I remember the story of a lieutenant in the army who had received orders to fire his artillery at a certain target, which were some miles away. As they prepared to fire, the radio operator had a message for the lieutenant to hold his fire.
He ran to his officer to tell him the new order. Something had changed: the position, which was formally occupied by the enemy, had been taken up by their own troops. However the lieutenant was so zealous and eager to fight that he did not listen to the radio operator. He was so bent on getting into the battle that he didn't listen. In the story, the radio operator was struck by a bullet as he pleaded with his lieutenant to listen to the new message. But to no avail. He eventually died before he was able to relay the message.
The lieutenant finally opened fire and pounded what he thought was the enemy position. Soon after that, he received word that his own soldiers had suffered many casualties due to the pounding he had given them. It was told him that he had killed many of his own. This man was later court martialled.
From this story; we see how important it is to obey rather than to sacrifice. The young lieutenant wanted to fight at all cost. But the greater thing to do at that point was to hold his fire and not to get involved. Could it be that there are times that we are just to hold our fire? God is like the general who sees the whole picture. He knows when to sacrifice and when not to, He knows when to fire and when not to fire. I have learnt that to obey is better than to sacrifice. God has asked us not to do things that we would have traditionally done.
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Culled from Chapter 18 of Church Planting by Bishop Dag Heward-Mills
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