5 Powerful Lessons on Obeying God When It Makes No Sense

Obeying God when it makes no sense can feel like stepping off a cliff without knowing if there’s a bridge. Yet over and over again, Scripture shows that obedience always leads to blessing, even when we don’t understand what God is doing.

In 1 Kings 17, we meet two people who understood what it meant to obey God when it makes no sense, Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.

1. Elijah’s Impossible Assignment

When God sent Elijah to confront King Ahab, the nation of Israel was drowning in idolatry under the influence of Queen Jezebel. Approaching the king without an invitation could have cost Elijah his life, yet he went because God said “go.” No excuses, no Plan B, just obedience.

After delivering the message that no rain would fall except at his word, God sent Elijah to the brook Cherith, where ravens brought him food and he drank from the stream. It wasn’t glamorous or comfortable, but it was provision. Elijah didn’t ask, “What happens when the water dries up?” He simply trusted that God knew the next step.

That’s what obeying God when it makes no sense looks like, doing what He says before you understand why.

2. Waiting by a Dry Brook

Eventually, the brook dried up. Elijah could have panicked or tried to find his own solution, but he stayed where God placed him until God gave a new instruction.

Sometimes obedience feels like standing beside a shrinking stream, watching things dry up and wondering if you missed something. But faith means waiting for His next word, not forcing your own plan. Obeying God when it makes no sense often means trusting Him through the silence, believing He’s already preparing what comes next.

3. The Widow’s Step of Faith

Then came another strange command, God told Elijah to go to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, Jezebel’s homeland of all places. There, a widow was gathering sticks for her last meal when Elijah asked her for water and bread.

She had just enough flour and oil for herself and her son, yet Elijah asked her to make bread for him first. It sounded unreasonable, even offensive. But she obeyed, and the miracle followed. The jar of flour didn’t run out, and the jug of oil never went dry.

That’s the beauty of obeying God when it makes no sense: blessing often sits on the other side of surrender.

4. God’s Crazy Instructions Always Have Purpose

From the outside, God’s instructions can look illogical. Asking a starving widow to feed a stranger? Sending a prophet into enemy territory? Yet in every “crazy” instruction, God was setting up provision, healing, and testimony.

When we say yes to God, we invite Him to take responsibility for the outcome. Obeying God when it makes no sense positions us for miracles.

We see the same truth in To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice and Trust God’s Calling, obedience unlocks what understanding never could.

5. When You Don’t See Step Two

Elijah didn’t need to see step two before taking step one. The ravens only showed up where God told him to be. If he’d gone somewhere else, he would have missed the provision.

It’s the same for us. Obeying God when it makes no sense means doing the first thing He asked and trusting that the next instruction will come at the right time.

If God told you to give, forgive, move, rest, or wait, just do it. When we walk by faith, He takes care of the consequences.

Sometimes faith looks a little crazy. But if you obey God, He gets to handle the results, and that’s the safest place you could ever be.

“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land.”  Isaiah 1:19

 

Related Blogs: “To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice,” “Trust God’s Calling”

Lord, help me trust You even when Your instructions don’t make sense. Give me courage to take the first step and faith to wait for the next. Teach me to obey You completely and to believe that every step of obedience leads to blessing. Amen.