1 Samuel 15:22

“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”

By definition, to obey simply means “to hear,” “to listen.” It carries with it, however, the ethical significance of hearing with reverence and obedient assent. 

The Foundation

Contrary to what many people would have you to believe, God does not want your blind obedience. In fact, God requires his children to study his scriptures. 

• John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
• 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

God clearly wants you to know his word for yourself.

The reason why is simple – your salvation is your own responsibility. Meaning once you come to God and receive the full plan of salvation (baptism in Jesus’ name for the remission of sins, then being filled with the Holy Ghost). After this glorious event which causes all of heaven to rejoice, we must walk in the newness of life. 

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Our old way of life is now gone and we are walking in the new life that comes with the full plan of salvation. To do this successfully, we need to follow the instruction manual to this new life – God’s word (the Bible). This brings us back to studying the Word of God. I mean really, how can we live a new life by doing the same things we did in the old life. Remember, that old life was not working for us. It had us on a pathway that led to everlasting destruction. Now that we are on a new path, we need new information to be successful.

How else are we to know God?

This is a good question. We need preachers and teachers to bring us the word in a manner in which we can receive and understand (see Ephesians 4:11-12). But remember, when this is done it comes with the color of traditions and personal opinions of the person delivering the word. This is expected, because we are all human, and come from all different types of upbringing and backgrounds. Our job as children of God, is to take the meat of the word that is given, and discard the bones that would cause us to choke. 

Additionally, this removes excuses. We cannot blame people for steering us in the wrong direction. God tells us to study his word ourselves and pray for wisdom.

By definition, wisdom is the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. In other words, wisdom is the practical application of knowledge. We take the time to learn or get to know God and his word, Wisdom will then help us to apply his word to our lives.

James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

God gives us everything we need for spiritual success. We just have to be willing to have a relationship with him, instead of depending on other people to talk to God for us. By all means, ask for prayer when you need it. But also, talk to him yourself, in faith and receive all that he has for you.

Philippians 2:12, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

Salvation is free to all and it is for all. Without exception. Jesus died for us all. And he requires the same from us all. Obedience. We are to obey his word. We are to obey those who are in leadership, we are to submit one to another, and we are to recognize if/when leadership is guiding us in a direction that is contrary to God’s word. At this point we obey God rather than man. For we are a new creature and heaven is our goal. Who shall separate us from the love of God?

We cannot be hard headed, and still be called the followers of Christ.

We cannot refuse to do things God’s way and still call ourselves blessed.

We are to be willing to lay our wants and desires aside so that God’s will can be done. But the awesome this about God – if we seek him FIRST, he will still give us the desires of our hearts (see Matthew 6:33). Just as there was a ram in the bush for Abraham (Genesis 22:11-14), your willingness to obey will be rewarded as well,

This is the foundation of our obedience discussion. I am excited to share this topic with you – this is a 4 part series.

God bless and have a great day!