When God Says Move, You Ought to Move Immediately

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

Prayer is not the end-all be-all of our faith. After we pray, God reponds immediately. When God says move, we cannot respond with dead faith.

Introduction

Prayer is certainly important, but just as important as our prayer is what we do after we have prayed.  Some of us may wonder, what more do we need to do after we have prayed?  There is a failure taking place today in what we do, or should I say, do not do, after we pray, that I must focus on.  Faith, we will see today, must continue to move, but after we pray, many of us stop moving.

A Moment of Rebuke

I am going to share Gideon’s story with all of you this week, as it’s a story that I believe is still reverberating today.

Gideon’s story began at the end of Israel’s seven years of oppression under the Midianites.  In Judges 6:1-10, we are told that the children of Israel found themselves living under the Midianites after they had done evil in the sight of God.  

The Midianites would be joined by the Amalekites, and they would raid the lands of the children of Israel, destroying their produce.  The Midianites’ oppression was so great that the children of Israel fled their land to find shelter in the caves and dens of the mountains.

With their produce constantly being destroyed, scripture tells us that when the children of Israel were greatly impoverished, they cried out to God.  This means that they prayed to the Lord because of the oppression of the Midianites.

When they cried out to the Lord, God sent a prophet to them.  The prophet shared a message of all the things God had done for Israel up to that point:  freeing them from the bondage of Egypt and bringing them victory after victory in the land.  However, at the end of the message, God rebuked the children of Israel, saying to them, “You have not obeyed My voice”.

God’s rebuke was a reminder to the children of Israel that He had given them the power to be able to possess the land in which they dwelt.  During the days of Joshua, the children of Israel moved in the power and might given to them by God.  

Yet, after Joshua’s death and the death of those of that generation, the children of Israel turned from the Lord (Judg. 2:10).  So, God’s rebuke was a reminder to the children of Israel that they had squandered – wasted – what God had given to them.  Because they had squandered the power given to them, they were suffering.

Are we living in a similar moment of rebuke today?  Our land is being raided today by wicked forces that are robbing us of life.  In this day, there is mass violence and murder, school shootings, and killings.  There is an attack on livelihoods where many are losing their jobs, along with losing medical care.  

In this day, we are crying out to the Lord because of the suffering of today.  Yet, while we’re crying out, I can help but think about how we’ve wasted the power God has already given to us.  God has been given to us the power that should’ve been used to prevent today’s suffering.

God gave us His word to faithfully live by.  As James said, pure and undefiled religion – sincere faith – is to visit orphans and widows in their trouble.  Orphans and widows represent all of those who are the least – those who are hurting, in suffering, and less fortunate.  We’ve had the power to solve world hunger, correct homelessness, provide healthcare for all, end wars, and stop mass violence.  

Suffering from Dead Faith

Yet, why haven’t we done any of those things?  Inaction.  We’re suffering from a thoughts and prayers, but no action afterwards kind of faith in this land.  Christians have no problem telling others they will keep them in their thoughts and prayers.  Some of us don’t have a problem with prayer, as we are quick to pray about any and everything – that is good.

Yet, the problem we have is what comes after we pray.  We are suffering today because of our inaction after we pray.  James said that such faith that comes without effort and activity is a dead faith.  Dead faith is why there is suffering in our land today.

In Judges 6:11-13, there is a powerful exchange that I want to focus on.  The scripture tells us of the Angel of the Lord appearing to Gideon.  I believe the Angel of the Lord to be the preincarnate Christ – God Himself.  

Now, why has the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon?  I believe that Gideon was one of those who had cried out about the suffering Israel was facing.  So, God was answering Gideon’s prayer.

In a brief exchange, we will see where Gideon was frustrated with God.  Gideon asked, “If the lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?”  This is the frustration many share today about all of the bad things that God is permitting to take place.  Many of us believers believe that with God, life should be sunshine and rainbows.

Gideon also questioned, saying, “Where are all [God’s] miracles which our fathers told us about…?”  Gideon, again, was saying that if God is so powerful, then Israel should not be under the oppression of the Midianites..  Many of us share this same thought: all our problems should be taken care of.

So, because these things had not happened, Gideon expressed, “The Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”  Gideon felt that he and his people had been betrayed and abandoned by God.  He believed that God did not care about the suffering of “His people”.

While his frustration is understandable, let us pay attention to what Gideon chose to do after he cried out to the Lord.  When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he was hiding in a winepress, threshing wheat rather than on the threshing floor.  The threshing floor, where wheat was supposed to be threshed, was an open and public place where he would have been seen.

Gideon moved as many of us move after we pray.  Gideon was in hiding because he was afraid the Midianites would see him threshing the wheat.  Rather than being confident in his prayer, Gideon was afraid, felt helpless, and powerless.  

When we pray, we ought to be confident in our prayer and that God heard our prayer – the basic fundamental of the prayer of faith.  Some of us, however, want to see proof that God is moving, rather than move in confidence after we have prayed.  

Am I saying that there is something wrong with waiting on the Lord?  Absolutely not.  We ought to wait on the Lord, but how we wait on Him is of great importance.  Gideon did nothing after he prayed – this is what many of us are doing today.  Again, inaction is a sign of dead faith.

Mighty in Valor

Now, let us note the greeting of the Angel of the Lord when He had appeared to Gideon.

Judges 6:12 tells us that the Angel of the Lord greeted Gideon, saying, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!”  Valor speaks of one’s strength of spirit.  Considering that Gideon was hiding from the Midianites in the winepress, some of us may think God was mocking Gideon or being sarcastic.  Yet, we will see that the Lord was not being sarcastic nor was He mocking Gideon.

