established relationships, a known identity, and a life
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that I'm sure to him made sense. And God told him to leave all of
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it for a destination he didn't name. "God didn't give him a map
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or a plan. Not even an explanation. Just go." "And the
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Bible simply says, 'So Abram departed.'" Three words: he
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didn't negotiate or ask for more details, and he didn't wait
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until the destination became clearer. He just went. Now, it's
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important to say that obedience like this doesn't mean
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recklessness. Abraham wasn't impulsive. He wasn't ignoring
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wisdom or abandoning responsibility. What he was
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doing was responding to a clear word from God. He was trusting
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God's character was sufficient reason to move, even when the
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details weren't.
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It requires you to release the life you understood for a life
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you can't yet picture. It requires you to believe that
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what God's calling you toward is worth more than what he's asking
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you to leave behind, even when you can't yet see why. Most of
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us are comfortable with obedience when the cost is
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manageable. We'll follow God as long as it doesn't cost us the
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relationship, or the income, or the reputation, or the comfort
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we've built around ourselves. But when the call requires a
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real loss, that's when the negotiating begins. I know
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something about that cost personally. I was 10 years old
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when my family first heard that salvation was available as a
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free gift because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We had
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been raised in church and we were faithful every Sunday, but
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it was all rituals and sacraments and praying to saints.
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The family on the other side invited us to a home Bible study
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one evening. There we heard the gospel and eventually my family
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and I trusted Christ as our Savior. But it cost us. My mom's
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parents, my grandparents, decided we had betrayed them and
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their religion, as they put it. They cut us off. And for years
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there was very little relationship. I could tell it
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hurt my mom. Eventually they came around and their
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relationship mended, but the obedience came first and the
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restoration came later on a timeline none of us controlled.
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And for some, that mending never That's the part nobody puts in
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the brochure. The yes to God sometimes means a no to
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something you love deeply and you don't always get to know
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when or But Abraham didn't get the destination. He got the
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direction and he went God says: Luke 9: 62 records Jesus as
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saying, "Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back
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is not fit for the kingdom of God. The person who keeps
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looking back at what they left isn't fully available to what
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lies ahead. Costly obedience requires releasing your grip on
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what was in order receive what's coming." And here's the other
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thing. God doesn't ask for sacrifice carelessly. He sees
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what he's asking you to release and he doesn't take it lightly.
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The promises he made to Abraham weren't vague reassurances. They
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were specific. They were substantial and ultimately they
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were the foundation on which entire redemption story of
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scripture was built. God knew exactly what he was asking
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Abraham to leave. And he had already prepared exactly what he
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intended to give him in return. doesn't make the leaving easy,
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but it's what trusting God's all about. Now let's get back to
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Ramada. Christians from her village heard what had been done
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to her. They surrounded the house and went to the village
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chief who ordered her release. The family had no choice, but
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the moment she walked out they told her to leave and never come
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back. An elder stood in front of her and cursed her. He said she
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would never have a child. She left anyway. Ramada lost her
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family in her home and she didn't know what would come next.
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She just couldn't go back to where she'd been. That's the
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part about obedience. Nobody tells you. God calls you forward
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and sometimes we know, as we've said before, that means leaving
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behind something you love deeply, people you love deeply, a life
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you understood. Abraham didn't know where he was going and
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neither did Ramada. She just went. And here's what happened
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over the next 17 years. She found a husband. She had
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children and eventually by God's grace she and her father found
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their way back to each other. The elder's curse didn't hold.
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God's call did. the pattern of costly obedience throughout
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scripture. It's a real loss and the leaving is painful and God
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is faithful on the other side of it in ways that could never have
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been reached any other way. You don't have to see the full
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destination. You just have to take the next step. Name the
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thing before God today, acknowledging that it would cost
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you and then ask him directly. Do you want me to go? If the
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answer is yes, trust that the God who called Abraham, who
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carried Ramada, who brought my family story through years of
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estrangement, is the same God walking ahead of you into
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whatever comes next. Lord, you know the places where we stopped
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at the edges of obedience
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you never promised to give. And give us the faith of Abraham who
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went without knowing where he was going simply because you
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asked him to. Help us to trust your character more than our
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ability to see the road ahead. remind us that you have never
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called anyone forward and then abandoned them in the going. In
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Jesus' name, Amen. If this episode spoke to you where you
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are today, would you share it with someone who might need to
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hear it? Just go to
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DailyDevotionsForBusyLives.com/216 and copy the link. It only
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takes a second, and it might be exactly what someone in your
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life needs right now. Thanks for joining me on Daily Devotions
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for Busy Lives. Remember, Abraham didn't know where he was
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going, but he went anyway. That kind of obedience is still what
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God asks of and he's never failed anyone who said yes. Come
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back next time for encouragement to help you live grounded in
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God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a great day.
