“When obedience ceases to be an irritant & becomes a quest, in that moment, God will endow us with power.” #EzraTaftBenson
Note that he doesn’t say “when obedience becomes enjoyable, easy, or wildly rewarding.” When obedience “becomes a quest.”
A quest is an intentional journey toward an observable goal. Obedience is a quest—a perpetual intention, a series of deeds, a development of habits that brings us to the observable goal—to be with God & to be like him. Obedience is not the goal. It’s the quest.
A quest is difficult, by nature. It’s an intense endurance exercise that never gets entirely comfortable. There will be stumbling & course correction. There will be scrapes & bruises. There will also be conquered mountains & thrilling vistas.
Satan (the true irritant) makes obedience seem an imposition on free will. When I open my eyes in the morning & entertain resentful thoughts about obeying the Lord—the redundancy of scripture study, the inconvenience of helping a neighbor—I inhibit the flow of divine assistance.
If I rise in the morning & set my feet upon a quest—“Lord, give me strength. I am coming to you.”—our enemy recoils. The irritation ebbs. Obedience doesn’t seem so daunting or inconvenient. God’s power flows in through the door I opened.
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