By: Obed Pineda
When rendering proper obedience to God, there are certain conditions that must be met in our mind as the believer. The believer must hear or read God’s will and understand exactly what God expects from a specific command, Eph 3:2-4, “If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you. How that by revelation. He made known to me the mystery as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.” When we obey God righteously and honestly, we must submit our will to God through study. II Tim 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” As we gain faith by hearing and diligently seeking God, we gain a clearer and stronger understanding of who God is and His love for mankind. Obedience means to hold ourselves in subjection to God. The example of Jesus Christ’s obedience to the Father in Phil 2:8 is a good example of the attributes (action, submission and humbleness of heart) needed to obey God, Phil 2:5-8 says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Christ’s voluntary and yielding obedience is further explained by the Hebrew writer in Heb 5:7-9, “who in the days of His flesh when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” In the secular world, particularly in the workforce there are those we are subordinate to such as managers, supervisors, and the company heads (CEOs) and depending upon the leadership approach we may become very familiar with our leaders or bosses and get to know them. Conversely, in other businesses, there may be very little interaction between employees and management which can lead to turmoil and operating problems in the business. Jesus had a close relationship with God the Father, while here on the earth, and He knew the Father and the expectations and responsibilities that the Father wanted the Son to execute. The love between God the Father and His Son was perfected and realized between them which made the suffering and shame which Christ endured more bearable. In like manner, in our walk with God, we need to take the time to get to know our God through His word and prayer and by assembling with the saints which increases our trust and faith in Him, thereby increasing our determination to remain obedient servants through much tribulation until we die or until the Lord comes to bring us home with Him on High. When it comes to us obeying God, we should acquiesce meaning we should accept Him without arguing or complaining because of the provisions He has made and the love He has demonstrated. There is a song that we often sing which depicts the aforementioned points that we are making about obedience. The Song is “Trust and Obey,” and the first verse goes, “When we walk with the Lord In the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” If we continue to walk in the light and continually do the Lord’s will, he will abide with us and take care of us. Matt 6:33, says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Brethren, the importance of understanding what the will of the Lord is and obeying Him cannot be overstated. The future resting place of our souls depends upon our ability to hear and obey God, II Thess 1:7-9, “And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” Please keep in mind during this second quarter we are studying the Book of Deuteronomy which emphasizes the significance of obeying God’s statutes, laws, and judgements and ensuring that we do not deviate from them either to the left or the right. The Book of Deuteronomy also shows us by example the plight of the Israelite Nation and what can also happen to us if we go against God and disobey Him. Deu 6:1-3, highlights this for it says, “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgements which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—a land flowing with milk and honey.” In the space remaining for reference and to aid our understanding of the importance of rightly dividing God’s word and obeying it, we will mention a few examples. During the patriarchal dispensation God told Noah to build an ark of gopherwood according to specific dimensions, Gen 6:8-22, Noah had faith and obeyed God and precisely did what God had commanded him to do, for verse 22 of chapter 6 says, “Thus Noah did according to all that God commanded him, so he did.” Next, Abraham was given a challenge by God definitely of his faith. God told him in Genesis 12:1-2, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.” So, Abram obeyed God and departed not knowing what destination that the Lord would lead him to, he stepped out on faith, see Heb 11:8-10. My final example of faith and obedience to God is the Judge Gideon. After the Lord told Gideon that he had too many men, who at the beginning had gathered 30,000 strong to go and fight the Midianites. God reduced the men down to just 300 by sending away the other members of Gideon’s Army. The Lord told Gideon in Judges 7:7, “Then the Lord said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.” As promised, because Gideon and his Army had the courage to go, God delivered the Midianites into their hands and they were defeated. In our daily walks with God let us hear and understand God’s word and obey Him as He commands.