Immediate Obedience

I will be the first to admit that I am not the best listener. I tend to analyze rules/commands in my mind before I consider what my reaction will be. Even after my consideration, my reaction is not always obedience.
Reading in Matthew 1, (after the long genealogy), there is such a challenging example of obedience.

^18-19 The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn’t know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.

^20-23 While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God’s angel spoke in the dream: “Joseph, son of David, don’t hesitate to get married. Mary’s pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God’s Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—‘God saves’—because he will save his people from their sins.” This would bring the prophet’s embryonic sermon to full term:

Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;
They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for “God is with us”).

^24-25 Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.

(Matthew 1:18-25; The Message)

Setting the whole "Christmas theme" aside, I love the lesson of immediate obedience. In those days, pregnancy before marriage was punishable by death. Since Mary was pledged to Joseph, they both had the potential to be exposed. This was not a matter of small importance so you can imagine the severity of anxiety that Mary and Joseph felt in their own separate ways.

BUT...God interveined. Try to put youself in Joseph's shoes as you receive that news from an angel. While all of this information must have seemed crazy to Joseph, I love his reaction.

It says, "he woke up...and did exactly what God's angel commanded."

Would I react that way?

Would I make a counter-culture decision?

Isn't that what we are called to; to live counter-culture lives?

So often people (including me) ignore altogether the commands that God gives to us. Or if we don't ignore them, we obey with delay. I remember one of my Pastors years ago saying, "Delayed Obedience is Disobedience." That will forever stay with me.

Joseph heard God's words, did not even question them, and followed through. We should be so thankful because if he had not... would the story of Jesus' birth be different?

I am left pondering the question...

What command has God called me to obey that I am either delaying or ignoring?