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Writer's pictureRev. Jay Noll

Flexible or Bent Out of Shape?



“Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.” That is what a wise person in my first congregation would tell me when I was, well, bent out of shape. No, it is not Scripture, but you can find some truth in it. Injury often occurs when an athlete tenses up in a situation that calls for flexibility. The same can happen to you spiritually when you become inflexible before God.


“‘You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king….

Set an ambush behind the town.’”

Joshua 8:2 (NLT)


God had sent the Israelites to destroy Jericho, with specific instructions on how He wanted them to do so. Now, He was sending them to defeat Ai, but with different instructions. At Jericho, what He said made no sense to the human logical brain: march, blow the trumpets, and shout. This time made more sense, set an ambush, draw the army out of the city, and attack. Why the difference? Ready for the answer? The difference does it matter—God sets His instructions, and His people obey…no matter what.

God calls you to obedience when what He says makes sense and when it does not. One day He instructs you to do such-and-such, so you think you have Him figured out. The end goal is the same, so you apply what worked before. You know how He works and have set up a predictable system in what you will do. There is a problem in your approach, though: God is not always predictable. One aspect of His nature you can predict is this: obedience no matter what.


“Omniscient and omnipotent God, You call me to obey You no matter what You say.

Sometimes I think I have You figured out and I apply systems and strategies

that You used in the past. They do not always work today, though.

Why? It is not because You failed this time around or that Your ways

do not work. It is because You do not always move in

the same way and because I need to move with You.

Teach me how to follow Your leading in my obedience to You.

In Jesus’ name, amen.”



Am I following God’s leading in obeying Him now or am I limiting

myself to how He has moved in the past?


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