Obedience. Period.
This is a word that doesn’t have a deep meaning. Obedience comes from the word “OBEY”. It’s pretty much and either/or situation. You either obey or you don’t. I struggled with this some as a kid, but my parents were firm in their discipline. Today I’m grateful for it. By obeying my parents, I learned tremendous respect for authority.
Johanna, the leader of some of the people of Judah left behind is about to escape to Egypt and decides to ask Jeremiah to seek a word from the Lord about what he should do. Check this out….
2 They said to him, “Jeremiah, please listen to what we ask. Pray to the Lord your God for all the people left alive from the family of Judah. At one time there were many of us, but you can see that there are few of us now. 3 So pray that the Lord your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do.” 5 Then the people said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and loyal witness against us if we don’t do everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. 6 It does not matter if we like the message or not. We will obey the Lord our God, to whom we are sending you. We will obey what he says so good things will happen to us. 9 Jeremiah said to them, “You sent me to ask the Lord for what you wanted. This is what the God of Israel says: 10 ‘If you will stay in Judah, I will build you up and not tear you down. I will plant you and not pull you up, because I am sad about the disaster I brought on you. 11 Now you fear the king of Babylon, but don’t be afraid of him. Don’t be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ‘because I am with you. I will save you and rescue you from his power. 12 I will be kind to you, and he will also treat you with mercy and let you stay in your land, ’things will happen to us.” (Jeremiah 42:2-3; 5-6; 9-12 NCV)It’s a pretty bold prayer to ask the Lord where He wants me to go and what He wants me to do. I may not like His answer. I should ALWAYS obey. I should not make excuses or defend my disobedience…I should simply obey.
Throughout scripture, it’s crystal clear that the Lord honors obedience. He is the only One who really knows if what we say we believe and what we really believe are in unison. He knows everything about us. He knows when we disobey. He knows my heart and the thoughts I think. He knows me. He wants what is best and obedience to Him is the best for me. I don’t want to be a person who honors God with my lips and dishonors him with my behavior. I want to obey His call and direction upon my life without negotiation or compromise.
Pressing On! Dwayne