Obedience doesn’t only involve what we do, but also when we do it.
I know it’s hard to imagine, but just for a moment consider if God had asked you to do what He asked Abraham to do in Genesis 22. Would what we read of the patriarch be recorded of us? “So Abraham rose early in the morning” (v 3). Do you think we might have lingered a while at the breakfast table that day? But he was in a hurry to obey. When I came into the world in 1951, my father had only recently been decommissioned as a lieutenant in the Air Force. I’m not kidding when I say that his instructions to us were not to be considered suggestions! A watchword in our house became familiar to our little souls: “Obedience means now.” If we decided to do what he asked us at the time of our own choice, that was not obedience. Abraham followed the same guideline. American scholar Edward Robinson (1794–1863), often called “the father of biblical geography,” successfully identified more than 200 sites in Israel. On one of his journeys, he rode camelback from Beersheba to Mount Moriah, leaving at first light and riding until dark. He barely made it in three days! So with amazement we read, “On the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off” (Gen 22:4). No dilly-dallying for him! It reminds us that progress in the Christian life is determined not by how much we know but by how quick we are to obey what we know. So it was with our Savior as He made His way to the place of sacrifice: “He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Lk 9:51). Say, believer, is there something the Lord has asked you to do for Him, a sacrifice to make, some forgiveness to ask or give? We are encouraged to act “while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any…be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13). Today’s the day!