Keeping a Plan B When Answering the Lord's Calling

22 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Genesis 17: 22-27 (ESV)

Hello friends! Let's spend some time today looking at a few verses from Genesis 17.

Abraham finishes talking to God and, that same day, acts in obedience and circumcises everyone. Circumcising everyone means taking all men beyond a certain age out of the picture for a bit. They'd need time to heal from something considerably painful. 

Putting all of the men in his household through circumcision on the same day would have caused a hit to their productivity and left everyone in a fair bit of danger as their protectors lay recovering.

Even so, Abraham doesn't wait for tomorrow so he can plan for what needs to happen with all the men out of commission. He doesn't do them in batches so productivity never stops. He obeys instantly and completely and trusts in God's plan.

Like Abraham, we should be acting in obedience instead of pausing to make God's leadings and callings fit into our planners.

We shouldn't pencil in what God calls us to do in case we need to change routes sometime in the future.

We shouldn't answer God with Plan B kept safely in our back pockets.

We should answer wholeheartedly and immediately, trusting that God has our best interests at heart.

All the love,

Emily

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