The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”–Jonah 1:1-3.

 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”
Matthew 28:19-20.
 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”
Matthew 28:19-20.

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”-Romans 5:8

 

Obedience

God expects us to be obedient.
It isn’t open to negotiation.
For we promised Him full obedience
In exchange for eternal salvation.
We are instructed to love all of His children;
To go out and make disciples of all.
But, in defiance, if we hate our enemy,
We’re disobedient and simply stall.

We’re expected to do what God asks of us.
To give those made in His image our love.
He favors no group one over the other,
We’re His children; for Him, that’s enough.
We have disregarded God’s instruction;
Or, distorted it to behave as we wish.
If we’re not careful we’ll be just like Jonah
Spending three days in the belly of a fish.

Like Jonah, we don’t want our enemies forgiven
Who, then, will we blame for what’s wrong?
But God asks that we give up our anger
And remember to whom we belong.
He asks that we look at His time on earth
Considering His sacrifice without falter
Then focus not on our differences,
But on the love for our mutual Father.

Our obedience to God is imperative.
Even more so than doing good deeds.
Yes, God wants us to give to our brothers;
But our obedience is something He needs.
We are all part of His plan for salvation,
A plan made with perfect precision.
But He can’t bring about His final plan
If we question His every decision.
So, if you think you can amend God’s instructions
Then go about your life just as you wish,
You may just wake up one morning
Stuck in the belly of a fish.
©Linda Troxell 1/21/19

 

 

 

The deeper I get into my study of the Bible as well as my relationship with God, the more I am concerned about doing what God calls me to do. In that vein, I’m no longer satisfied to take the word of others for what God expects of me. I can’t afford to. Because, if I take your word for what God expects of me and you’re wrong I’m still accountable for my disobedience. So I have begun to really look at each command, request, and direction given by God to make sure I understand what He is asking. That’s not to say my understanding will not change; It changes as I grow in my understanding of my walk with Christ. And it doesn’t mean I think I will ever perfectly understand or perfectly obey. At least not in this life. But in personally determining God’s expectation, I will know I am living my best understanding of what God has called me to do.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. As Christians, we all know we are to be obedient to God. On the surface, this seems pretty straight forward and uncomplicated. But then when we run across a request, direction, or command from God that is not comfortable for us, we find that maybe it isn’t so uncomplicated after all. We aren’t so different from Jonah who God told to go to the city of Nineveh and preach to the people, warning them that God was not pleased with their wickedness and that they need to repent before it’s too late.  The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”–Jonah 1:1-3. We know Jonah didn’t listen to God and instead, he ran the other way. Most of us probably shake our head in wonder about Jonah’s disobedience. We think if God actually spoke to us we would certainly not disobey him.

But maybe Jonah had good reason to disobey God. After all, this was a difficult task God had given him. It was a very long journey and would take Jonah away from his home for quite a time. I bet traveling in that day and age was not at all comfortable. God had told him that Nineveh was a great city, and Jonah would have known it was very large and that it was guarded by many soldiers. Maybe he thought sophisticated people who lived in such a great city would never listen to a simple prophet preaching about a strange and unknown God.  Or maybe he was afraid. Maybe he worried that if his message was rejected they would be angered and they would kill him. There are many, many reasons Jonah might have disobeyed God. Most of them probably very similar to the ones we use when we disobey God.

Maybe you’re still insisting that there is really no similarity between you and Jonah. Maybe you think you haven’t disobeyed God in anything really important. Certainly, nothing God actually spoke to you about. But, you might want to rethink that. I know I had to. Let’s break down what God told Jonah to do. Essentially God told Jonah to go to a place and tell the people there about God so they would obey Him and end their wickedness.  Is it becoming clear? No? Well, let me go on. We say God hasn’t spoken to us but that is just not true. God has spoken and continues to speak to us through His word, The Holy Bible. And in that Bible, the word of God, what did He tell us to do in the book of Matthew? “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”        Matthew 28:19-20.

