Mike Browning

Tag: Obedience

  • You’re Not Going To Break It

    You’re Not Going To Break It

    God’s plan was designed to account for the fact we are human.

    A lot of people are waiting to understand perfectly before they move.

    It may sound wise, but it’s really just fear with religious language wrapped around it.

    We all tend to want certainty. To know exactly what God is doing, exactly what the outcome will be, exactly how things are supposed to unfold before they take a step.

    But if you actually read the Bible, that’s not really how it works.

    Abraham is told to go somewhere without being told where.

    The disciples follow Jesus while constantly misunderstanding Him. Even near the end they still don’t fully grasp what’s happening.

    Peter gets corrected repeatedly.

    Moses loses his temper.

    David wrecks things more than once.

    Solomon is the wisest man who ever lived, but also screwed things up on an order we can’t really fathom.

    Notice a pattern?

    God keeps working through people who do not fully understand what they are doing while they are doing it. And they screw up repeatedly, yet God keeps working through them anyway.

    That does not mean mistakes don’t matter, because they do. Sometimes painfully. Moses still didn’t enter the Promised Land. David still suffered consequences for what he did. Actions matter, and scripture never pretends otherwise.

    But there’s another mistake people make.

    They act like one honest error can somehow derail God’s entire plan for their life.

    As if the outcome ultimately depends on them executing everything flawlessly.

    It doesn’t.

    Romans says all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Most people apply that only to external suffering, and things that don’t look like our fault.

    But it also applies to our mistakes.

    You are going to misunderstand things sometimes and make decisions that later look immature. You’ll move too slowly in some situations and too quickly in others.

    That’s being human. God has already accounted for it.

    A baby doesn’t learn to walk by studying for years. They just start moving, wobble around a bit, and learn through the movement itself.

    Faith works similarly.

    A lot of people are frozen because they are waiting for a level of certainty that they will never see.

    Meanwhile the people throughout scripture were often moving forward with partial understanding at best.

    The outcome was never resting entirely on them getting everything right. And it is not resting entirely on you either.

    God already knew imperfect people were going to be involved.

    Our mistakes don’t surprise Him.

    P.S.- If you’d like to read through the Bible this year, you can join us at His Word Together.

    No commentary.
    No telling you what to think.
    Nothing to buy.
    Nothing fancy.

    Just steady time in the Word.

    Check it out here.

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  • You Understand This When Dealing With Your Own Kids, But Forget When God’s Dealing With You

    You Understand This When Dealing With Your Own Kids, But Forget When God’s Dealing With You

    You don’t need more detail, just do what you’re asked.

    In the Old Testament story of Samson, before he was born an angel came to his mother with some simple instructions:

    Don’t drink wine, don’t eat anything unclean, don’t shave his head. And your son will begin to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines.

    She told her husband Manoah about it, and he wanted to meet with the angel himself.

    That makes perfect sense to most people.

    If you’re told you’re going to raise a child set apart for something important, you probably want more than a few lines of instruction. So he asks for it, and God sends the angel back.

    And nothing new is added.

    Same instructions. Same limits. No extra detail. No roadmap. Not even a name.

    They got a second chance to ask, and still didn’t get what they were looking for.

    People ask for clarity when what they really want is control. They want to understand the outcome before they commit, to make sure it makes sense first.

    That’s not what they were given.

    They were told what to do, and that was it. No explanation of how Samson’s life would unfold. No outline of how this would deliver Israel. No reassurance that it would go smoothly.

    Just do this.

    Then Manoah asks for the name. Most of us probably would. If something significant is happening, you want to know who you’re dealing with.

    The answer he gets is basically, “Why do you need to know that?”

    In other words, you don’t.

    We think more information will make us more faithful. Usually it just makes us more selective.

    If we know the outcome, we can decide if it’s worth it. If we understand the plan, we can adjust it. If we know the why, we can negotiate the how.

    That’s not obedience, it’s management. But we aren’t the manager. God is.

    Look at your own life.

    You feel like you should do something. Call someone, stop something, start something. It doesn’t seem efficient. It doesn’t seem important.

    So you wait. Or you tweak it into something that makes more sense to you. Or you ask for more confirmation.

    I’ve done that. Most people have.

    It sounds responsible and thoughtful, but usually it’s hesitation. Sometimes it’s just disobedience dressed up as wisdom.

    Much later, Jesus tells Peter something about how his life will end. Peter immediately points at someone else and asks, “What about him?”

    And the answer he gets is, what is that to you?

    Follow me.

    Same idea.

    You don’t need to know his path to walk yours. You don’t need the full picture to take the next step.

    You don’t need better instructions.

    You already have enough.

    P.S. If you’d like to read through the Bible this year, you can join us at His Word Together.

    No commentary.
    No telling you what to think.
    Nothing to buy.
    Nothing fancy.
    Just steady time in the Word.


    Check it out here.

  • Obedience Before Understanding

    Obedience Before Understanding

    We don’t have to know all the why’s in order to do what we’re told.

    Awhile back I got a little irritated with one of my kids.

    Which one? Doesn’t matter.

    The same basic situation has happened with all four of them. (And if you have kids I promise you’ve had the same experience.)

    So they probably all think I’m talking about them.

    Anyway here’s the story:

    We were planning to go somewhere. About a half hour away. Which she knew.

    But I needed to make a stop along the way, so I told her to be ready an hour earlier than we’d normally leave.

    She said “okay” and I went on about my business.

    Did I explain why? No. Should I have? Maybe.

    But you know how it goes — if I explained every single why behind everything I do, I’d never get anything done.

    Anyone want to guess what happened next?

    Time to leave rolls around…

    She’s not ready.

    Which put me in a bind. So I was frustrated, and I explained then why we had to leave early.

    To which she replied:

    “Well I didn’t know that.”

    So I walked off thinking:

    I wouldn’t have told you to be ready early for no reason. Why couldn’t you just do what I asked even if you didn’t understand why?

    And then it hit me.

    God probably feels the same way about me.

    We’ve all had times where we feel like God wants us to do something — or not do something — and it doesn’t make sense to us.

    We think it would be better if we did it our way.

    Our timing. Our understanding.

    Pretty presumptuous when you think about it.

    Whenever something doesn’t line up with how we think it should go, we assume the instructions are wrong — instead of assuming we might be the ones who don’t see the full picture.

    But God doesn’t think like we do.

    Thankfully.

    I remember realizing in that moment that I was the one who needed to learn obedience just as much as she did. Maybe more.

    Have I gotten any better?

    I like to think so.

    But if I’m being honest — probably not nearly where I should be. Stubbornness is my superpower, and it doesn’t always serve me well.

    But I’ll keep trying.

    And I won’t give up.

    I can be stubborn about that too.

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    PS: I’ve mentioned this before, but having a physical Bible matters.

    Most people who own one don’t read it much. And most who do read Scripture only do it when it’s put in front of them on Sunday.

    But there have been studies showing that people who read their Bible at least 4 times a week have lower rates of depression, anxiety, addiction, and other issues.

    It’s a spiritual discipline with physical benefits.

    Reading or listening online is fine — until it isn’t.

    If access to digital content went away for any reason… what would you have?

    A physical Bible isn’t expensive.

    And it doesn’t require Wi-Fi.

    Buy one here on Amazon.

    (Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Clicking that link may earn me a small commission, at no extra cost to you.)