Obedience: Sticking to the Game Plan

In January of 2023, I learned that Tottenham Hotspur, the club in London where I had played for the past seven seasons, would not be extending my contract. For the first time in my career, I didn’t have a team, and I didn’t know what was coming next.

During the waiting period, I continued to train and exercise to be ready for the next challenge. While I wasn’t sure what God was doing, I knew that I had to stay obedient and committed to Him.

Our obedience to God is a display of trust in Him. When we choose to obey His commands, we are saying we trust His plan more than our own desires. It is easy to trust God when we know what’s coming. This season of my life was a different challenge for me because I had to trust God in the midst of uncertainty.

After talking with my wife, we devoted ourselves to prayer, asking God to reveal what was next in my career. We decided that for one week, this would be our sole purpose: to ask God for wisdom and revelation.

On the first day of our prayer journey, the president of Sao Paulo, my first professional team, called to ask me to come back. For my family and me, this was a clear answer from God. I was certain that Sao Paulo was where God wanted me.

In my case, my obedience to God in prayer produced an almost immediate result. But God’s Word reveals to us that obedience does not always produce an instant change in our circumstances.

Luke 5 tells us the story of a group of fishermen. They had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. In the morning, Jesus went out on the boat and asked the fishermen to cast their nets another time. Exhausted from a night of obedient, yet unfruitful work, the fishermen still obeyed Jesus’ command.The Word tells us that they caught so many fish that their nets began to break. Their boat was so full, it began to sink!

Sometimes, obedience can feel like it isn’t getting us anywhere — like God’s way isn’t working. But obedience to God always produces transformation in us. To see the fruit of that transformation, we have to remain steadfast in our commitment to our Father’s commands. You never know what miracle or blessing is on the other side of what God is asking you.

Challenge:

• Can you remember a time when you felt the fulfillment that comes from walking in obedience to God?
• Is there a time when you didn’t obey God? How did that make you feel? How was God gracious to you at that moment?

Prayer:

"Lord, I thank You that You are for me and that all You command is for my good. Help me stay obedient and committed to You, even when it’s difficult. Deepen my trust in You through times of uncertainty. I don’t want to miss what You have for me on the other side of obedience! Amen."