The Readiness to Respond

As Christians, we often wait to hear what God tells us to do through His Word, and then decide if we want to obey or not. Yet, we as believers, are called to have a pre-decided yes and have a readiness to respond to anything God asks us, no matter what it is or the cost and inconvenience to our lives.

In this episode, Nathan talks about the proper posture of our souls and a special Hebrew word that conveys our needed response to God.

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Do you have a pre-decided yes to God and His Word?

Most of us wait for us to be convicted before we decide whether or not we want to obey.

But a Christian’s proper response should be that of a pre-determined “Yes, Lord!” where we agree beforehand that we will walk in obedience with a readiness to respond to God and Scripture.

In the Old Testament, this concept is captured by the word Hin•nē(h) / Hineni [pronounced hen•nay], which is “a strong Hebrew word that implies being ready to obey, fully available, prepared, and ready for action. In other words, it was a direct way of saying, ‘I’m ready!'” (1)

For example, in Genesis 22:1, when Yahweh came to Abraham, even before He could ask Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, we are told Abraham said, “Here I am” (hineni). Later, as Abraham raised his knife to kill Isaac, God stopped him by saying: “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am” (hineni) (see Genesis 22:11).

In each case, Abraham wasn’t just merely saying, “Yep, here I am, what do you want God?” Rather, he was in a posture of a ready willingness to obey, respond, and be available for whatever God wanted.

This same word shows up in a few other places where God speaks to a human:

• Jacob (Genesis 31:11; 46:2)
• ‌Moses [at the burning bush] (Exodus 3:4)
  • ‌Exodus 3:4 – And Yahweh saw that he turned aside to look, so God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
• Samuel (1 Samuel 3:4, 5, 6, 8, 16)
• ‌Isaiah [after the heavenly temple vision] (Isaiah 6:8)
  • ‌Isaiah 6:8 – Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

‌What about you?

Do you have a pre-decided yes toward God and His Word? Are you ‌walking by faith with a readiness to listen, respond, and obey?

Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon The Obedience of Faith, said, “Obedience arises out of a faith which is to us the paramount principle of action. The kind of faith which produces obedience is lord of the understanding, a royal faith. The true believer believes in God beyond all his belief in anything else, and everything else. … His faith in God has become to him the crown of all his believings; the most assured of all his confidences. As gold is to the inferior metals, such is our trust in God to all our other trusts.” (2)

As Christians, we must have ‌a constant abiding relationship where our attitude is a constant surrender, dependence, and “yes Lord!” … a readiness to respond and obey regardless of the cost or inconvenience to our lives.

Footnotes

(1) John Delancey, Connecting the Dots Between the Bible and the Land of Israel (Middletown, RI: Stone Tower Press, 2021), 41.
(2) // Charles Spurgeon, “The Obedience of Faith,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 37 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1891), 160–161.

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Question: What area do you struggle the most with giving God a pre-decided yes? (finances, marriage, family, work, free time, spiritual disciplines, or ??)