You see, Gideon may have felt like he was helpless and powerless, but God looked at him as a man of great strength.  We may feel like we’re powerless to do anything in this moment, but I believe we already have the strength we need for this moment, even though we may not realize it just yet.

To those who choose to follow Him, Jesus promised, “I will not leave you orphans (alone/helpless); I will come to you.”  We who are of sincere faith have received the Helper and Comforter– the Holy Spirit.  The living word of God dwells with us and is able to help us overcome.

Even more, Jesus has given us His peace.  The peace of Christ, which helped Him to overcome the world, now rests with us.  You may feel like you’re helpless in this moment, but let me remind you of the great strength that dwells in and with you.  We are of great strength in the eyes of God, and when we cry ou to Him, He greets us in the same manner he greeted Gideon.

God’s Call to Action

After Gideon vented his frustrations, the Lord responded, saying, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.  Have I not sent you?”

God was not being sarcastic, nor was he mocking Gideon’s might.  If we keep in mind the greeting, the Lord knew something that Gideon did not know.  You see, Gideon was under the impression that God had not answered the cries of the children of Israel.  God, on the other hand, had come to Gideon, wondering why he was hiding and had not moved.

The “might of yours” that the Lord told Gideon to go in was the might that He had given to Gideon.  “Go in this might”, we should understand, was a call to action from the Lord.  This call to action was God telling Gideon to stop doing nothing but move with confidence in what he had prayed for.

Something we believers ought to know is this:  God answers our prayers immediately.  Keep in mind, God already knows our needs before we even ask them.  So, when you pray, the Lord moves.  This call to action is a reminder to us that prayer is an act of faith, rather than the end-all-be-all of faith.  Prayer is not the end of faith!

God answers our prayers by giving us the tools to move.  I often use what I call the “cake example” when it comes to how prayer works.  Oftentimes, when we pray for a cake, for example.  God answers by giving us all the ingredients we need to be able to make up and bake our cake.  

Yet, many of us sit and wait for the cake to appear before our eyes, without putting forth any work.  We’ll then begin to think, because the cake has not appeared that God hasn’t answered our prayers.

Keep in mind that Jesus told the disciples, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move (Matt. 17:20).”  Faith, I remind you, is the effort of moving in what you believe in.  Today, right now, we can move mountains, but we aren’t doing it, and we aren’t doing it not because we lack the power to do so!

I am reminded of Moses when he and the children of Israel were “trapped” at the Red Sea.  The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to Me?  Tell the children of Israel to go forward (Ex. 14:15).”

God gives us the tools we need os that we can move forward and win when others think it’s impossible.  All these years, we have repeatedly prayed for strength and have received strength and power from God.  All these years we have prayed for God to bless us, and God has rewarded us with His gifts.  Yet, in all these years, many of us are sitting and waiting, refusing to use God’s gifts, frustratedly thinking that God has done nothing.

Failing to Answer God’s Call – Dead Faith

Gideon’s response to God’s call to action is also very telling.  Gideon responded, saying, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel?  Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”

Gideon was frustrated that God had not moved, but notice that now that God has told him he has the power to do, he is throwing his hands in the air!  Gideon wanted God to do everything, while he remained in the winepress, hiding and doing nothing.  This is not faith – this is dead faith.

“How can I” do this or do that is the response of many believers when God shows us what we need to do.  “I can’t do that,” is another response by many believers when God shows us what to do.  Such fear, we should understand, breeds failure.  There can be no such fear in faith, especially after you have prayed.

“My clan is the weakest,” Gideon said, making an excuse.  “I am the least in my father’s house,” Gideon said, making an excuse.  Moses made similar excuses when God tasked him with standing before Pharaoh.  Excuses don’t do anything but delay– it is dead faith.  In this case, Gideon’s delay was not only hurting him, but it was hurting all of Israel as well.

Do you think that God wants to hear such excuses when He has answered our prayers and empowered us to move?  The Lord responded to Gideon’s fear and excuses by saying, “I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man (Judg. 6:16).”

When God Say Move, We Must Move

Again, when Moses tried to make all of his excuses, the Lord took every last one of them away from him so that he couldn’t make any more excuses (Ex. 4:1-17).

God has commanded us to move, and we must move!  Now is not the time for us to fear or make excuses!   Being afraid to move does not benefit us or those around us.  Making excuses only delays our blessing and the blessing of those around us.  

God has given us the power to succeed, so we ought to use that power, rather than blame God for our problems or all that is going on in the world.  We blame God for wars, homelessness, world hunger, mass violence, school shootings, etc.  Yet, God has given us the power to take care of such.  The reason why nothing has been done about those things is because of mankind’s choice– we choose money over helping the orphan and widow.

A long time ago, before you and I even walked the Earth, God commanded mankind to move.  God commanded that man to love his neighbor as he loves himself.  Even more, God has blessed us with His gifts to love, to uplift, to encourage, to support, and to assist our neighbor, but look at what we do.

God has not blessed us with His gifts to sit back and do nothing.  It is on us to move – to act – rather than to sit still.  Yes, we should wait on the Lord to direct our path, but when God directs us to move down that path, we should move.  Yes, I genuinely believe that God has given us the ability to solve the issues of hunger, homelessness, to help the sick, to end wars, and mass violence – we must move.

Sure, we can continue to keep things in our thoughts and prayers, but the longer we don’t act, the more suffering will continue to grow.  God has answered and shown that He is with us.  If we are with Him, then we must move in the confidence that God has answered our prayers – we must walk by faith.