A Long Obedience

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Me

So I have a real problem with patience… in that I have none.

I get frustrated and refresh a website if it takes more than five seconds to load. I get frustrated reheating soup in the microwave — which by the way — takes on skill — or prep — or anything else from me except to wait the 90 seconds for it to heat up.

And yet — here I am — with nowhere to be — in the kitchen — at 6:47 on a Tuesday evening — impatient about soup!

We live in an age that has completely re-wired our brains around speed.

In Japan — they have a bullet train that travels about three hundred miles in just two hours. Amazon ships nine million packages every single day. I can have a new pair of shoes on my front porch tomorrow morning without ever talking to a human being! I skip the checkout line and go to self-check-out at Wal-Mart because I don’t want to wait for a slow cashier. I can get a diagnosis from the internet before I finish describing my symptoms to my wife. It’s ridiculous!

We’ve built an entire civilization around the idea that waiting is a problem to be solved.

And somewhere along the way — without most of us noticing — that same assumption has crept into our spiritual lives.

If I just read the right book…

Maybe if I just attend the right retreat…

If the pastor would just preach the right sermon series… (No pressure)

THEN I’ll finally arrive. I’ll finally “get there”. I’ll be the spiritually mature — and patient — and put-together version of myself that I’ve been promising everybody I’m becoming.

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And I don’t think I’m alone in that. Because here’s what I’ve noticed — and maybe you’ve felt this too:

For a lot of us — the Christian life started with a moment. A decision. A prayer. Maybe it was dramatic… you were in a bad place and God showed up and everything changed. Maybe it was more steady… a slow realization — or a gradual “yes”. But there was a moment.

And we’re told — rightly — that moment matters. It’s real. And it counts.

But somewhere along the way — a lot of us got the impression that the moment was most of the story. That once you crossed the line and said “yes” to Christ — the heavy lifting was basically done.

And then life happened.

The struggle you thought would go away… didn’t.

That patter you broke in Year 1 came back in Year 4.

The faith that felt electric at the beginning started to feel more like… obligation. Or routine. Going through the motions on a Sunday while your brain is already focusing on lunch. Y’all stay with me — don’t think about lunch yet. We’ll still be out of here in time to beat the Baptists to the buffet.

But through that comes a thought that a lot of Christians carry, but almost nobody says out loud: “Shouldn’t I be further along by now?”

The good news today is that you, you’re not alone — and we’re going to meet a group of people — thousands of years ago — who can relate to what you’re going through better than you think. And what they discovered is that:

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Faith isn’t found in a moment. It’s built in the daily.

God

A man named Eugene Peterson — a pastor and theologian — spent his life thinking about what it actually looks like to follow Jesus over the long haul. And he borrowed a phrase from an old philosopher — that described life as “a long obedience in the same direction”.

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This week we’re starting a quick two-week sermon series called “A Long Obedience” — and by the end of next week — it’s my hope that phrase means something different to you than it does right now.

Because here’s what Peterson said discipleship actually looks like — and I love this image. He said a disciple of Jesus isn’t like a student sitting in a classroom — taking notes — and passing tests. A disciple is more like an apprentice at a workbench. You learn by showing up. You grow by doing the work. You become something… slowly — over time — through repetition and practice… and even the occasional spectacular mess-up.

Not a sprint. Not a download. But a craft.

And to show us what that looks like — God gave us a story.

It begins in Egypt.

For four hundred years — the people of Isreal have been slaves. Not generations… but centuries. This is all they’ve ever known. Hard labor — brick and mortar — the crack of an overseer’s whip. Their identity has been shaped — entirely — by captivity.

And then God shows up.

If you’re familiar with the story — you’ll know that God sends plagues. And locusts. And the Nile River runs red. And eventually… finally… the king — Pharoah lets them go. But then he changes his mind. And he goes after them. And then God buries them all when the Israelites escape after God parts the waters.

And then just six weeks later — we catch up with them — complaining about food!

Exposition

v. 2-3

This morning we’re in Exodus Chapter 16 — starting in verses 1 through 3:

Exodus 16:2–3 CSB

2 The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!”

Did you catch that? They’re not just complaining about being hungry … which — fair, honestly. But they are nostalgic for slavery.

“At least in Egypt we had meat. At least we had bread.”

These people are romanticizing the chains — because at least the food was good!

Now — before we harshly judge these people — we have to feel the weight of what’s happening here. These people have just witnessed the most spectacular series of miracles in human history. They’ve walked through the parted sea on dry ground. They’ve seen God show up in ways that seem to defy every law of nature.

And now six weeks later — when their stomachs growl — they just forget all of it!

But friends — that’s not stupidity. That’s just humanity. That’s you and me on our worst days — so focused on what we don’t have right now that we can’t see what God has already done.

v. 4

But look at how God responds — Verse 4:

Exodus 16:4 CSB

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.

Every morning — bread from Heaven. Exactly what they need for the day. And they don’t even have to go to Costco!

But notice this command here — they’re told to get just what they need for the day. Not a week’s supply. Not a month’s worth stored in a warehouse. Just enough. Just today.

Now — if you’ve ever kept a garden — or worked a farm — or just stocked up when you go to the grocery story — you know that storing extra food is the smart thing to do, right? It’s wise. It’s responsible. Every farming culture in history has understood — we store in the good times — and drawn down in the lean times.

But God says: not here. Not with this. You gather what you need for today — and tomorrow morning it’ll be there again.

But why? Why structure it in this way? Well — He tells us right there in Verse 4:

“This way I will test them.”

This daily provision isn’t just a meal plan — it’s a classroom. God is teaching them something — through a lecture — or even a sermon — but through lived experience. Through day after day — waking up — going outside — and finding that God kept His word again.

He’s building in them something that couldn’t be downloaded in a moment: it’s trust.

Not trust as an idea. But trust as a reflex. Trust as muscle memory. The kind of trust that holds when the sea is in front of you and the army is behind you — because you’ve already seen the manna a thousand mornings in a row.

That’s what Peterson was talking about when he said “a long obedience in the same direction”.

The Israelites didn’t become a people of faith in a moment. They became a people of faith in the daily — morning by morning — provision by provision — one small act of obedience at a time.

And here’s where this gets deeply personal for those of us on this side of the Cross.

Paul writes in Romans 5 verses 3 through 4:

Romans 5:3–4 CSB

3 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.

Notice that sequence from Paul:

Affliction.

Endurance.

Character.

Hope.

It doesn’t skip steps. It doesn’t jump from affliction to hope. It goes through. And the “through” — the endurance — the character — that takes time. It takes repetition. And it takes a lot of mornings going back outside and finding the manna still there.

This is sanctification. The life-long — ongoing — and sometimes painfully slow process of becoming who God has already declared you to be. And it’s important to realize this difference: justification — being made right with God — that happens in a moment — by grace — through Faith in Jesus Christ. It happens as soon as you accept Christ’s invitation into relationship with Him.

But sanctification… that takes a lifetime. That’s the craft — the long obedience.

Faith isn’t found in a moment — it’s built in the daily.

You

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Call to Repentance