Why does Obedience matter as Christians?
Why does Obedience matter as Christians?
INTRODUCTION
There is a time in our lives when obedience feels like a random thing. We understand obedience just like a common thing from our elders that we have to perform to achieve certain morality. Sometimes, we do not even get the meaning of obeying. We just do it because we are supposed to do it. When God’s directions meet our path and plans, it is easy to follow him. However, sometime we see obedience as a confusing thing, When obedience does not meet what we believe or what we expect, why is hard for us to obey? Why is it hard for us to obey when something to obey feels unreasonable?
Obedience becomes hard when it does not make sense. The Bible does not ignore the reality. We see many people in the Bible who we are asked to obey for no reason, who were told to obey when it makes no sense. Their obedience felt like it had no meaning but they obeyed as they were asked. For Christian, obedience is not a shortcut to gain salvation but a blessing that transforms our hearts by grace. Obedience shows God that we love him and we trust him.
Abraham: A great example of obeying without any explanation
One of the good examples of obeying in the Bible is Abraham.
Abraham waited for many years for a son. He was a loyal servant to the Lord, he obeyed God in all of his years even though he had no child. God promised Abraham to give him a son a. At first, it felt impossible because Abraham and his wife Sarah were old to have a child. However, Abraham believed the word of God and waited for a child patiently. Years later, God gave a son to Abraham names “Isaac” as he promised him. Abraham raised his son in proper way a parent can raise his child. And one day when Isaac was of his age, God told Abraham to wake up in the morning and offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Imagine, after waiting for many years for a child, and all the sudden they tell you to kill your son. For some of us it feels unreasonable, but for Abraham, he felt like it was God commandment and it have to be obeyed. He rose early in the morning. He prepared the wood, he took the journey with his son and prepared the altar to sacrifice his son Isaac. This shows high level of obedience, Abraham did not question anything, he did all the Lord asked. What makes this story powerful is not Abraham’s deep faith but his great obedience. Abraham obeyed when it made no reason. After, when God saw how faithful Abraham was to him, he provided him a ram for sacrifice in place of Isaac.
This teaches one important thing: obedience sometimes reveals how much we trust God and his promises.
Trusting God beyond our Understanding
The Bible teaches us to trust God way and not rely on our understanding. It shows how when we trust in God’s ways, God clears our paths.
This passage does not undermine human understanding. It shows that human understanding is always limited compared to God’s reasons. What we see as a moment, God see it as full picture. What we imagine and design in our heads, God has the final design of it. At the end of our thinking, that is where God’s capacity starts. Obedience beyond our understanding is not something, which does not make logical sense, it choosing to rely on one’s idea, which suppresses your own. Sometimes God call us to forgive, when our pride demands justice. Sometimes God calls to stay, when our emotions forces us to leave. Sometimes God calls us to obey, when our thoughts forces us to be stubborn. Sometimes God asks to be generous, when our economy is not doing wonderfully. Sometimes God leads us to unknown path without revealing the clear path to us.
As we have seen in Abraham’s story, sometimes God asks us to obey to reveal our blessings in our lives. If Abraham could have refused to do as God told him, he would have not known the plan God had in his life. Maybe sometimes we are supposed to obey when it seems to have no sense, because what seems to have no sense I our understanding, have deeper meaning in God’s perspective.
Why does obedience feels so hard?
Obedience feels so hard in our life because:
1. We want certainty: in our life, we seek control over predictability. When we are asked to obey without any explanation, it feels like we are being ruled over. As humans sometimes, we are comfortable with situations we can control or we understand.
2. We fear loss: sometimes obedience can feel like giving up on something valuable to us like a dream, relationship or wealth. Sometimes we are told to obey and that obedience costs us something we consider valuable in our lives, so sometimes it feels like we are surrendering what we like.
3. We need clarity: We often think that if we understand something, we can obey it. It is in our nature to obey what we understand, but the scripture shows us the obedience comes first and then clarity.
Obedience proves whether our faith depends on what we understand, or God’s invisible purpose.
Biblical Examples of Obedience with no Understanding
Abraham was not the only one in the Bible who obeyed when it made no reason; we see many other good example in the Bible that shows People who obeyed without any clarity.
Noah was told to build an arch by God and he did so. It was surprisingly because Noah started to build the arch even before the rain started. Noah did not hesitate, he did what God told him and he obeyed and built the arch when others thought he lost his mind and later Noah was saved by obeying the word of God, when God caused floods.
