Do you run ahead after God has moved on?

Today I’m writing to share one of the mistakes I made in the past, because my spiritual journey has not been perfect, and I’m sharing this in the hope that you will not repeat what I did. There was a time when I prayed and asked God for a word about someone I had begun to relate with. I remember the word clearly even today. It was about her marriage, and I heard God say, “Tell her not to marry, no matter who comes and asks for her hand.” I was happy that God trusted me with a word for her, but at the same time I was afraid to deliver it. I told myself I needed more time, maybe more relationship, maybe more courage. And so I delayed. Three weeks later, I met the same person again, and this time I gathered the boldness to share it. She and her parents immediately told me that someone had indeed come asking for her hand, and they had already said no. In that moment, two truths hit me: my fear had held me back from obeying God, yet God’s grace had still protected her. I went back to God asking for forgiveness—not because the outcome went wrong, but because fear grew in me where obedience should have.

And today, while reading Numbers 14, I found something that felt painfully familiar. After the spies’ report, after the unbelief, after hearing God’s judgment, the people were filled with grief. But instead of going back to God for reconciliation, mercy, or direction, they decided to take matters into their own hands. They said, “We are ready now. We will go to the promised land.” But the word they were trying to obey was not the word God was speaking now. They were trying to fix disobedience with late obedience. And that is a dangerous thing—trying to obey a past instruction when God is calling you into a present conversation.

This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” The bread there is the rhema—the word for today, the word spoken into this moment—not the logos we hold and reuse. Israel acted on yesterday’s command without seeking today’s guidance. Moses warned them, “Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you,” but their grief turned into impulse, and their impulse became disobedience. They went anyway. Moses even adds a detail that should shake us: neither he nor the ark of the covenant moved from the camp. They went without God’s presence. They fought without God’s covering. And they were defeated by the Amalekites and Canaanites all the way to Hormah—utter destruction.

These are the same people who once refused to move until God moved. So the lesson is simple and sobering: do not act on a word that belonged to a past season when God is calling you back into relationship today. Do not run ahead when God is not moving with you. Don’t obey out of panic. Don’t act out of impulse. Go back to Him. Let today’s word come from today’s presence. Only then will obedience carry power instead of pain.