It's a clear theme of God's word, but it's not our favorite. We like grace, mercy, love, salvation, but rarely do we jump for joy at the idea of obedience. We live in a free country. We believe in democracy. We believe in free will. We value choice and options and no contracts. Obedience seems to go against most of those freedoms.
Yet we are reminded in Deuteronomy as Moses prepares God's chosen people to live in an ever-lasting relationship with him that "It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must serve. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him" (Deut 13:4).
Eventually we figure out a way to work this obedience thing into our faith lives, but it's rarely the foremost feature of our faith.
But obedience might be more a blessing and gift than we have imagined!
We've all been through the spiritual droughts--the ones that leave us dry and withered after a season of spiritual fullness and closeness to God. In the drought, nothing feels as good, as powerful, as inspiring. God doesn't seem as close either, and we wonder what went wrong. This is the place where many of us get thrown off the trail altogether and never get any further.
That's when obedience kicks in and comes to the rescue. It doesn't feel like it's rescuing us from anything at the time. It mostly feels like it's locking us into this dry, lifeless place in our faith forever. But there's way more to the picture we often don't see.
While it's true that obedience doesn't swoop down like a superhero to save the day, it does keep the source of goodness flowing, and it keeps the lifelines open between God and us. Furthermore, it honors God. We can scarcely comprehend how much obedience means to God, but it's huge! If freedom is at the top of our value list, willingly giving it to God and trusting that there's something ever greater than autonomy cannot be overlooked! It's essential to our growth.
So, while all of this obedience stuff is going on and we're painfully trudging along in our practices of going to worship, reading the Bible, praying for others, loving others, and cutting out some distractions in our life--as if it just might kill us--God and our friend obedience are planning a banquet for us.
It's impossible to predict God's timing, and difficult to discern when we finally, really get the point. But we must believe that the drought doesn't last forever and that there are really good things on the other end. After all, the banquet being prepared is a life with God that blows us away with each breath. It's the original spiritual high combined with a solid, wise, unshakable foundation. It is good.
So while we groan along with our wretched friend Obedience, wondering if it's worth it or perhaps whether it's all just a hoax, remember that Obedience may just be our best friend and most worthy companion on this dry, painful road. At the end of the drought, we come to find that our time spend being obedient is NEVER just about being obedient. It's about getting ready to join God in even greater things through that relationship being established with Him!
Happy obeying! :-)
More to come!
Jason <><
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