Moses obeyed the Lord and comforted Pharaoh many times despite on his insecurity, God revealed himself to him and told him to go and tell Pharaoh to release God’s people. Moses left his family and sheep and went to comfort Pharaoh as God told him. He did that many times until Pharaoh released the Israelis and Moses continued to obey God’s word, which feed them when they were in the desert and gave them water when they were thirsty and even God used Moses to pass his ten commandments. Moses is a great example that obeying God have a big benefit, Moses obeyed God and lead him to lead God’s people to the land of promise.
Joshua obeyed God when he marched around Jericho instead of attacking it strategically as Israelis used to do so and he ended up winning. This shows that obeying God is not a mistake or a loss, ignoring his word is a loss, it felt impossible to win when marching around Jericho but God made it possible because Joshua obeyed his word.
Virgin Mary obeyed God’s message through Angel Gabriel, and she allowed conceiving a baby with no father. This risked her life because Mary was engaged to Joseph and it was a crime for a woman to have a baby with no husband. Mary ignored the social norms and obeyed God’s word. She conceived the baby boy who came our Savior Jesus Christ.
None of the above commandments had logical reason behind them but their obedience came a great example of obeying with no understanding. God often works in ways, we as human can not understand but his purpose is always bigger than we imagine.
The Difference between unreasonable obedience and Biblical Trust
It is very important to understand something. Biblical trust is not unquestioning obedience. It is trust based on God’s proven character. In the scripture, we see God as faithful, just and compassionate. Obedience comes from that image. Abraham did not obey God because he lacked intelligent, he obeyed him because he knew God is faithful. Trust grows from relationship. Moses trusted God because they had a good relationship; he knew what he was capable of doing. When believers reflects on their past -experience with God, they develop that kind of a trust in God. We do not have to obey God because it makes sense to us, we have to obey God because we trust his ways.
What does we gain from obedience?
When obedience does not make sense, it gives transformation.
Here are the benefits of obedience:
1. It creates intimacy with God: When we obey God and his commandments, he develop a trust in him. And this relationship creates a great bond and love for God.
2. It removes self-reliance: Obeying God helps us to rely on God rather than on relying on ourselves, it creates a great dependency on God, which eliminates illusion of control.
3. It contribute to our spiritual maturity: Obeying God makes us understand God’s purpose on us; it helps us to identify what is right and what is wrong by the help of Holy Spirit. Obeying God helps to receive all the fruits offered by the Holy Spirit and this makes our faith stronger.
4. It create impact on others: we can learn that from Abraham, He obeyed and became the father of many nations and Abraham became a great example of obeying. We can also learn that from Mary she obeyed and became a great example in bible history of obeying with no reason.
God’s commandments does not restrict us, they give us alignment to follow.
When Obedience Leads to Difficulty
Sometimes obedience does not lead to joy and pleasure as many of us assume. Sometimes Obedience can lead to challenges.
Jesus obeyed God and led him to his suffering. He prayed to God asking for God to take his pain away and told God, that it does not have to go according his will but God’s will. Jesus being the son of God is a great example for us to obey God’s commandment without questioning them, it does not have to be reasonable, and we have to trust God and his ways. God’s purpose does not show itself directly, it unfolds at the right moment. What we may feel like pain can be preparation. What we may feel as confusion might be blessings in disguise.
How do we know if it is God?
We should ask this interesting question ourselves. How to know if it is God leading or not?
What we have to understand is that Biblical obedience aligns with God’s character meaning everything the Bible tell us to believe have the connection with God. The Bible does not teach to obey something misleading to God’s character. By praying, we can connect with God and ask for his direction because God gives answers to those who seek him. And by the fruit of holy spirit, we are given the power to identify what is right and what is wrong. And by asking the spiritual mentors, it can help to identify whether it is God’s leading or not.
What God reward us for trusting him?
A story of Abraham is a living testimony that God never ignores our obedience we give to him. Abraham obeyed God and became the father of nation. Mary obeyed God and became the mother of the savior. Moses obeyed God and led God’s people to the land of promise. They are many other examples showing that God recognizes our obedience. Sometimes the prize of obeying him does not come directly but at the right time, God recognizes our hard work and obedience. The reward of obeying him might not be a material reward but the blessing of knowing God’s goodness. And obeying God increases our faith, trust and love for God.
CONCLUSION
Obedience with no reason is one of the great example of Trusting in God. It is very easy to follow when we understand the situation and know the outcome. However, the Bible shows us that, God is trustworthy more than our own understanding. The Bible is a proof that God never forsake those who obey him and believe in his word. We have seen the reward Abraham got because he obeyed God, We also saw how Moses was able to flee the Israelis from Egypt to the land of promise because he obeyed God and none of them had a reason to obey God but they trusted God and obeyed his commands. Obeying with no understanding does not mean neglecting wisdom, it means knowing that wisdom has its limitation.
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