Where You Stay, I’ll Stay

Sunday morning retuning: Have you prayed Luke 10:2 yet?  As you ask the Lord for harvesters, are you prepared to be one?  Can you see the fields before you?

I was reading this morning from Jeremiah 42-44 and was reminded of our commitment Sunday morning.  In verse one some leaders came to Jeremiah and asked him to pray that God would show them, “where [we] should go and what [we] should do.”  I thought of our words, “where You go I’ll go, where You stay, I’ll stay” from the song, I Will Follow, by Chris Tomlin.

There are some things that are more easily said than done, and over the years I have had the opportunity to encourage God’s people to sing any number of them.  They are often words that voice the commitment our hearts have made to the One who has redeemed us, and they are lofty.  For instance, from later in that chorus, “Whom You love, I’ll love [that’s everybody by the way, even your enemies], How You serve, I’ll serve [He washed His disciples feet remember?], If this life I lose, [whoa, wait just a minute], I will follow You.”

Those words from Jeremiah reminded of those words we sang Sunday.  Only problem is, when Jeremiah came back from his answer from God, they denied, and did what they wanted to anyway.  How often have we been guilty of that?  Telling God we want his leading, when all we really want is His blessing.

Although our willingness to follow may seem most obvious in our going, I want you to consider for a moment or two how staying can be equally as telling.  Take for instance the illustration of a harvest.  Now I know the scripture about one plants, another waters, and then others about those who reaps, but consider this.  What if God wants you to plant, water and reap?  That takes some patience.  Farmers are not generally very nomadic.  Actually, quite the contrary.  But farming is hard work.

Are you working in your field?  Take field to mean every possible use, and ponder that.  If not, get busy, or wait, depending on where you might be in the process.  Wherever you are, make sure you are one step behind Jesus, even if He is sitting down, and has been for awhile.

Sometime God wants you to stay.  There are consequences to not following, even if it means staying.  Consider God’s indictment upon the leaders in Jeremiah 44:10-11.  Let us humble ourselves, fear God, and walk in His ways.

Jesus, we want to follow You.  Help us humble ourselves daily.  Help us to have a healthy fear of You.  By Your Spirit’s power, help us to walk in Your ways and stay close to You, whether You are moving or not.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

In Christ,

Pastor Timothy