obedience

God’s Unusual Ways

“When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him”

Exodus 2:6

Some Christians speak as though God has lost control and was in need of our help to accomplish his will but He doesn’t do things or use the people we think He should. When Jesus called His disciples He said, “Follow Me” not “Lead Me.” We should stop telling God what He should do and listen to Him.

A young mother had a son born under a death sentence. Pharaoh had commanded that all male babies born to the Hebrews be put to death. We are not told why Jochebed did as she did, but Pharaoh’s daughter found the baby in an ark among the reeds. She called his name Moses. She gave him back to his own mother to raise until he was weened at possibly five years old. Pharaoh wanted the baby dead but his own daughter paid the baby’s own mother to raise him until weened. Then she brought the young child into Pharaoh’s palace and gave him protection and the best education possible in Egypt at Pharaoh’s expense.

Saul persecuted, imprisoned and even killed the followers of Jesus Christ until he discovered who Jesus really is. His name was changed to Paul but those who had sent him out to afflict Christians now put a death sentence on him. But God had told Paul that he would preach the Gospel to kings and rulers. When Paul was rescued by the Romans from the religious Jews and imprisoned, it looked like his ministry might be over. However, it was the Lord’s way of protecting Paul from the religious zealots and getting him into the houses of rulers and king’s palaces to share the Gospel. In addition, he was given free passage to Rome, paid for and protected along the way by Rome, in order to preach the Gospel in Caesar’s palace and to his guard.

I have a friend who was imprisoned for crimes but in that prison he called out to the Lord and was saved. While still in prison he studied the Bible by correspondence. Upon his release he went back into the prisons preaching the Gospel to people who were in the same place where he had been.

It may appeal to pride to think that God needs us – but He does not. Mordecai told Esther that God would find someone else if she didn’t cooperate. God does not need us but He chooses to allow us the privilege of serving with Him – provided we are available, teachable, willing and content to follow His lead.

First and Last

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus”

Revelation 22:20

This is the last recorded prayer in the Bible. In difficult and stressful times we are inclined to desire His coming just to be away from our current circumstances but that is just one side of the coin. The other side is a desire to be with Jesus and His righteousness. He is coming to bring an end to sin and death and to take His own to be with Him forever. Just as He did in His first coming Jesus will do so at just the right time, not early and not late (Galatians 4:4-5). Our desire is for Jesus to reign in righteousness and peace but that will only happen when Jesus returns and establishes His earthly kingdom. Then the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). From the beginning it has been God’s desire to dwell with and in His creation. Our desire is to dwell with God just as it is His desire to dwell with us.

The above prayer, the last recorded, contrasts greatly with the first recorded prayer in the Bible: “So he [Adam] said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself’” (Genesis 3:10). Instead of desiring God’s presence Adam and Eve fled God’s presence. Disobedience will always do that. More than once I avoided my parents as long as I could because I had been disobedient to them. It is the nature of fallen man to not want to face his disobedience and guilt but to try to escape the presence of God. This is the exact opposite of what he should do. Jonah, one of the more notoriously rebellious men in the Bible also wanted to escape the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:3, 10) but God kept after him.

Between the first recorded prayer (the desire to escape the presence of the Lord) and the last prayer recorded in the Bible (the desire for God’s presence to return) something of tremendous significance happened. That something was Jesus Christ’s first coming to save mankind from sin and death and to restore his proper relationship with God. At Easter we give time to remember and reflect on just how He accomplished that. Instead of fleeing His presence we should draw near to Him because His forgiveness is the only way of taking away our sin and restoring our relationship with God. The book of Revelation reveals that many would rather die than seek forgiveness. However, there will be many who seek and receive forgiveness through Christ.

Slaves

 “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”

Romans 6:16

In answer to the question, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Paul gives an emphatic, No!  In expanding on that succinct response he gives us a few before-and-after statements in support of that response.

We know that having been crucified with Christ we should no longer be slaves to sin (v 6). We know that having died with Christ we shall also live with Him (v 8). As a result we are to count on the fact that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (v 11). Since these things are true it is unreasonable that we would yield ourselves to sin’s power. On the contrary, the reasonable thing to do is to yield to God and His righteousness (vv 12-14). Thank God there is forgiveness when we do stumble (1 John 1:9).

