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When God tells you to do something, what should you do? You should do it!

But what if it doesn’t make sense? What if you really don’t want to? What if it’s hard and it’s scary? You should do it anyway! Easy to say, right? Hard to do.

Right now, at this very moment, my guess is, you’ve been asking God for guidance and direction on something. You’ve been seeking him. And he has been showing you the way. He has been giving you peace in one direction, and discord in another. You turn on music, and you hear it in the music. You listen to a sermon, boom … that’s what they’re talking about. You turn on a podcast, and lo and behold if that podcast doesn’t say it. Doors have been opened. Honey, they’re not all shut. A way has been made, maybe it’s just not the easy highway you would prefer.

The choice is now yours. God will not force you into his good plans for your life. He will guide and direct you. He will supernaturally lead you with provisions. He will stir his spirit within you to affirm and confirm. But he won’t lift up your foot for you. He won’t make you take the next step.

But you need to know what’s at risk if you aren’t willing to do what God is guiding you to do. You need to know this doesn’t only affect you, this affects everyone around you. This affects generations to come. Is your unwillingness to do this hard thing God is asking you to do going to affect your children?

Well, let me ask you, were you ever affected by any choices your parents made? Darn sure were, weren’t you! Has your job ever been affected by the choices of the people you work with? Yip, totally!

So, what makes you think your choices here aren’t doing the same? Are you going to deal with this, or are you going to pass it on down for someone else to deal with? Is this going to become the burden of your son or daughter? Will they have to fight the battles you weren’t willing to fight yourself? Will they be stuck in a place they were never meant to be stuck in because you were too scared to do what God was telling you to do?

Let me ask you a question. If you’re a mom, this question will cut through the layers of excuses and get right to the core. Are you ready for this? WOULD YOU WISH THIS FOR YOUR CHILDREN?

This dysfunction, this struggle, this problem, this unhappiness, this shame … would you wish it upon your children? If not, then mama, you have to be the one to deal with it!

God gives us an example in his word of what happens when we refuse to take the next steps God has directed us to take. The short story is, our children end up suffering. Everyone around us ends up suffering. And we completely miss all the goodness God had for us.

Remember the story of Moses going to Pharaoh and demanding “let my people go”. Remember the story of Moses leading those people through a desert with Egypt chasing after them and coming to an impassable Red Sea. Remember God parting that Red Sea to save them and destroying those who chased them. Remember God leading the Israelites through the desert with a miraculous cloud in the sky during the day, and a pillar of fire at night, showing them precisely where to go. Remember the manna that fell from heaven, providing them food to eat each day in a wasteland where there was no food.

God’s provision, time after time. God’s guidance for every step. God’s protection for every battle. It was always there. But when God told them to take the next step into the land he had promised them, and they saw the people who were already there, they grew afraid. So afraid, they refused. They refused to believe God when he said it was theirs. They refused to believe God would really protect them again. They refused to believe God knew what he was talking about when he said now is the time, go.

And they didn’t go. They stayed. They stayed in a desert they were never meant to stay in. And they got stuck.

All God had promised them, all he had aligned for them, all his good plans in a beautiful land filled with abundance, all of that was forfeited because they just couldn’t take the next step God was telling them to take. They opted for their familiar misery over the unknown promise.

Does this sound strangely like your own life? Opting for familiar misery over an unknown promise. There’s a promise over your life. A promise of plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. But when you aren’t willing to let go of what is and step into the unknown of where God is leading you, you forfeit it. And at some point, all this forfeiting, all this he-hawing around, all this delaying and doubting, well eventually you dismiss yourself from the promise.

And maybe you’re okay with missing out yourself, but what about your children? What are they missing out on because you’re stuck in familiar misery?

Here’s what God said to his beloved people who refused to trust him fully. Numbers 14: 22-24, “Not one of these people will ever enter that land. They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice. They will never even see the land I swore to give their ancestors. None of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it.”

Then verses 29-30, “Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb and Joshua.”

So, what was meant to take 11 days through the wilderness to the land God had promised his people, turned into 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Their punishment for their unwillingness to do this hard thing in faith was not one of them over 20 would ever get to step foot into the goodness of the land God had aligned for them. Except for two … Caleb and Joshua. Why would they get to survive to see their promised land? Because they were the two who never gave up hope. They were the two who stood against the crowds and had complete faith God would do what God said he would do.

There were over 2 million Israelites in this desert. Everyone over 20 years old, except for Caleb and Joshua, would die there over the next 40 years. What did this mean for everyone under 20? They were stuck in a place of extreme hardship, watching everyone die, for 40 years! Think about being 15 years old, and your parents refused to believe God enough to take the next step out of where they were, so you suffer being stuck there until you’re 55. This wasn’t your fault, but your life was greatly affected.

And now, we do the same thing to our children. When we refuse to face the hard things and trust God enough to take the next step, we not only get ourselves stuck, but we create a trap for our children. They’re stuck.

Would you want this for your children? No. Then do something about it!

Hasn’t God shown you he can be trusted? Hasn’t he always provided? Hasn’t he always made a way? Then why are you paralyzed in fear and doubting his ability to do it again?

God honors the one bold enough to believe he will do impossible things. He strengthens the one who is willing to give his all and hold nothing back. He supernaturally provides for the one who will go. But for the one who sits in doubt and overwhelm, they miss out.

What could you be missing out on? A lifetime of promises and provision. A purpose greater than you could possibly imagine.

Who could you be causing to miss out on it as well? Your entire family and everyone around you.

This isn’t just about you. Your choices affect others. And you know that. Maybe you’ve been left to clean up messes your parents weren’t willing to address. Maybe you’ve been impacted by decisions others weren’t willing to make. Maybe you’ve carried the weight of burdens you didn’t create.

Obesity … that runs in the family … until someone decides to get healthy.

Poverty … that runs in the family … until someone decides to find a way out of it.

Abuse … that runs in the family … until someone decides to get help.

Addiction … that runs in the family … until someone decides to get whole and healed.

What has been running in your family for generations and its unfair that it got passed down to you? Are you going to be passing it on down from here?

Deuteronomy 1:21, “Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!”

Verse 26, “But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go in.”

Verse 32, “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord.”

Are you refusing to go? Are you refusing to take the next step? Are you refusing to make that simple change? Are you refusing the help? Refusing because it’s hard, it’s scary, and you’re uncertain? Refusing to respond to the prompting of God’s spirit that keeps showing up in songs and sermons, posts and podcasts?

If you refuse, you will get stuck. And you not only get yourself stuck, but everyone else around you. Don’t do that to them! Trust God. Trust his good plans for your life. Trust him to supernaturally strengthen and guide you. He’s giving you another chance. Don’t waste this!

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