The Reward of Obscurity

Here is a truth that you must get locked into your heart, soul, and mind. GOD IS A REWARDER!

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6 NIV

For some, this dialog about God being a rewarder is easy to understand and accept, while others doubt its reality or feel like it’s wrong to expect God to fulfill his promises or reward you for your faithfulness. It may take a complete paradigm shift to go from thinking that God is out to get you for your sin to realizing He’s out to bless you because you’re his child. He’s not just a rewarder for “good and perfect people,” but His favor is towards us, and his heart is to reward and bless us. As Hebrews says, this is the fundamentals of interaction with God. Don’t come to God any other way than with belief that He exists and with unwavering confidence that He Rewards! Write this somewhere you can see it and rehearse it until you believe it.

“God is for me, and is looking to reward me.”

Music is a powerful force in influencing our lives, so I have gone to different songs over the years that help reinforce this reality of God’s grace towards me. Two of my favorite songs to reinforce this principle are from Kari Jobe. “You are for me” and “ The Blessing.” There have been seasons of my life that I simply set one of those songs on repeat.

If you don’t already have this locked into your heart, mind, and soul, then it’s time for a thinking upgrade. Being a rewarder isn’t something God tries to do, it’s simply in his nature. I know, as humans, we love to get the rewards of our labor. We love to see a season come to completion and move on to the next season. We love passing levels in a video game or a new rank in the military. Here is something of which I can assure you: there is a great and sure reward for a season of Obscurity. There is gain at the end of the pain.

THE REWARD IS COMING…

I was preaching at an obscure church in Tanzania, Africa when God revealed a key part of the classic story of Abraham’s testing in Genesis 22. The end of the story is, of course, powerful and packed with emotions, but the final line to that story says, “It is said that on the Mountain of the Lord, it will be provided.” Only on the pathway of obedience to God was there provision. Abraham didn’t know where that would take him or how God would provide, but he stayed true and walked out the plan fully. The same is true for us in our seasons of trial and testing. Reward and provision only come to those who fully walk the path. The reward is found on the path of obedience. The Reward and Promotion of Obscurity are inevitable if we do what the verse below says.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Galatians 6:9 NIV