Listening Before Leaping

There is a difference between hearing words and understanding intent. In the same way, there is a difference between doing something for God and obeying him.

Throughout the scripture, we see that obedience is never mechanical. It is relational. It flows from listening carefully to what God actually said.
In 1 Samuel 15, Saul was commanded by the Lord to completely destroy Amalek. Instead, he preserved what he considered useful. When confronted, he insisted he had obeyed. Yet the Lord rejected him. Why? Because partial obedience is not obedience. Saul heard the command, but he filtered it through his own judgement. He acted, but he did not truly understand the intent of God.
Contrast that with Abraham in Genesis 22. When God told him to offer Isaac, Abraham rose early. There was no careless improvisation. He followed the instruction precisely. When the Lord stopped him, he stopped. Abraham’s obedience was careful, responsive and attentive. He listened at every stage.

The difference was not intelligence. It was posture.
Proverbs 4:7 says wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom. In all your getting, get understanding. The scripture does not glorify impulsive spirituality. It calls us to pursue understanding.

Even Jesus demonstrated this. In John 5:19 He said the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. He did not act independently, even though He had authority. He acted in alignment. That alignment required deep attentiveness.

Careless obedience often looks spiritual on the surface. It is busy. It is confident. It is loud. But it can be rooted in assumption rather than clarity.
We see this in Numbers 20. God told Moses to speak to the rock. Moses struck it instead. Water still came out, but the action misrepresented God. The instruction mattered. The manner mattered. The heart mattered.
This is where many of us stumble.
We assume we know what God means. We rush ahead. We substitute past instructions for present direction. We confuse passion with precision.
James 1:22 tells us to be doers of the word, not hearers only. Yet being a true doer requires first being a careful hearer. In the Hebrew mindset, to hear is to obey. But you cannot obey what you have not understood.

Some confusion about God’s will is not because he is unclear. Sometimes it is because we have not slowed down to listen. Sometimes we read quickly, pray briefly and act immediately. And then we wonder why the fruit is shallow.
Clarifying understanding is not doubt. It is devotion.
When Jesus rebuked the disciples in Mark 8 for not understanding after the feeding miracles, He asked, “Do you still not perceive?” The issue was not lack of exposure. It was lack of reflection.

Obedience is not merely doing something good. It is doing what God said, how he said it and when he said it.
At the same time, we must guard against paralysis. Proverbs 3:5 tells us not to lean on our own understanding. This means clarity does not come from intellectual mastery alone. It comes from trust. We seek understanding, but we lean on Him.
So the balance is this:
We do not delay obedience out of fear.
But we also do not rush obedience out of presumption.
We cultivate a listening heart.
If you feel confused about God’s will, ask yourself:
Have I truly listened?
Have I searched the scripture carefully?
Have I prayed until my motives were purified?
Have I sought wise counsel?
Sometimes the breakthrough is not in louder prayer, but in deeper attention.
The mature believer does not merely ask, “What should I do?”
He asks, “What did God actually say?”
The difference may seem small. But in the kingdom, it is everything.
Let me leave you with this gentle challenge:
Before your next decision, pause. Open the scripture. Ask the Spirit for light. Examine your heart. Make sure you are not substituting assumption for understanding.
Then obey fully, joyfully and confidently.
Because obedience is beautiful when it is rooted in clarity.

Kay Alli