09
Without Hesitation
As soon as the command was spread abroad, the people of Israel gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, wine, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field. And they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.
2 Chronicles 31:5
When was the last time you did something on impulse without any hesitation?
Maybe you saw a great deal online that was too good to pass up and you clicked “buy” without even hesitating or giving it a second thought. Maybe you suddenly spotted brake lights in front of you or a deer in the road and you slammed the brakes without hesitation. Maybe a small child was stepping out into traffic and you grabbed them and pulled them back without hesitation.
Why do we do some things without hesitation and others with hesitation? The answer comes from the fact that your mind was already made up. You didn’t need to think about it, debate it, or ask for another opinion. You knew the right thing to do in that moment and you did it, without any hesitation.
Hesitation stems from uncertainty. Not knowing what to do in a situation leaves us momentarily stuck in the middle. And even a split-second of being caught in the middle can have dire consequences, often life or death implications. Today’s verse from 2nd Chronicles is insightful because it tells us how God’s people reacted, without hesitation or second-guessing, to the commands of God. Take a moment to read it again. Their response is how we should live as well. Not stopping to think about and debate whether or not we should be obedient to God and honor his commands, but just doing it. A legacy of immediate obedience to God is always better than a legacy of hesitation or partial obedience.
The interesting thing about this verse isn’t just that the job got done, but how it got done. The Israelites didn’t just give; they gave without hesitation and in abundance of all the produce. The people were not unsure or stingy. They weren’t withholding the best or giving to God out of the leftovers. The first fruits offering was always brought out of joy and to honor God, never grudgingly, with a negative attitude or by force or coercion. This is what God desires for us today as well, and it’s this mindset that will lead to the vast, unending blessings of God being poured out on His people.
Think about that for your own life. Are you honoring God with the first and best of your increase? Is the first and best going to pay the mortgage or is it going directly back to the source? What is the spirit you carry when you bring to God what is His? Is it a spirit of joy or a spirit of hesitancy and fear? Are you coming to God with an abundance or withholding and giving the bare minimum out of uncertainty?
The beautiful thing about the tithe is that in scripture we see it wasn’t just a one-sided affair, where we give and give, but nothing good ever happens as a result of it. Quite the opposite is true. The previous devotion touched on this, but it bears repeating. God is a loving God who by his very nature is good and pure and generous. Far more generous than we could ever dream of being. God Himself made a promise to those who were obedient to Him and chose to honor Him that he would not be outdone. He never hesitated when it came to giving us His Son, so why would we show our love back to Him any differently? Think about that. God has never and will never hesitate or be unsure of how He feels about you. He is all in and He has demonstrated His love through His actions. Isn’t it time we did the same?
Let’s be people who leave a legacy of obeying and loving God without hesitation.
Maybe you saw a great deal online that was too good to pass up and you clicked “buy” without even hesitating or giving it a second thought. Maybe you suddenly spotted brake lights in front of you or a deer in the road and you slammed the brakes without hesitation. Maybe a small child was stepping out into traffic and you grabbed them and pulled them back without hesitation.
Why do we do some things without hesitation and others with hesitation? The answer comes from the fact that your mind was already made up. You didn’t need to think about it, debate it, or ask for another opinion. You knew the right thing to do in that moment and you did it, without any hesitation.
Hesitation stems from uncertainty. Not knowing what to do in a situation leaves us momentarily stuck in the middle. And even a split-second of being caught in the middle can have dire consequences, often life or death implications. Today’s verse from 2nd Chronicles is insightful because it tells us how God’s people reacted, without hesitation or second-guessing, to the commands of God. Take a moment to read it again. Their response is how we should live as well. Not stopping to think about and debate whether or not we should be obedient to God and honor his commands, but just doing it. A legacy of immediate obedience to God is always better than a legacy of hesitation or partial obedience.
The interesting thing about this verse isn’t just that the job got done, but how it got done. The Israelites didn’t just give; they gave without hesitation and in abundance of all the produce. The people were not unsure or stingy. They weren’t withholding the best or giving to God out of the leftovers. The first fruits offering was always brought out of joy and to honor God, never grudgingly, with a negative attitude or by force or coercion. This is what God desires for us today as well, and it’s this mindset that will lead to the vast, unending blessings of God being poured out on His people.
Think about that for your own life. Are you honoring God with the first and best of your increase? Is the first and best going to pay the mortgage or is it going directly back to the source? What is the spirit you carry when you bring to God what is His? Is it a spirit of joy or a spirit of hesitancy and fear? Are you coming to God with an abundance or withholding and giving the bare minimum out of uncertainty?
The beautiful thing about the tithe is that in scripture we see it wasn’t just a one-sided affair, where we give and give, but nothing good ever happens as a result of it. Quite the opposite is true. The previous devotion touched on this, but it bears repeating. God is a loving God who by his very nature is good and pure and generous. Far more generous than we could ever dream of being. God Himself made a promise to those who were obedient to Him and chose to honor Him that he would not be outdone. He never hesitated when it came to giving us His Son, so why would we show our love back to Him any differently? Think about that. God has never and will never hesitate or be unsure of how He feels about you. He is all in and He has demonstrated His love through His actions. Isn’t it time we did the same?
Let’s be people who leave a legacy of obeying and loving God without hesitation.