 Now, let’s talk about how many of us have actually obeyed this great commission that God spoke of in His word. I know I haven’t. Sure I talk to people about God, Jesus and the Gospel; if it comes up. But that is hardly going out to make disciples of all nations. I have really good rationalizations for why I can’t obey this commission exactly the way God spoke it. I’m an introvert, it’s really hard for me to start a conversation with people I don’t know. I don’t want to push my religion on others. I know it didn’t sit well with me before I was saved. So, I really don’t think it works anyway. After working 8 hours a day, sometimes for 6 days, it’s all I can do to get to church on Sunday.  How about you? Have you gone out and made disciples of all nations? Have you obeyed Jesus’ great commission?

I know that some of you have and I am not exaggerating when I say I really admire you. I do. And I’m truly humbled before you. But the rest of us, as Christians, God is our highest authority and we are required to submit to Him by being obedient to His commands. This creates a dilemma for many of us; for some who are unaware of it and others who are unwilling to admit it.  That dilemma is that we readily submit to God when what He asks is something with which we agree and consider reasonable. But when the reason for a command is something with which we don’t agree or understand, we distort, amend or straight out ignore His command in submission to our own comfort.

In the end, The Bible tells us that Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh because the people who lived there were enemies of Israel. Jonah knew the Lord well enough to know that if those in Nineveh repented the Lord would forgive them. Jonah didn’t want his enemies to be forgiven. He sure didn’t want to be an agent of God’s forgiveness of them.  “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” –Jonah 4:2.  Perhaps that sounds scandalous to some of us. Maybe we don’t understand how Jonah could be so cold-hearted that he disobeyed God in order to prevent the salvation of the whole city. But I’m not sure we all haven’t felt that way a time or two.

I’m just going to be honest here and admit that, in the past, I have, many times, refused to pray for an enemy. There have been times when I didn’t want God to forgive someone. I thought they didn’t deserve it. As if I have the right to judge who does and doesn’t deserve God’s forgiveness. Today I understand what a sin it is to withhold prayer from one of God’s children just because I refuse to forgive them for a slight, real or imagined; a sin in itself, by the way. I still struggle with this; it’s hard to feel love for someone who has hurt us. Hence, the importance of learning to forgive. Only after we forgive will we be able to give the love we are called to give to our brothers and sisters, including our enemies, by praying for them. God does not call us to wait for them to please us before we forgive them and show them love. Remember how God showed His love for us? “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”-Romans 5:8

 But if you’re a lucky soul who is able to easily forgive and therefore pray for your enemies, maybe you can’t really understand Jonah’s behavior. But I wonder if that would still be the case if God asked you to go to the prisons and help pedophiles to repent so they could be forgiven? Or, how would you feel about being the agent of God’s forgiveness for someone who had murdered your family in cold blood? Could you relate to Jonah a bit better then? Because God wants to forgive all of His children. He wants us to, at the very least, pray for them to repent and come to Him. But I think, He wants more than that. I think He wants us to actively minister to those who are the most lost; to earnestly try to bring the worst of humanity to Jesus. We can’t forget that Jesus died on the cross for all sinners. And once we are washed by the blood of Jesus, God sees our sins no more.

I think we all understand that God calls us to be obedient to all of His rules, laws, and commands, not just those with which we are comfortable. However, for Americans obedience has never come easy. Resistance to authority is woven into the very fabric of our nation. America is legendary for her rebels, her outlaws and her independent loners. “Pull yourself up with your bootstraps” is practically our national motto. Our American identity is one of self-sufficiency and radical independence. Consequently, we tend to think obedience is for children, servants and those impaired in some way. Americans do not like to think of themselves as submissive. Rather, they fancy themselves as the ones to whom subservience and obedience are given. Still, this country was also founded on Christian values. So what happens when the rock of American independence meets the immovable force of the Christian requirement for obedience to God?

