"Clotheslined" Trying To Jump Out Of The Boat.

"Clotheslined" Trying To Jump Out Of The Boat


I felt the Lord on my heart.  You know the feeling.  Heart is pounding, you have
an otherwise explainable nervous sweat.  You find yourself mumbling "There is no way YOU are asking me to do this now!  Lord is that you?"

He was there alright.  I was ready to jump.  I was ready for whatever consequences may happen.  I was terrified.  But I was more terrified of missing out on God's working in my life.  So I jumped.  I was ready to walk with Christ on the water or ready to feel overwhelmed and have to be saved by His outstretched loving hand. Non the less, I was going to make a full out effort and jump from a perfectly safe church pew and take on the crashing waves because I knew God was calling me.

I jumped... I spoke to the person next to me.  There was no anger from them, there was no reaction of surprise, there was no melting of there spirit like I thought there was a possibility of, there as just answer of ... wait. This is not what I expected.   I was frozen in mid-leap.  I never actually made it out of the boat to experience all the emotions I thought I would deal with, from my heart, or from this person.  There was just... wait.  My heart wasn't experiencing pain.  I was just a bit dazed and confused as I picked my nerves and heart up off the floor and stood there.

I realized this one thing ...

God saw what the outcome would be when I went to dive overboard already screaming "It's all you Lord!" He didn't need me actually out into the water.  He just needed  me to sew a seed of obedience.  He needed me to see I was willing to jump.  He needed me to see who the real Lord of my life was.  Guess what, it wasn't fear, someone else's feelings, wasn't my dignity.  It was all God.

I don't know of anyone who has gone as far as blindly obeying Gods words as Abraham.  God rarely calls into something where we would experience such great loss as Abraham would have if God had not "Clothes lined" his obedient actions and then showed to him the ram in the thicket.

God sees  way into the future and even those moments that seem like an eternity.  He knows what that simple act of obedience may mean in the skeem of things.  I also learned not to focus on the outcome that we see, but focus on the fact that obedience is key.  Focus on the fact that each act of obedience weaves out a life time full of importance.  Not only for your own life but the lives of those around you.

Has this ever happened to you?  Sometimes God needs just our obedience and willingness to do His will.  He already saw the outcome.  Sometimes just being willing to jump is what He needs us to see.  Sometimes He's the clothesline.