As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.
Genesis 19:15-16
Father God, I must confess that I have this tendency to “linger.” When You call me to follow Your leading, there is this thing that goes on within me that causes me to sometimes be slow to act. Whether it is a nostalgic longing for something in the past – it might be a feeling, emotion, or desired re-enactment of a memory – or just my proclivity towards sin, I am sometimes not quick to get on with it. As a result, when You say go I find myself saying when. Please forgive me! I know it is so wrong and I don’t want to be like that. It takes Your love for granted. I am sorry.
My soul is grateful this morning that You are willing to grab me, knock some sense into my head, and compel me to get on with what You are calling me to do. Though in the moment I see it as You being a harsh Disciplinarian, in fact it is You being a loving Father. In an ultimate show of Your mercy, You are saving me the pain of the consequences of my lingering by inflicting upon me the lesser pain of Your discipline. In the moment it does not seem pleasant. But eventually it yields a harvest of righteousness (Hebrews 12:6-11).
I just want to thank You for loving me enough not to leave me to my own devices, but instead pulling me, sometimes along kicking and screaming, toward what You know is best for me. Help me to mature today so that You have to do less pulling and more beckoning. Grant me discernment to know when I am being silly stubborn and lingering so that I can put myself in check and do what You are calling me to do in the moment. My mind is set to following You because I just want to be with You. Thank You in Jesus’ Name. Amen.