WHEN OBEDIENCE FEELS LIKE LOSS
Hebrews 11:8
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
Obedience does not always feel like promotion. Sometimes it feels like loss. It feels like walking away from what is familiar, secure, and socially approved, without the reassurance of immediate replacement.
In African societies, where value is often tied to visibility, family approval, and communal affirmation, obedience that requires separation can feel like personal failure.
Among the Igbo, it is said, ihe a hapụrụ n’azụ na-akpọ onye gara n’ihu, what you leave behind often calls out to the one who moves forward. Memory has a voice. Familiar faces, routines, and expectations speak loudly when obedience demands movement. The heart becomes torn between where it has been affirmed and where it is being led.
Abraham obeyed God, but obedience cost him more than land. It cost him identity. He left the place where his name was established for a future where his name carried no meaning. He traded recognition for obscurity. Yet heaven was at work even when earth offered no applause.
In many Nigerian families, obedience to personal calling is often mistaken for rebellion. When you choose a path that does not align with family scripts or cultural expectations, your courage may be questioned.
Yet obedience to God frequently requires disappointing those who benefit from your remaining the same.
Loss is not always subtraction. Sometimes it is divine exchange. God removes what you have outgrown to make room for what you cannot yet carry.
An African proverb reminds us that one who carries the carcass of an elephant cannot afford unnecessary baggage. Obedience feels painful not because God is taking something from you, but because He is repositioning you.
Faith matures when obedience is chosen without emotional reward and growth happens when you trust God beyond comfort, public applause, and beyond immediate understanding. What feels like loss today often becomes testimony tomorrow.
God sometimes withdraws familiar supports so that dependence can be redirected toward Him. The silence you experience is not abandonment. It is alignment.
Sometimes obedience feels like loss, until you discover it was preparation.
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