Psalm 119:60 “I made haste and did not delay to keep your commandments.”

Hum, this is something to think about. Do we hasten to obey all the Lord tells us in His word to do? Are we eager to obey those things he has told us we must do or we must not do? I think all too often we are very quick to jump into things we should not. We forget that we are being watched by a Holy God, a jealous God. All too often without much thought, we find ourselves doing that very thing God said not to do and we have jumped in with both feet before the “wait a minute, what am I doing?” kicked in. And then we are crying to him when it all goes wrong, asking for his help.

What does “made haste” mean? It means with “excessive speed or urgency of movement or action; hurry.” Are there times when the Holy Spirit pricks your conscience and you know without a doubt you should not do something, yet onward you go. Thinking it isn’t really that bad and I really want to, God will forgive me anyway; or maybe it is the opposite and the Lord has quickened you to do some task for him, or help someone and you sense the urgency in the request, yet you still hold back, taking your time, because to be honest you just don’t feel like doing it at the moment.

We are like children, we hate being told what we can and cannot do. God has not given us rules to follow to pen us in, it is to protect us from those wrong urgings that we have. Those desires for things not of God that creep into our minds. He wants us to live freely under the umbrella of protection he has put in place so that we can forgo the circumstances to many a bad decision. He loves his children and he wants to see us flying high, not hitting the ground wounded.

What if we were swift to hear and to do those things he has commanded us to do or not to do. What if we heard his voice and we said yes Lord and did the thing that he has asked with the urgency it deserves. What do you think would happen then? I dare say God would be pleased and he would bless our obedience. And if we were quick to listen to that voice of warning that you know you hear when you are headed down the wrong path; in thought, in our actions, with our eyes. Yes, even our eyes can betray us. What if we trained our eyes to look away quickly so as not to give the mind and heart time to dwell on whatever we took a moments pleasure in seeing?

Maybe we would begin to grow spiritually and the sins of this world would lose a little of their shimmer and we would see them for what they are, pain, hardship, consequences. I am confident in saying that I do not think it is ever possible to be sorry for listening to the Holy Spirit’s voice and obeying what he speaks to us in those moments of decision and certainly we will never be sorry we obeyed God’s written word.

I know too many times in my life, especially my youth, I did not heed that still small voice, I spit on the words God has given us in his word. Maybe not literally, but by disobeying what he said, I might as well have. Many a time I have known when I was wrong and heading down the wrong path and basically said that I didn’t care, that God would forgive me. I presumed upon the precious grace and forgiveness of the Lord. I took him with me into sin. No, it pains me to say it, but it is true and I am sure it has been true for you at some time in your life.

It can be as simple as gossip, yes gossip. Maybe you have found yourself talking about someone unkindly sharing a secret or something and you know it is wrong, but you just go ahead with your words never knowing or thinking of how that person will feel when they hear what you said, and trust me, most of the time they do hear. Saying I am sorry does not remove the hurt of the words, we can forgive someone something, but most often we never forget.

Oh, precious fellow believers. We need to be hearers of the word, doers of the words and be swift in both. Our desires need to be focused on the Lord, eager to hear and obey. We need to realize that it is better to live in obedience with a clean conscience than to live with the consequences of bad decisions or slowness in obeying.

For myself, I love when I feel God’s pleasure toward me. I love knowing that my Father in heaven is pleased with me. I love hearing that still small voice at the end of my day that says, “well done.” I do not know how many more heartbeats I have in this life, but I want them to be heartbeats for God, doing his will, with haste and resting in his protection and grace.

If he has asked you to stop something or to do something, it is not too late to obey. Simply acknowledge your sin and confess it to him and he is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you. After the cleansing…say Yes Lord, here am I. Then you will hear that still voice whisper to your soul, with directions for stopping something or doing something, whichever it is, hasten to obey!