 Well, I found a definition of obedience in a dictionary by Noah Webster published in 1828 that might be helpful. I often use Webster’s 1828 dictionary for Bible study because it was published in a period in this country when almost everyone still had a Christian worldview. Therefore, Webster’s definitions usually say something about how the words relate to the Bible or Christianity. His definition of obedience is long, elegant and informative. But I will not take the time to repeat it here. If you are curious, the dictionary is online. But for our purpose of trying to understand how our American independence can coexist with our duty to submit fully to God, I will share only the portion of the definition that applies. Obedience is not synonymous with servility but merely a proper submission to authority. That which duty requires implies dignity of conduct rather than servility. Webster tells us not to confuse obedience, especially voluntary obedience, with being subservient.

This definition was written at a time in this country when survival required extreme independence, when vulnerability could be a death sentence, and when slavery was an ugly part of our reality. Perhaps that is why he made sure to convey the difference between servility, a word that, in that era, might have brought to mind the submissiveness and fawning behavior forced on men who were owned, and obedience to duty which would could bring to mind the strength and dignity associated with soldiers who carried out their duty selfishly and faithfully. Whatever his reason, it seems clear that Webster wanted us to understand that there is no conflict between being self-sufficient and independent and being obedient to the Lord.

That is all well and good, but when it comes to shaping our world view, a definition, especially an obscure definition, pales next to a lifetime of exposure to a national identity. So, even though Mr. Webster’s definition tells us that there is no conflict between being strong and independent when we need to and being submissive and obedient to God, American Christians will still struggle with submission and obedience. And maybe God wants us to struggle. Maybe it means more to Him if we do things that are really difficult for us voluntarily.

So knowing that we, like Jonah, struggle with obedience, what’s the take away from this whole thing? Well, Jonah teaches us a couple of simple but not easy life lessons. At its core, the story of Jonah is a cautionary tale about the futility of resisting God and the necessity for having compassion. When Jonah refused God, God simply made Jonah’s life so miserable that he realized he had no choice but to acquiesce. The first lesson the book of Jonah teaches us is don’t avoid God’s commands because there are only two ways that will turn out. Either you will be miserable for the rest of your life, or you will be miserable until you give in and do what God wants you to do. Either way, God’s going to win.

When Jonah was successful in God’s mission, as he predicted God forgave his enemies. Johan didn’t think they deserved to be forgiven and he was resentful. So, in a snit, Jonah withdrew from God and went off by himself to wait for his death. God could have punished Jonah for his childish drama. He could have struck him with lightning or smote him or both. Or worse, God could have withdrawn from Jonah showing him just how bad life could be on his own. But instead, God showed him the same compassion He had shown Jonah’s enemies. He put Jonah in a situation where he would experience compassion. This gentle and experiential lesson, helped Jonah to see that the only difference between his compassion and God’s, is that God’s compassion is all-inclusive and limitless. So the second lesson we can learn from the story of Jonah is that even though we, as humans, struggle with compassion and forgiveness, God wants us through practice and learn to give love and compassion to all of His children.

Points to Ponder and Pray About

• After reading this, what are your thoughts about your own struggle with obedience to God?
• Are there areas in which obedience is more difficult for you than others?
• Is it sometimes, or has it ever been, a struggle for you to pray with love and compassion for an enemy or perhaps just someone who hurt you?

 

Let’s Pray

Father, we know that You want us to be entirely obedient to You. But You also know that we struggle with obedience because of our sinful self-will. We are so thankful Lord that even though we are incapable of giving You the perfect obedience that You deserve, You forgive us if we come to you in repentance.  God, we are thankful for the limitless, all-inclusive compassion You show us every single day. And Lord, we are thankful that as long as You know that we are trying to please You, You have infinite patience.  We pray for Your help Lord in our efforts to perfect our obedience as well as our efforts to increase our love and compassion for all of Your children. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen