The Encourager
“Procrastination Regarding Obedience”
Procrastination Regarding Obedience
by Jeff Curtis
God’s people should be aware of the temptation to procrastinate in obeying Him. When Jacob was fleeing to Haran to escape the anger of Esau, God appeared to him in a dream at Bethel. God promised to be with Jacob and bless him wherever he travelled and then bring him back to the land of his birth. God also repeated to him the covenant promises that He had made to Abraham: the gift of Canaan and many descendants, who be a blessing to all the families of the earth. In response to this vision, Jacob promised to serve God. He set up a pillar at Bethel (“the house of God”) and promised to give God a tenth of all the blessings that he received (Gen. 28:12-22).
The text doesn’t tell how many years had passed since the Lord’s manifestation to Jacob at Bethel; but he spent twenty years in Haran, where eleven sons and one daughter were born to his wives and their maidservants. At the end of that time, Jacob reminded Rachel and Leah how their father had lied and cheated him throughout his stay in their homeland. He also revealed to his wives that God had appeared to him and told him to return to the land of his birth (Gen. 31:13), where his father still lived. However, after Laban left them on the east side of the Jordan River, instead of crossing over into Canaan in accordance to God’s command, Jacob and his family evidently settled down and spent a number years in Succoth. Jacob built a house there and booths for his livestock (33:17). When he finally crossed the Jordan and returned to Canaan, he bought a piece of property for his family in Shechem (33:18-20). They lived there for a period of time before incidents transpired in chapter 34.
Why was Jacob hesitant to return to Bethel or go home to father near Hebron? (1) He may still have been afraid to live too close to Esau in Edom. (2) Maybe he thought that his father was dead by this time – or was too embarrassed to face him again after all the hurt he has caused him. (3) Since he had given Esau a large portion of his wealth in livestock (33:8-11), he may have wanted to avoid giving another ten percent to God at Bethel (28:22). Whatever Jacob’s reasons were for procrastinating in obeying God, they had sad and hurtful consequences.
When people hear the call of the Lord to do His will, it is unwise to procrastinate or to give only partial obedience. The Bible contains many examples of such responses. 1) Samuel rebuked King Saul for rending partial obedience (1Samuel 15: 22,23). 2) A psalmist challenged his contemporaries not to postpone obedience: “Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness…” (Psa. 95:7c-11). 3) The writer of Hebrews quoted this psalm to encourage Jewish Christians not to delay in the obedience to the Lord (Heb. 3:7-4:11). 4) Writing centuries before, Isaiah urged the Israelites who would be freed from Babylonian captivity that it was the “favorable time” (“a day of salvation”) for them to return to Palestine and rebuild the desolate places (Isa. 49:8-10). Most of the exiles from Judah procrastinated, refusing the call of God; and they never returned to the Promised Land. 5) Paul used Isaiah’s words in a different way: He encouraged Christians “not to receive the grace of God in vain” and not to cause offense that might discredit the cause of Christ. He appealed for an immediate response by the Corinthians, saying, “Behold, now is ‘the acceptable time,’ now is ‘the day of salvation’” (2Cor. 6:1-3). 6) Paul made a similar appeal to the Ephesians, who were careless in their “walk” as children of God. He said they were like sleepwalkers and needed to wake up and make the most of their time “because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5”14-16).
Christians constantly face the temptation to procrastinate in serving God. May He help us to act promptly and wisely.
