When Obedience Costs You Something

Ramada was 17 years old when she got sick and no doctor

could help her. Her aunt told her about Jesus and prayed over

her. One month later, Ramada was healed. A pastor told her that

if she accepted Jesus, God would forgive her sins and she could

spend eternity with She said She'd grown up Muslim in the

Ivory Coast and her family was Muslim. Her community was Muslim.

Everyone she knew and loved was Muslim. And word got out. Her

family came for her and locked her in the house. They took her

food, they took her water and for four days she sat in that

room and every time she called out, she heard the same answer.

Renounce Jesus. Take it back. Come back to us. But she

wouldn't. We'll get back to what happened in that room in just a

moment. But

first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm

Bart Obedience sounds inspiring on Sunday morning and 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's been the center of your life. And in these moments,

obedience stops being a concept and it becomes a honest. That's

where faith becomes real. Not in the easy yes, but in the costly

one. Here's what Genesis 12: 1-4 says: "The Lord had said to

Abraham; Leave your native country, your relatives and your

father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. I

will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and

make you famous, and you will be a blessing to 7-4 "I will bless

those who bless you, and curse those who curse you with

contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through

you." So Abraham departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot

went with him: "Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran."

That last line is easy to read past. "Abram was 75 years old

when he left. He wasn't a young man with nothing to lose and

nowhere to be. He high, but he was a man with a man with deep

roots, established relationships, a known identity, and a life

that I'm sure to him made sense. And God told him to leave all of

it for a destination he didn't name. "God didn't give him a map

or a plan. Not even an explanation. Just go." "And the

Bible simply says, 'So Abram departed.'" Three words: he

didn't negotiate or ask for more details, and he didn't wait

until the destination became clearer. He just went. Now, it's

important to say that obedience like this doesn't mean

recklessness. Abraham wasn't impulsive. He wasn't ignoring

wisdom or abandoning responsibility. What he was

doing was responding to a clear word from God. He was trusting

God's character was sufficient reason to move, even when the

details weren't.

It requires you to release the life you understood for a life

you can't yet picture. It requires you to believe that

what God's calling you toward is worth more than what he's asking

you to leave behind, even when you can't yet see why. Most of

us are comfortable with obedience when the cost is

manageable. We'll follow God as long as it doesn't cost us the

relationship, or the income, or the reputation, or the comfort

we've built around ourselves. But when the call requires a

real loss, that's when the negotiating begins. I know

something about that cost personally. I was 10 years old

when my family first heard that salvation was available as a

free gift because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We had

been raised in church and we were faithful every Sunday, but

it was all rituals and sacraments and praying to saints.

The family on the other side invited us to a home Bible study

one evening. There we heard the gospel and eventually my family

and I trusted Christ as our Savior. But it cost us. My mom's

parents, my grandparents, decided we had betrayed them and

their religion, as they put it. They cut us off. And for years

there was very little relationship. I could tell it

hurt my mom. Eventually they came around and their

relationship mended, but the obedience came first and the

restoration came later on a timeline none of us controlled.

And for some, that mending never That's the part nobody puts in

the brochure. The yes to God sometimes means a no to

something you love deeply and you don't always get to know

when or But Abraham didn't get the destination. He got the

direction and he went God says: Luke 9: 62 records Jesus as

saying, "Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back

is not fit for the kingdom of God. The person who keeps

looking back at what they left isn't fully available to what

lies ahead. Costly obedience requires releasing your grip on

what was in order receive what's coming." And here's the other

thing. God doesn't ask for sacrifice carelessly. He sees

what he's asking you to release and he doesn't take it lightly.

The promises he made to Abraham weren't vague reassurances. They

were specific. They were substantial and ultimately they

were the foundation on which entire redemption story of

scripture was built. God knew exactly what he was asking

Abraham to leave. And he had already prepared exactly what he

intended to give him in return. doesn't make the leaving easy,

but it's what trusting God's all about. Now let's get back to

Ramada. Christians from her village heard what had been done

to her. They surrounded the house and went to the village

chief who ordered her release. The family had no choice, but

the moment she walked out they told her to leave and never come

back. An elder stood in front of her and cursed her. He said she

would never have a child. She left anyway. Ramada lost her

family in her home and she didn't know what would come next.

She just couldn't go back to where she'd been. That's the

part about obedience. Nobody tells you. God calls you forward

and sometimes we know, as we've said before, that means leaving

behind something you love deeply, people you love deeply, a life

you understood. Abraham didn't know where he was going and

neither did Ramada. She just went. And here's what happened

over the next 17 years. She found a husband. She had

children and eventually by God's grace she and her father found

their way back to each other. The elder's curse didn't hold.

God's call did. the pattern of costly obedience throughout

scripture. It's a real loss and the leaving is painful and God

is faithful on the other side of it in ways that could never have

been reached any other way. You don't have to see the full

destination. You just have to take the next step. Name the

thing before God today, acknowledging that it would cost

you and then ask him directly. Do you want me to go? If the

answer is yes, trust that the God who called Abraham, who

carried Ramada, who brought my family story through years of

estrangement, is the same God walking ahead of you into

whatever comes next. Lord, you know the places where we stopped

at the edges of obedience

you never promised to give. And give us the faith of Abraham who

went without knowing where he was going simply because you

asked him to. Help us to trust your character more than our

ability to see the road ahead. remind us that you have never

called anyone forward and then abandoned them in the going. In

Jesus' name, Amen. If this episode spoke to you where you

are today, would you share it with someone who might need to

hear it? Just go to

DailyDevotionsForBusyLives.com/216 and copy the link. It only

takes a second, and it might be exactly what someone in your

life needs right now. Thanks for joining me on Daily Devotions

for Busy Lives. Remember, Abraham didn't know where he was

going, but he went anyway. That kind of obedience is still what

God asks of and he's never failed anyone who said yes. Come

back next time for encouragement to help you live grounded in

God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a great day.