In verse sixteen, quoted above, Paul compares two opposites: sin and obedience. Sin is that disposition that is in rebellion against the will of God. It started when Adam chose to disbelieve and disobeyed God’s word. That disposition has been passed down through every generation to every person. Obedience is that disposition that flows out of love and trust. One who receives God’s love and trusts Him will obey His word because he/she knows it leads to God’s righteousness and holiness. Disobedience shows that we have accepted Satan’s lie and do not desire God’s righteousness.

If we allow sin to reign in our bodies and present our bodies as instruments of unrighteousness we will not be able to experience intimate fellowship with God. This will be loss to us and those around us but especially to Jesus Christ. The more intimate our fellowship with God through Jesus Christ, the greater we will experience the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). If we are lacking in any aspects of this fruit it may be because we are yielding to sin. We were slaves to sin (v 17) but now, in Christ, we are set free from sin (v 18). Do I want to be a slave of sin or a servant of Jesus Christ? We are slaves to whom we yield. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v 23). Choose!

Up to Jerusalem

“Behold we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished”

Luke 18:31

Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem (vv 31-33) but the disciples didn’t. We are told that it was hidden from them (v 34). This reminds us that God can and does keep things hidden from us. Some things He grants only through careful and faithful study (2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17). Like any good teacher He only teachers us that which we are ready to receive. The problem in our learning is never with the Teacher.

As with Jesus, the aim of the Christian is to do the will of God. We usually interpret that as serving where we think we are of most use to God but that may not be the case. Unless our service is in obedience to the will of God we may just be accumulating wood, hay, and straw (1 Corinthians 3:12). Our service must be in His will and that is where He judges us most useful. It is not for us to choose our place or role. The clay does not tell the potter what to make of it. Jesus always obeyed the Father (John 8:29). His aim, and ours, is to obey the Father and be led by the Holy Spirit.

There are many examples in the Bible and church history where God seems to us to have wasted His most gifted people. Stephen (Acts 7) and James (Acts 12:2)  are two of many examples. We cannot see what God is aiming at, so let us walk by faith and trust God to accomplish His plan and purpose in and through us.

Jesus went to Jerusalem and the cross to fulfill the will of God as prophesied in Scripture. Though they did not understand, the disciples went with Him anyway. Oswald Chambers writes, “In our Lord’s life Jerusalem was the place where He reached the climax of His Father’s will upon the cross, and unless we go with Jesus there, we shall have no companionship with Him. Nothing ever discouraged Our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed. Neither gratitude nor ingratitude turned Our Lord one hair’s breadth away from His purpose to go to Jerusalem.” We may not be able to see our “Jerusalem” but we will go toward it as Jesus did, in the will of God as a living sacrifice on the altar of His love (Luke 14:27; Romans 12:1-2).

Delight in the Lord

“I delight to do Your will, O my God”

Psalm 40:8

For the most part we live as though God exists to accomplish our will. We decide how, where and when we will serve Him – if at all, and under what conditions. We complain when He allows discomfort or adversity in our lives and may even begin to doubt His care, love or existence. The cure for such doubting is to look afresh at the cross where Jesus suffered and died for our sin. Paul writes that everything that happens to us is for our good (Romans 8:28) and His pleasure (Philippians 2:13). The Lord has a goal for us and He will accomplish it better if we stop getting in the way.

Every commandment of God is an expression of who He is and of His will for us. If we find resistance in our heart to any directive or command then we must review our relationship with Him and His word. The psalmist frequently writes of his delight in the word of God, His law, and His statutes. Any resistance to loving and living God’s word and delighting in His will expressed in those statutes and commands is a red flag exposing a rebellious spirit against Jesus Christ. We must then look afresh at Calvary’s cross.

When we are truly delighting in the will of God we will share John’s delight, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). When Christ’s love toward the Father is manifest in us His commandments will not be a burden but our delight because we know everything He allows or brings into our lives is an expression of His love for us. I have heard it said, “God loves us as we are but He loves us too much to leave us as we are.” Paul writes. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

Discovering His will for us is as the surprise of unwrapping a gift – a gift from someone we know loves us. Look in the Bible for His directives, statutes and commands. In those areas not expressly addressed He gives guiding principles. The Holy Spirit is given to guide us so that we understand them and put them into practice correctly.

Whenever we decide how, when and where we will serve Jesus Christ we are in the way of His will for us and we will not have the delight in life that He desires. When we are deciding pride is ruling. When Christ is leading and we are following then grace is ruling.

