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Isaiah 30:21

“Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.”

Recently a friend of mine who is a runner, told me that he had signed up to run in a half marathon in a nearby city. He had recently taken ill, but the event was two weeks away so he figured he had plenty of time to recover. Besides, he had recently visited his doctor for the illness.

As he was registering online, it was like something told him not to go. It wasn’t a voice, it was more like an impression. But he did like most of us: he thought of all the reasons he should run in the event and ignored the impression. He signed up and paid his fee.

During the week he noticed that his recovery was going a little slower than he had expected. A friend of his noticed that he looked tired and asked if he was okay. My friend told him:

“Sure. I’m okay. I just can’t wait for the half marathon next weekend. I get to meet new people, have some good food, and even sightsee a little. I am definitely excited. Yeah, I’m okay.”

After his friend left, the thought occurred to him that even his friend noticed something in his appearance, but he quickly dismissed the thought because it would lead to him considering not participating in the half marathon.

A few days later he went to a home Bible study group, and there, decided not to go to the event. He even mentioned it to others in the group that he wasn’t going. But by the time he had returned home, he changed his mind, and made hotel reservations.

The day before the event, he packed his suitcase early that morning, got into his car to travel to the city of the event. Not more than a quarter of a mile from his house, someone suddenly cut in front of his car causing him to drive into a ditch. He wasn’t hurt but he knew that there was damage to his car. He decided to return home to inspect the damage. When he got there, he saw that the damage was worse than he thought; so much so that he knew he couldn’t drive to the event. The cost to repair his car ended up being “significant”. He finally told himself,

“I guess I should have listened to those hints; I wasn’t supposed to go.”

One of the most important “skills” of the Christian life is learning how to recognize the “voice” of God when He is “knocking on the door” of our life, trying to get your attention — His “still small voice” impressing your heart, His speaking through the Scriptures, recognizing the “it just so happened” events of life that direct our steps.

But an even more important “skill” is learning to be obedient; to respond accordingly to what you’ve heard, whether you understand fully or not. That’s where the challenge is — we may hear Him “knocking” on the door of our lives, but we don’t “open” the door of obedience for a variety of reasons.

Has God been knocking at your door? Have you already decided not to open the door because of fear of what you might hear — or you’ve decided you are going to do what you want to do regardless — or you can’t see what the end looks like — or you don’t understand the “why” of what He has said?

My friend ignored the knocks, all three of them, and it ended up costing him a very expensive repair bill. There are consequences to our disobedience. Sometimes those consequences affect not only us, but others in our circle of influence.

If God is knocking on your door, open it and obey — you can always trust the one who is sovereign, faithful and knows what’s best for you.