Disobedience is one of the things that seem to hold us down. And when I think about it I wonder what God says about obedience.
1 Samuel 15:22 reads: ‘But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to take heed is better than the fat of the rams.’
Hebrews 13:17 reads: ‘Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden for that would be of any advantage to you.’
Psalms 143:10 reads: ‘Teach me to do your will for you are my God; may your good spirit lead me on level ground.’
But if he tells us to obey then why do we disobey?
*WHAT CAUSES DISOBEDIENCE
1. Fear
When I think of the word fear, Jonah comes to mind.
Jonah 1:1-3 reads: ‘The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for a port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.’
And in the story it seems like God wanted him to do an impossible task. Look at how evil Nineveh was.
Nahum 3:1-4 reads: ‘Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! Charging Calvary, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses- all because of the wanton lust of harlot, alluring the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.’
2. Deception
Genesis 3:1-7 reads: ‘Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God has made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat the fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.’
Temptation is one of the easiest things that causes us to disobey. It makes us see a picture that seems better on the outide but is much worse on the inside.
3. Impatience
1 Samuel 13:8-15 reads: ‘He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul’s men began to scatter. So he said, “Bring me the burn offering and the fellowship offerings. And Saul offered up the burnt offering. Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived and Saul went out to greet him. “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought; ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said, “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people because you have not kept the Lord’s command.’
4. Lack of Trust
Numbers 20:2-13 reads: ‘They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!” Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, “Take the staff and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink. So Moses took the staff form the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out and the community and their livestock drank.’ But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.’
With lack of trust in God, you seem to loose faith and hope in God and which causes you to do things your own way.
5. Anger
Deuteronomy 1:26-43 reads: ‘But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’ Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you say how the Lord your God carried you as a father carries his son; all the way you went until you reached this place.” In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go. When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and solemnly swore: “Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give and his descendants the land he set his feet on his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly. Because of you the Lord became angry with also and said, “You shall not enter it, either. But your assistant Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. And the little ones that you said would be taken captive; your children who do not yet know good from bad- they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea. Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies. SO I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country.’
The people were angry at God and disobeyed him because of that anger. Unfortunately it led to destruction of the people.
*BLESSINGS OF OBEDIENCE
1. Promotion
Daniel 3:19-20 reads: ‘Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.’
Daniel 3:30 reads: ‘Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.’
2. Blessings Upon Descendants
Acts 7:3-8 reads: ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settle in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way: ‘Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place. ‘Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.’
Hebrews 11:8 reads: ‘By faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.’
3. Prospered
2 Kings 18:1-7 reads: ‘In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began reign. He was twenty-nine years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehustan) Hezekiah trusted the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the lord had given to Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.’
