How do I obey God?

Growing up, I am sure everyone would’ve heard this from their parents. I for one was a rebellious one and heard the phrase “Obedience is better than sacrifice” and “Delayed obedience is disobedience” often.

I know it’s hypocritical for me to talk about this, but let me share as I grow in my faith and walk with God.

The dictionary says obedience is “the act or practise of obeying; dutiful or submissive compliance”. Dutiful. Submissive compliance. Let’s break that down.

Dutiful: This means it comes from a sense of / a place of duty.

Often, we do things out of a sense of duty. We do it because we need to do it/ have to do it. Drawing from the story of the prodigal son, this is the exact mindset the elder son had. He did things in the house out of a sense of duty and responsibility. And this isn’t wrong at all. But, when we do things in this way, it’s because we expect something. We do it because there is a reward at the end.

Submissive Compliance:

Being submissive means yielding to a higher authority.

In a biblical context, when we are called to obey, it has called us to obey in love. As in, we do things not only because we are obliged to do it as a duty or because a higher authority that demands it, but because we love to do it.

This calls for not only a change of our mindset but also a change of our lifestyle. We cannot obey in love if that does not become a way of life. I’ll explain why we go on.

I liked the photo because it shows the moon and it reminded me of the time when Israel was fighting the Amorites and Joshua prayed and God made the sun stand still so Israel could win. The sun, moon and the earth stood still, so the people of God could win. The sun, moon and earth obeyed so the people of God could win. All they had to do was trust the word of God when he said that he had given the Amorites over to Israel. They did not know that God would rain hail on them, they did not know he would stop the sun and moon in their place. All they knew was God had spoken and they trusted his word and fought. (Joshua 10)

The Israelites of the old were not particularly well known for their obedience. They were in fact known to grumble and murmur (as seen multiple times in the book of Numbers and Exodus). They might have obeyed because, everyone else was doing it. Or because, they might be left alone/ left behind.

This is the problem if we obey without love. You will grumble. You will complain. And eventually, you will disobey.

The people of the old, rarely had a personal experience with God. They always needed an intermediary to communicate or approach God. And despite all of that, it was always through another person. But, through our Lord Jesus, we have the privilege of approaching the throne of grace directly. We can talk to God himself, directly.

It’s so much easier to love someone when you know them personally. When you have an intimate relation with them.

The other part of this story is, trusting God. How can you trust someone and obey them if you do not know them personally? If you haven’t seen them do things?

I loved the quote in the Bible plan on Wisdom makes a way by Brian Houston and hence, made the photo you see above. Obedience is just a proof that you trust God. And it directly relates trust to love. The more you love God, the more you trust him. The more you trust him, the easier it will be to obey him.

The Israelites trusted God enough to go around the walls of Jericho with no idea of how the walls would fall. Noah built the ark when no one had even heard of rain. Abram left his home and went where the Lord told him to go. There are countless other examples of how people just trusted God and operated in faith. The common factor was that all of them knew God personally, and had a connection with him.

The more you get closer in your walk with God, the more you talk to him in prayer, the more you get to know him from his word, the more you will trust him. The more you will obey him.

This will work with our relationships and work on earth too. The more you know your parents, the easier it will become to just do what they say without creating a ruckus.

Link for the Bible Reading Plan mentioned here:

https://my.bible.com/reading-plans/17536-wisdom-makes-a-way or click on the hyperlink above.

Thanks to Salomi for proof reading this article and correcting my many mistakes.

You can check out her blog here:

https://www.bibletimeswithsal.com