If we're not obeying, we're disobeying

"this people has not obeyed Me"

Jeremiah 35:16

The other day I shared my thoughts on obeying God's commandments.  The important lesson to me was that coming up with my own ideas might result in great cornbread, but it's not going to result in my being in His will for my life. 

Well, while I was thinking about the subject of obeying "my way," I found myself thinking about complete disobedience to His commands.  It's important for us to come face-to-face with the concept of disobedience, because we do a lot of it.  Of course, there's also plenty of examples of that in Scripture.

In 1 Samuel 13:9, "Saul said to the people, 'Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.' And Saul offered the burnt offering."  But Samuel had told Saul, "I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings.  Seven days shall you wait, til I come to you and show you what you should do."  That was back in 1 Samuel 10:8.  Saul had not waited.  And for his disobedience, in 13:14, Samuel told Saul, "Your kingdom shall not continue... you have not kept what the Lord commanded you."

It's a painful passage.  I feel sorry for Saul there.  Everything went downhill for him after that.  But the consequences were his, just as the disobedience was.  And of course God knew ~ literally ~ the condition of his heart.

And how about Moses' biggest mistake?  In Numbers 20, when the Israelites needed water, God told Moses to speak to the rock in front of them, but instead, Moses struck the rock.  His consequence for that was that he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.  Harsh, it seems to me, but not unduly so apparently.  God's God.  So He oughtta know.

But it seems to get even harsher to me in Numbers 27:12-14.  The Lord said to Moses, "Go up... and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.  And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people." {In other words, "you shall die."} "For in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes."

Did God have to keep reminding him?  Well, consequences are sometimes inescapable.  God reminded Moses of the crime as much for us as for Moses.  Moses’ sin was extreme.  Moses' sin was disobedience.  Or in the words of Numbers 27:14, Moses' sin was rebellion. 

Admittedly, some of God's commandments are harder than others to obey.   But we need no more inspiration than to see Jesus following His Father's instructions.  Luke 22:42 records Jesus praying to His Father, saying, "not My will, but Yours be done."  Suffering and dying on the cross was His Father's will, and He did as He was told.  In Luke 23:46 He says, "Into Your hands, I commit My spirit."  It wasn't taken from Him; He gave it.

So what are the commandments that we disobey.  In what way do we rebel against Him?

Psalm 27:14 says "Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart.  Wait, I say, on the Lord!"  Man, waiting is hard.  But we know the rewards.

Nehemiah 9:5 directs us to, "Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever!"  How ya doin' with that; obeying that one 100% ?

Me neither.

And how about all the times we are commanded to give Him thanks?  Like 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "Be joyful always; pray continually.  Give thanks in all circumstances."

If you're having trouble thinking of a reason to give thanks in all circumstances, try this:  Take a breath.

Do you know that the air we breathe is 79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen?  Do you know that if the earth's atmosphere were 24% oxygen, then the earth would burst into flame?

But it's not.  It's 21%.  Exactly the right balance for breathing.

Here's another reason to give thanks:  Take another breath.

Do you know that when you take in a breath, you inhale 150 million air molecules?  And when you exhale, you breathe them out?  When Jesus was on earth, He did the same thing.

Take a deep breath.

You just inhaled 150 million air molecules that Jesus breathed out when He was on earth.

There's always a reason to give thanks.  There's always a reason to obey.

~ "Let everything that has breath 

    praise the Lord" ~

Psalm 150:6