His Cup, Our Cup

“At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

Acts 16:25

Paul and Silas have not been the only faithful men of God to find themselves in prison as a result of their obedience and faithfulness to God. The Holy Spirit had directed him to Macedonia (vs 6 & 7). It was at Paul’s word that a young woman was delivered from the power of a demon resulting in their being beaten almost to death and imprisonment (vs 22-23). In that state of immense pain they were also put in stocks but they were not bitter with God. Instead they prayed and sang His praises.

We should not expect things to go smoothly, as we perceive them, just because we are faithful to the Lord’s leading. Paul and Silas were surrendered to whatever the Lord brought their way and trusted Him with all their circumstances, even beatings to the point of death or death itself.

On this occasion it pleased God to miraculously release them from the stocks and open the prison gates (v 26). Paul and Silas could not have foreseen this or what would happen next. They made no attempt to leave and neither did any of the other prisoners (v 28). The jailor knew that if prisoners had escaped he would be put to death. Paul interrupted his attempt at suicide and the jailor’s question gave Paul the opportunity to preach Christ (vs 31-32).

From that moment the jailor was a changed man as was his family and household (vs 33-34). Paul and Silas waited until they were released so that no harm would come to the jailor or his family and household.

We won’t be forewarned of the trials of life that the Lord will lead us into but they will be for reasons we cannot perceive prior to the event. Like Paul and Silas our part is to be obedient to the word of the Lord and the leading of the Holy Spirit and accept with praise, prayer and worship what becomes of it. Bitterness and complaint did not cross their minds and should never cross ours. Like Jesus we will say, “Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” (John 18:11).

Timothy was on this trip with Paul and Silas. Paul would later write to him, “Yes, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12) and “endure afflictions …  fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5).

Pleasing God

“The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.”

Psalm 147:11

In the preceding verse the psalmist writes that the Lord takes no delight and finds no pleasure in physical might. What pleases Him are people who know Him and therefore stand in awe of Him. People who have not entered into a personal relationship with the Lord cannot stand in awe of Him because they do not know Him. We stand in awe of a sunset because we see it. We stand in awe of God because we know Him and see His handiwork in everything.

It is encouraging to know that we do bring pleasure to the Lord. Satan would have us believe otherwise. That is why he attempts to discourage us and rob us of the experience of the joy of the Lord. John states that the main purpose of his second letter is that our “joy may be full” (1 John 1:4).

The psalmist then adds that those who bring pleasure to the Lord are those who have received His mercy. Mercy is God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. We deserved judgment but in His loving kindness He receives those who humble themselves and seek Him. Notice that He does not say that the Lord finds pleasure in the righteous. None are righteous (Psalm 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Romans 3:23).

The prophet Micah records, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). In another Psalm we read, “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:8-9). Who would not stand in awe of the Lord when they begin to know these qualities of Him? “Let not mercy and truth forsake you” (Proverbs 3:3).

In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14) we observe that the one who appealed to his own righteousness did not please the Lord but the one who humbled himself, acknowledged his sinfulness and sought mercy, he pleased the Lord and received forgiveness. Such a person stands in awe of God because they have seen and experienced God’s forgiveness of a sinner. Not surprisingly, this and many other Psalms conclude with “Praise the Lord.”

Given Over

“So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels.”

Psalm 81:12

What could possibly provoke the Shepherd of Israel to say such a thing to the people He loves? The answer is in the earlier verses of the Psalm. Psalm 78 gives much more detail. The Lord had spoken to Israel through Moses and the prophets. They had His word but they would not hear or heed. Instead they preferred their own counsel.

Israel’s determination to do what was right in their own eyes led the Lord to cry out. “O Israel, if you will listen to Me!” (v 8). In the next verse we read that Israel had forsaken the first commandment which implies they had forsaken all Ten. Whenever we place our wisdom ahead of God’s word it reveals that we think ourselves wiser than our Creator. What an absurdity!

Sadly, we all too often hear that some in the professing church are doing the same as Israel. They take the counsel of men that is contrary to the Bible and, in so doing, they are claiming to be wiser and a greater authority than their Creator (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16, 17). The Bible is to be the measure of our lives. It is the height of arrogance for any created being to think that he knows better than his Creator. If people persist on this course Paul writes, “As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God give them over to a debased mind” (Romans 1:28).

