2 Kings 9:1-5: in context

Elisha calls one of the sons of the prophets, a young man, and sends him on an urgent errand: take this flask of oil, go to Ramoth Gilead, find Jehu, anoint him king over Israel, and then flee without delay. It is a weighty and dangerous task, the secret anointing of a king in the midst of an army. And the young prophet simply does it: so the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead. He receives the command and carries it out exactly, promptly, without hesitation or delay.

The young prophet's response is a model of prompt, exact obedience. He is given a clear command, a task both weighty and risky, and he does not argue, hesitate, or delay. He goes at once and does precisely what he was told. There is no record of his reluctance or his weighing of the danger; he simply obeys, promptly and fully, carrying out the command exactly as given. His obedience is immediate and complete. This is worth learning, for our own obedience is often neither prompt nor complete. When God's command is clear, we can delay, putting off obedience to a more convenient time; we can obey partially, doing some of what we are told but not all; we can hesitate, weighing the cost and looking for reasons to hold back. The young prophet did none of this. He went at once and did exactly as commanded. His obedience was prompt, not delayed; exact, not partial; whole-hearted, not hesitant. And this is the obedience God calls for. I hastened, the psalmist says, and did not delay to keep your commandments. To obey promptly, without putting it off, and fully, without holding back, is the response God's command deserves. Whatever he says to you, Mary told the servants at Cana, do it; and they did, at once and exactly. This searches the quality of our own obedience. When God's will is clear to us, do we obey promptly, or delay to a more convenient time? Do we obey fully, or partially, keeping back some of what he asks? Do we go at once, like the young prophet, or hesitate, weighing the cost and looking for reasons to hold back? To obey, Samuel says, is better than sacrifice; and the obedience God desires is prompt and complete, carried out at once and in full, as the young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead and did exactly as he was told. This calls us to a readier obedience, not delayed, not partial, not hesitant, but prompt and whole, doing at once and fully what God has made clear, rather than putting it off, holding back, or obeying only in part.

When God's will is clear to me, do I obey promptly and fully, or do I delay to a more convenient time, obey only partially while holding some of it back, or hesitate while I weigh the cost and look for reasons to hold off, and can the young prophet, who received Elisha's weighty command and went at once to carry it out exactly, move me toward a readier obedience, prompt and complete, doing without delay or reserve what God has made clear?