From the late 1940s until early 1960 there was a TV show called “Howdy Doody.” I was introduced to this marionette and show when a 40th Anniversary special was presented in the late 1980s. I remember the commercials announcing the special using the well-known jingle, “Say kids, what time is it?” and the response back from the children was, “It’s Howdy Doody time.” This simple question and answer were ingrained in my mind because of those commercials and, as I remember, the 40th Anniversary special’s repetition of the saying. Even today when someone says, “Hey, do you know what time it is?” I tend to want to respond, “Why, it’s Howdy Doody time…”
“What time is it?” can be understood as a question of clocks or as a question of obedience or action. In Luke 9:59-62 we read, “To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’” (NRSV).
Jesus in calling people to follow him focused on the unequivocal response where the time was not in the future to obey but was in the present. When we hear the voice of the Lord calling for us to follow, we are invited to turn from our present undertaking and seek the Lord’s direction for our lives. Whether it is Abram in Genesis 12 being called to “go to the place where I will show you,” or it is the disciples who were at the lakeshore who dropped their nets and followed, we are called to be timely in our obedience.
Too often we have excuses and some of them even seem to be spiritual reasons we need to delay our response. In Bob Roberts, Jr.’s book, Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World, he writes, “For some strange reason today, instead of being a power source, prayer is the excuse for not doing anything, always ‘waiting on God’ to do something but it never happens. ‘Wait’ always wants more information to delay pulling the trigger. The church of the future will be characterized by a different word altogether: risk” (131). How does this work? When we have been praying for God to give us an opportunity to serve and someone asks us to serve as a Sunday School teacher or as a worship leader or as a meal preparer for the Wednesday night ministry and we respond, “Let me pray about it.” God is answering your prayer, but you are not being obedient. The time is NOW to respond, but you want to delay your obedience.
Jesus’ invitation is for us to follow and in following him, we will receive all the details and empowerment as we travel with him. In our desire to know all the details or our desire to make sure we control the situation; we tend to delay our response. Our excuses may seem noble, spiritual, and responsible, but they are still excuses. My prayer is that we will be ready to respond in obedience when the time comes. What time is it? It’s time to respond in obedience to God’s call.
Prayer: Lord, my desire is to follow you wherever you lead, but I confess my fear. I know you will provide, and you will give direction at each step of the way. I surrender my will to your will and pray when the time comes to risk, I will be ready to say “Yes.” In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.