Just Say Yes

I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. (Jeremiah 2:2)

Do you ever struggle to keep God first in your life? If it’s not one thing, it’s another: too much to do, too many burdens to bear, and too many distractions. So what do we do? How can we make Him our first priority?

Perhaps the best help on my own journey with God has been the realization that God’s hand is stretched out to me—forever extending an invitation to fellowship, to intimacy, and to adventure. No matter how little sense it makes, God is deeply committed to pursuing you—He wants you. 

God shares His heart in Jeremiah 2:2, telling His people in the above verse how much He longed for the days when they followed Him into the wilderness like a bride in love with her groom. That’s what He desires from His people still, and it’s what the early disciples displayed when they met Jesus. His presence was so… compelling that they just dropped everything and followed Him (Luke 5:11, Matthew 4:20). Wherever they would go, it would be worth it if He was there. 

And because of Jesus, the way to the Father, we’re all invited into that beautiful fellowship. Jesus reaches out and calls all of us friends if we trust Him (John 15:14-16). He wants to journey with you and share in things with you as a friend does. He wants to work with you. But that requires our trust—and our love. 

Jesus told us the secret, you know. He said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). Obedience is God’s love language. And there is great joy on the other side, Jesus promises (John 15:11). 

God extends that forever invitation, but the requirement is that we are willing to go with Him—that we are willing to say “yes,” when He comes calling—whether it’s away from our day to a place of prayer, or away from all we know towards an unknown future. Genesis 12:1-2 is a beautiful example: Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation … .” God extended His hand to Abram out of love and promised him the world. Abram just has to say yes.

In my own journey, God has reached out to me as He did to Abram on multiple occasions, and I’m so thankful. What an adventure it’s been! A scary, wonderful, painful, rewarding adventure. Even now, He’s speaking to me again, asking me to leave all that I know behind for a new season of obedience—traveling to new places and doing new things I’d once have been beyond afraid to try. 

This time, I know—having tasted and seen the Lord’s goodness on the road—that it will be better than I could dream if I will just say “yes.” So, I’m trying—but it’s still hard. The problem is that things are even better now than they were the last time I followed God into the unknown. Still, I know the One in whom I have believed, and He is waiting for me. And to be with the Shepherd is to be surrounded by blessing, protection, and provision (Psalm 23). 

So where does God want you to go with Him? Open the door, take a step, and experience blessing. Behind your “yes” is the joy you seek, and a life chasing God is a life well lived. 

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Scripture is quoted from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.