The Lord values obedience over burnt offerings and listening more than the fat of rams.-1 Samuel 15:22.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.-Proverbs 14:12

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”-Isaiah 55:8-9

‘Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will love them and show myself to them-John 14:21

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands.  As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.-2 John 1:6

 

I Obey

At those times when I feel hopeless,
Feel there’s no one who really cares,
I am so grateful that my faith tells me
My God is always there.
And when I’m feeling grateful
I have the will to worship God.
And from each act of worship
I receive His love which leaves me awed.
While feeling God’s amazing love,
I have the desire to obey.
Miracles come from Obedience
When God’s allowed to lead the way.
So, in keeping with the will of God,
In whose sovereignty I believe,
I will strive to live His word
In celebration and in grief.
I will follow His commandments,
Be who He wants for me to be,
I will love all His children,
Pray for my enemy.
No matter how confusing,
Or what others do or say,
I will not ask for answers
I’ll trust God and I’ll obey.
©Linda Troxell 05/21/2016

 

 Most of us have a difficult time with obedience. Even the word is unpleasant for some of us. Somehow, we think to be obedient is to be weak. In our world Obedience is for children, those who are powerful do not obey; they are obeyed. But God requires obedience. The Bible is very clear on the subject. For example, John tells us that Jesus believes that those who obey Him and keep his commandments are those who love Him; it is they to whom He will manifest himself. “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”-John 14:21 Isaiah puts it this way, “If we are willing and obedient we shall eat the good of the land”.-Isaiah 1:19. And, Samuel tells us, “The Lord values obedience over burnt offerings and listening more than the fat of rams”. -1 Samuel 15:22. So it seems that obedience is something God wants, needs and expects of us.

What gets in the way of obedience for humans, I think, is the need to understand why we are being asked to do something; the need to understand, at all times, what is going on in our lives. We don’t mind doing what we are asked to do if we know why it needs to be done and how it fits into our lives. At least that’s what we say. But I think that what we really want to know is if we agree with the reason for doing what is being requested of us. Now, that doesn’t seem so unreasonable, what’s the problem with needing to agree? Well, the problem is that if we only comply when we agree it’s not obedience. When we demand an explanation, we are making our own understanding the real master. When we insist on agreeing, we are making our opinion master. It is only really obedience when we trust that God knows more than we do. The essence of obedience is allowing God to be in charge. Real worship must begin with “Your will not mine.” Godly obedience means trusting God no matter what we feel, what our friends think, what we desire or what makes sense.   

The Bible is full of stories where God asked His people to do things that didn’t make sense, some of them painfully so. When God asked Noah to build a gigantic boat to save himself, his family and many pairs of animals from the coming rain that would flood the earth, it had never, ever rained before. Let me say that again, it had never, in the history of the world, rained. So what do you think Noah thought? Do you think it made sense to him? Do you think it made sense to his neighbors? His family? Do you think his friends said, “Sure Noah, we will come over and help you.” Of course not. But Noah obeyed his God because he had faith that God knew more than he. And it turned out to be a good call. Think about Joshua. The Lord told him to march, with his men, around the walls of Jericho, 6 times a day for 6 days. He told him to have his men stomp really hard and to make loud noises. On the 7^th day, He told Joshua and his men to march around the walls 7 times and blow the trumpets. Now, this, Joshua was told, would bring the walls of Jericho tumbling down. How do you think Joshua felt taking this brilliant plan back to his troop of fighting men? Do you think he felt confident in God’s plan? I doubt it. But he had faith that God knew more than he. And don’t forget about Abraham who was willing to follow God’s instructions to sacrifice his only son; plans which made no sense and were very, very painful to contemplate. Yet, Abraham trusted God so much that he followed His instructions to the very end when God spared his son. Consequently, Abraham is the only man in the Bible that God called his friend. Because we know it all ended well, we forget that these things God asked of Noah, Joshua, Abraham, and others were very irrational. But they didn’t know it would end well and they were obedient to God anyway. 

 We have an advantage over those who God asked to do absurd things 4000 years ago; we know that time after time when these people trusted God the outcome was positive and they were blessed. At least it should be an advantage. But somehow it hasn’t worked that way for most of us. Even knowing that time and time again, obedience to God, even when what He asks seemed absurd, led to blessings, even miracles, we still have a hard time being obedient. The most absurd thing God ever asked of anyone is what He asked of His son. Do you think it made sense to the fully human Jesus to willing go to his horrific and painful death in order to save a bunch of ungrateful selfish humans? We know that toward the end Jesus questioned God. He asked his Father if there was any other way.  He asked God to please allow him to escape this. But in the end, Jesus trusted God and believed that what he was being asked to do was necessary.

The hardest thing God has ever asked of any one of us is a walk in the park compared to what He asked of His only son.  And yet, we have the audacity to ask God why. We have the self-importance to ask why do I have to do this; why is this necessary; why can’t I do it another way; why doesn’t this make sense to me; why won’t God explain to me; why don’t I understand. We ask the ruler of the universe, who spoke the world into existence, the one who commands the sun to rise and set, the one who controls the waves, the one who tells the wind when to blow and the rain when to rain to explain to us why we don’t understand. Well God doesn’t clearly spell out why He won’t explain everything He asks of us, but in Isiah, He strongly indicates that it’s because we are not capable of understanding. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways for as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”-Isiah 55:8-9 When we demand to understand what God asks of us or to agree with Him, it is the first step toward relying on our own thoughts, feelings, and desires to tell us what is real and what is best. 

In Proverbs we are warned: There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death-Proverbs 4:12.  There is a reason for God to give us these warnings that go beyond His desire for obedience. When we veer away from trusting God and begin to insist on understanding, and or agreeing with Him, we open the door for the devil to manipulate our thoughts and feelings. We give him a chance to talk us into believing that what God asked of us isn’t really necessary; that God doesn’t really love us; that we cannot depend on Him; or even that God doesn’t really exist. Whereas, training ourselves to trust God’s word, rather than our own thoughts or feelings, allows us to know that God loves us even when we might think or feel differently. So, that is the practical reasons for being obedient to God without question.

However, there is a far more important reason that we should want to put aside our own insight, our questions and our need to understand, to give God our true obedience. We should love God enough, trust him enough, and have enough reverently fear of His power to be obedient to Him without understanding or agreement because it is the highest form of worship. We should pay heed to what we are told in 2 John: And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.  –2 John 1:6. After all that God has done for me, I think I owe Him that? How about you?

 

Points of Prayer and Pondering

 

1. Do you have a difficult time with obedience in general? Do you have the need to know why you are being asked to do something? How about with obedience to God particularly? Do you have the need to know why He is asking you to do something?

 

2. Have you experienced a time when you did not follow what you believed God was telling you to do because it didn’t make sense or you didn’t understand why He was asking you to do it? Write about that time and about how it turned out.

 

3. Look up 6 Bible verses, 3 from the Old Testament and 3 from the New Testament, about obeying God and/or not questioning God. Write them and keep them somewhere handy so you can revisit them when you are resisting God’s will.