What would have been if Israel had listened to and heeded the word of the Lord? “He would have fed them with the finest of wheat; and with honey from the rock I would have satisfied you” (v 16). Instead of receiving all the good things the Lord desired to give, their stubbornness to hear and heed the Lord meant that He gave them over to their own counsel and they reaped accordingly.

Christians are in a similar situation. The world is trying to coerce us into its mould and we must decide: will we hear and heed God’s word or will we arrogantly think we know better and accept the world’s counsel? Consider what would have been for Israel had they obeyed the Lord and what they suffered because of their arrogance. The church is also suffering because so many have replaced God’s word with their own wisdom and rejected the wisdom and authority of the Lord. “Oh, that My people would listen to Me” (v 13).

Well Meaning

“It shall be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

1 Kings 17:4

There have been occasions when I have asked my wife a question but, instead of answering the question I asked, she has answered a question she thought I meant to ask. We are quite different people when it comes to conversation. This can be very helpful or, as in this case, a little frustration to me. My usual response is something like, “Please just answer the question I asked.” My wife’s response to that is something like, “Well I thought you really meant ….” Perhaps we cause a little frustration for the Lord when we treat His word that way.

Imagine if Elijah had done that with the word of the Lord on this occasion in 1 Kings 17? He would have said that the Lord could not have meant what He said because a raven could not sustain him with enough food. It’s impossible! Later the Lord sent him to a widowed Gentile woman who, with her son, was on the verge of starvation. How could she provide for him? It’s impossible!

The Bible is replete with these kinds of situations where people received a word or command from the Lord and they must take His words in the normal literary sense even when what He was asking seemed impossible. What if Moses had refused to return to Egypt because he interpreted the Lord’s command on the basis of what he thought possible? What of Joshua being commanded to march around Jericho thirteen times to bring down the walls. No, the Lord couldn’t mean that because it was illogical and impossible. When Jesus sent men to obtain the colt of a donkey that was ready and waiting for them they could have decided that a donkey already broken in would be better and safer risk for their Master. Well meaning but wrong.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews mentions many men and women who took God at His word and acted upon it without interpreting it through a grid of what is logical and possible, or that there may be a better and safer way.

Seven times in his letters Paul writes to the effect that he didn’t want his readers to be ignorant of some truth, so he wrote plainly. That is how God writes. Twice in 1st Thessalonians he writes for his readers to be comforted by what he has written (1 Thess. 4:18; 5:11). Unless his words were intended to be taken in their normal literary sense there would be no real comfort at all. God wants to communicate truth not confuse the truth.

Consequences Remain

“And the people said to Samuel, ‘Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves’”

1 Samuel 12:19

After suffering years of conflict with their neighbours, who had kings, the people of Israel thought that they should also have a king. The conflicts arose because Israel turned from following the Lord; but the conflicts were the means the Lord used to bring them to repentance and renewed faith. Each generation had to learn this anew.

Israel had God as their King, but they were not satisfied with the way things were going for them. They didn’t want the attacks from neighbours – and reasoned that a great king would prevent the attacks. They did not recognise that this was a spiritual war and that the physical wars were serving God’s objectives for Israel.

The Lord had warned them through Samuel on several occasions not to seek an earthly king and told of the costly consequences, but they persisted. We notice that this was a trait of Saul also (13:12). He felt compelled to act even against what he knew to be the command of the Lord (13:13).

In demanding a king, Israel was rejecting the will of the Lord. They were following the way of the world when they should have been leading the world in God’s ways. When Christians follow the ways of the world instead of leading the world in the ways of the Lord we sin in the same way as Israel.

What we observe in the verse above is that Israel eventually realised their sin and repented of it. In God’s grace He forgave them but He did not remove the consequences – and those consequences would bear a great cost to the nation. Samuel records that cost in 8:11-18. There would be great economic loss; there would be great loss in family relationships (due to the military and public service); and worse, there would be great spiritual loss, “The Lord will not hear you in that day” (8:18).

When we sin, forgiveness is available if we truly repent and confess that sin to God. Our fellowship with Him will be restored. However, the consequences of that sin will often remain. Remorse will demand that the consequences be removed; a contrite heart accepts whatever the Lord grants. Words spoken cannot be taken back and deeds done cannot be undone. Better to obey the Lord from the outset.