Saying YES - Part 2

This past Christmas, I bought my wife a book online. It was "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. I was planning to just buy the one but I noticed a few other books listed at the bottom of the page. You all know what I'm talking about...one of those readers-who-bought-this-book-also-enjoyed-this-other-book marketing tricks. That doesn't usually get me to buy the other book but I realized that if I did it this time, I would get free shipping. So I bought it and hoped it would be reasonably interesting.

This is the book:

It's the story of Katie Davis, a well-to-do teenager from Nashville, Tennessee who, in 2006, left her life behind to follow the call of God to a village in Uganda where she now lives. Now 25, she has established a non-profit organization that feeds, educates, and tends to the health needs of hundreds of impoverished children. Along the way, she has adopted thirteen little girls.

Rebekah couldn't put the book down and now I am reading it as well. I'm only about half way but so much of what she writes about has resounded in my spirit. The Lord has opened our eyes, through the miracle of adoption, to many of the same things that Katie discusses.

Now reader, please believe that the next part of this post is true. I am not lying, exaggerating, or fabricating in any way.

This past Sunday, I sat in church and listened to my father-in-law teach. He was beginning a series of messages and spent much of the time talking about how the Lord trains us for His calling. I am eagerly looking forward to the next messages in the series.

As I was listening, the Lord seemed to be asking me an unrelated question. He was asking, "Who in the Scriptures has said yes to me and what was the result?" Saying yes to the Lord is something that has been on my mind for a long time. You may remember that I discussed this in an earlier post, hence the "Part 2" in the title of this one. If you missed the earlier post, you can read it here.

I grabbed my ipad and started tapping out some answers to the question:

Abram/Abraham said yes. The result was that he left his familiar country to travel into the unknown. He faced dangers on the way, made mistakes, dealt with dissension, and ultimately received an insane promise from the Living God. Having received that promise, he tried to make it happen on his own terms, then received Isaac on God's terms, then was told to sacrifice Isaac (!), then was rescued from that situation. He became the father of nations, just as the Lord promised.

Joshua said yes. He, along with Caleb, believed that the Lord would give them the land. The result was that he led the people, after the death of Moses, into the land where it was reported that giants lived. He led the host of Israel around the walls of Jericho, obediently following the Lord's seemingly absurd instructions. The walls fell down.

Hannah said yes. She asked for a child and promised that if the Lord gave her a son, he would serve the Lord all his days. When the baby was born, Hannah seems to be hesitant about following through. She chooses to stay behind asking Elkanah, her husband, to wait until the boy is weaned. Noticing her hesitation, Elkanah encourages her to "do what seems best," to "stay here for now," and adds, "may the Lord help you keep your promise." The Lord does help her and, eventually, Hannah takes Samuel and gives him to the service of the Lord. This must have been very hard. No texting, phone calls, or commutes to stay in touch with her son. She was giving him to the Lord permanently. The result....Samuel was used by the Lord in mighty ways, not the least of which was the identification of David as the king of Israel.

David said yes. He was the youngest of his brothers and Jesse's last thought when Samuel came to visit. He made tons of mistakes and was clearly a sinner. But he also had heroic moments. Obviously, the most famous is his challenge of Goliath without hesitation. He walked on to the battlefield and slew the giant without the slightest concern that this Philistine would prove to be too much for the Lord to handle.

Jonah said yes. Well, eventually anyway. First he said no. In the belly of a fish he changed his mind and the Lord was able to use this flawed man according to the plans He had for his life.

Moses said yes. A man who could have lived in the overflowing pleasures and comforts of the palace of the Pharaoh. Instead, Hebrews says that he chose to share in the suffering of his people because he was looking toward a greater reward. The result...a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day, the parting of the Red Sea, manna, water from the rock, The Ten Commandments. A movie starring Charlton Heston.

OK, just kidding about that last part.

Speaking of Hebrews, it was at this point in my question answering that I realized that Hebrews 11 has a lot of the answers to the question the Lord was asking me. In the "Hall of Faith," as this chapter is often called, there is example after example of people who said yes, with detailed results.

But here is the thing the Lord was trying to show me. When we look at these examples, we often see the end. We focus on the victory. The blessing. The awesome result. That's a great thing to do and I encourage you to keep doing it.

But there is also a middle.

For each of these people, there was a call, or an instruction, or a word from the Lord in some way at the beginning. And then they acted. They did something uncomfortable. The stepped out of their comfort zone.

Abram left the only home he'd ever known. Joshua faced giants and did so while leading a nation that had just been led by Moses (a tough act to follow, no doubt). Hannah gave her son away. David walked out on to the battlefield with no armor and a sling. Jonah went to a city that he didn't want to visit and was populated by a group of people that he thought didn't deserve God's mercy. Moses returned to Egypt, where he had committed murder, to demand that its ruler release his slaves.

Each of these people were strong and courageous to ACT. To say yes. Katie Davis made a similar decision and the Lord has fashioned a miracle out of her "yes".

Here's the part I'm not making up:

As I was reading Kisses from Katie tonight, I came upon a section of her book in which she writes almost exactly what I had tapped into my ipad. She discusses Moses, David, and Jonah. She also includes Mary and Paul from the New Testament. Flawed people who had an extraordinary God.

If that wasn't enough, the Lord drove the point home tonight as I was putting the kids to bed. Inspired by Rebekah's success last year, Henry, Stella, and I are reading through the New Testament together in 2013. Tonight was Luke 1. One thing stood out like a lighthouse.

Mary, speaking with an angel and faced with the realization that her life will change forever, gives the perfect response. Certainly she has an understanding of the social stigma she will have as an unmarried pregnant woman in Nazareth. But this is what she says:

"I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true."

That response was the step in the middle. Wedged between the announcement from the angel and the glorious victory which was the birth of Jesus Christ.

Let this be my response, Lord. Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God. Give me the courage to say yes to doing something about it. Give me the desires that You wish me to have in my heart and the strength to obey Your call.

Let me be an ordinary servant of You, my extraordinary God.