Worth The Risk

God is calling us to operate in higher heights and deeper depths in Him. His desire is that we respond to the challenges He sends to us with ever increasing faith. Often there will be periods when the task seems to great and our strength too small, but if we patiently endure to the end, we will surely be rewarded.

Obedient trust in God’s Word involves taking a risk. We must risk experiencing failure and embarrassment in order to obey God’s Word. In fact, sometimes obeying God’s Will appears to be the most insensible thing to do. Every rational principle that we have learned may war against what God has given us to do. We must settle it in our heart once and for all that obeying God is worth the risk.

When I left my home church in 1994, I had nowhere to go. When I spoke with my pastor, all I could tell him was that I knew in my heart that God was separating me. I did not know exactly what He was calling me to do, or where He was sending me. My pastor was concerned about me and encouraged me to pray, but he did not try to stop me from obeying the cry of my heart.

Leaving home and sailing into uncharted waters involved taking a risk. Did God speak to me, or was it just a voice in my head? Should I risk being misunderstood, or should I follow the voice of the "spiritual elite" and evangelize (play it safe). In most cases, evangelist is a title given to people who fit nowhere else. A better word for evangelist is "miscellaneous".

For weeks I had nowhere to go. My family and I visited different churches, and the voice that called me out was silence. I was one sad pitiful preacher. When I least expected Him to, God spoke to my heart, and gave me to start this ministry. At the time we didn’t have a paper clip. From that day to this, taking risk is the standard of operation for this ministry.

Genesis 22: 1-18 tells the account of Abraham, and how God tested him by ordering him to sacrifice his only son Isaac as a burnt offering. I can but imagine how Abraham must have felt as he prepared for that task. I am sure the thought of possibly misunderstanding God crossed his mind on many occasions. Every rational muscle in Abraham’s body fought to hold him back. Had Sarah known his plans, she surely would have intervened. Yet silently, in spite of the foolishness of the command, Abraham took the risk of obeying God.

None of us have to deal literally sacrificing our children on an altar. We have never had to look in their eyes and try to convince them to not be afraid while we draw back with a knife in our hand. But dealing with our children involves a different risk for us. It may mean that we risk finding out who their friends are, and monitoring what they watch on the television. It may mean slowing down long enough to listen to and communicate with them. It may mean that churches will have to risk changing their order of service to include the youth, or modifying their budget to support an aggressive and continuous youth outreach specifically designed to deal with the issues they face.

There are many things to learn when we study Abraham’s test. One thing is that Abraham loved God more than he loved Isaac. Another thing is that he was willing to obey God beyond reason, even to the point of giving his son back to God as a burnt offering. We also learn that receiving God’s promises requires a faith that must be tested, sometimes be God Himself. As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be…He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform Romans 4: 17-21 KJV.

Because of his obedience, God gave Abraham a substitute to be offered up in the place of his son Isaac. Abraham returned home full of joy and confidence instead of grief and disillusionment. His faith was rewarded, his confidence was affirmed, and God was glorified. Now it was safe to tell Sarah, and invite the whole family to rejoice. And what a great lesson young Isaac learned.

Obeying God is worth the risk, but Satan wants to think that it is not. He uses past failures and emotional confusion to distort our focus on God’s will for our lives. If you have a wife, it is God’s will that you love you wife, even as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it Ephesians 5:25. You will have to risk getting involved with her emotionally and sacrificing time and energy to communicate with her on a more meaningful level. It means that a wife must be willing to risk responding to her husband with an attitude of submission, and adorning herself with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit 1 Peter 3:4. It means that the husband risk taking the spiritual leadership of the home, and involve himself in the lives of his children.

Living for God involves risk, but it is worth it. God considered it worth the risk to send Jesus to die for our sin. It wasn’t easy becoming our sins and diseases, but because He did, we can live saved and enjoy eternity in God’s presence.

Are you willing to break the chain of mediocrity that rules your life? Then make up your mind that you will obey God’s Word and not turn back no matter what. It is well worth the risk.