Throughout your lifetime, this choice will always be in front of you!
What is the “Secret” to Obedience?
Obedience is not an action that we tend to embrace. We generally don’t like being told what to do or being forced into following rules we don’t understand or agree with. Yet, for society to function and not devolve into chaos, it depends on the majority agreeing to some level of conformity (another, more polite word for obedience).
The Bible talks a lot about the pros and cons of obedience. Jonah is a classic example of what happens when we don’t obey God. But last I checked, God isn’t making a habit out of throwing people into the bellies of whales every time they disobey Him. Generally, the Bible talks a lot more about what happens if we disobey God than if we obey Him. And there is a reason for that – obedience is much more complicated than we think! This blog is all about the complex backside of obedience.
Before I talk about this mysterious “backside” to obedience (where all the complications dwell), we need to take a look at the frontside – How do we enter into a state of obedience with God?
The “Front Side” of Obedience
Anyone who has read the Bible (or who has heard stories) probably understands that God is big on obedience. For some, this is an immediate turnoff. But once you realize that:
- God really does love you!
- God’s desire for obedience is rooted in wanting to protect you (like any good parent would).
- God really does know best.
It’s probably not too hard to accept the first and last on that list, but as adults, we probably don’t feel much need for protection. Yet, until (and unless) we understand and agree that God can protect us, we’ll probably have little desire to obey Him. Once we accept that His intentions are good and His ways are better, we might just decide to develop the habit of obedience.
Here’s how that process works for me (for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to focus on how I respond to God’s prompting for me to write – it is an act of obedience because I struggle with why God would want to use me for this purpose):
- Step #1: Hear His Voice. You cannot obey God if you don’t hear God!
Maybe you can relate. God speaks to me in a variety of ways. Sometimes, it comes through a great sermon. Sometimes, I get inspired during one of my quiet times. Or, I read the Bible, and God tells me what it means. Sometimes, I’m praying to God, and He impresses an idea in my brain. That’s how I’d describe it. The Bible calls it “that still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12 when Elijah heard God’s voice in a whisper). God just opens up a channel in my brain, and then He fills it with images and thoughts about something. It can be a thought completely out of the blue, or it might be some deep insight into something that was troubling me. But what I’ve learned over the years is – when God speaks, He first wants me to listen, then He wants me to write down what He says. That is the one thing I am most clear on. For me, that is how God asks me to obey Him. Yes, I know that there are other forms of obedience, but this one is uniquely mine. This is how it works for me. Others may be prompted to do something different – like write a song, give to a charity or a person in need, volunteer, go to confession, etc. And, to be clear, God does call me to other forms of obedience; it’s just that I see Him as using me mostly to write and share the visions He gives me.
The key is: Be sensitive to God’s voice. He does speak, but you have to be ready to listen.
- Step #2: Act on His Prompting. If you do not act, why? Is it fear, or a lack of faith, trust, or belief?
Once I’ve received God’s message, next comes the writing. And I’ve found that it is important to act quickly – if I don’t, the message is often lost. I don’t usually get a full message all in one sitting. I need to come back to God and listen carefully as He “fills in the gaps.” This process can take days, or (in the case of my book) it took five months. God continues to speak to me when I’m trying to sleep; during my quiet times, when I read the Bible and pray; or in the early mornings when I like to take walks – for exercise and meditation. When God has something to say, I can’t ignore Him. He’s relentless. He gets into my mind, and I cannot will what He’s telling me to go away. It’s like when you get a tune in your head, and your mind won’t let go – you just keep singing that tune over and over. Sometimes, He takes me all over the Bible, showing me scripture after scripture that illustrates His point. That then forces me to dig deeper into a parallel study to confirm what other scholars say about the message God is showing me. For those who are familiar with the gifts of the Spirit, what I see God doing with me combines a number of gifts: discernment, wisdom, understanding, teaching, and prophecy are the ones I’ve identified, and many other brothers and sisters in the Lord have confirmed that they see those gifts in me. But if I don’t act on His prompting, nothing ever happens. I must obey what I think God is telling me to do, or the blessing is lost.
The key is: Don’t dawdle! If God is speaking to you, it’s a blessing. Don’t lose it by ignoring it.
- Step #3: Be Willing to Pay the Cost. If you have to ask what it will cost before you act, you’re not ready to act.
In writing my book, I found that writing was only the first step in my obedience journey. Once God guided me through the first draft, my next obstacle was deciding just how committed I would be to publishing it. Up until that point, my obedience had only cost me time; now it would cost me money. The phrase “the cost of obedience” took on new meaning – especially when you are as self-conscious (humble) as I am. Let me explain. Prior to writing my book, my view of people who wrote books was: “What makes you think you have something other people would want to read?” As a result, I imposed on myself the criteria that I must have a credible editor review, critique, and correct my work, and agree to put his name on it. I needed that affirmation because I didn’t want to publish this book simply for my own ego. God blessed me by leading me to Dr. Peter Lundell. Peter has a Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary, has published several books, is a respected book editor, and is the pastor of his own church. When he agreed to edit my book, I was ecstatic! But with his approval came the realization that I’d need an illustrator, a copywriter, a publisher, and someone to design and run the marketing campaign. The whole process was like buying a house and then discovering (little by little) that something new needed to be done to keep it in shape (i.e., a money pit). I have to tell you that paying for all this really tested my faith. There were many times when I asked God ( and my wife), “Am I doing the right thing?“
The key is: Obeying God is an act of faith, and the exercise of your faith may cost you.
- Step #4: Trust God. There’s a point where you must let go of your paper airplane and let it fly.
Once you get to this step, the real test begins. You may feel pretty good that you are doing what God has called you to do, but as time passes, doubt creeps in – especially if the results you expected have not materialized. You have now reached what I call – The Backside of Obedience. And, this is a place I find many of us don’t understand and generally don’t talk about.
The key is: Trusting God is often harder than we expect.
The Back Side of Obedience
What I’ve discovered is that the front side is the easy part. It’s the back side where most of us mess up. Here’s what I mean.
Obedience is not always “pure.” Its origins may be suspect, as in:
- False motives: Why do we obey? Is it because we love God and want to please Him, or is it because we want to earn favor with Him? Do we obey so others will think we are “good,” or because we are genuinely trying to be good? Maybe we are looking to obey so others will notice, as in Matthew 6:7-8. Perhaps we need to examine our motives and focus our obedience on pleasing God rather than others (including ourselves).
That’s the first trap of being obedient: We obey for the wrong reasons!
- Wrong expectations: Let’s face it, when we were kids and did what we knew our parents wanted us to do, we expected to be noticed and rewarded. Generally, a simple “Good job!” or “Well done” was not enough – we wanted a tangible reward like a cookie, a trip to our favorite fast-food restaurant, or maybe a gift of something we’ve been wanting for a long time. Even when our motives are honorable, God may not respond as expected, so we’re disappointed and ask why. It’s one of life’s mysteries.
That’s the second trap of being obedient: We obey with the wrong expectations!
- Messed up timing: When we do something right, the sooner someone notices or rewards us, the better! Whether we acted in obedience because we wanted to be recognized or not, once we have made the sacrifice of doing what’s right, most of us want to be appreciated – Now! And when God doesn’t immediately respond to our actions, we start to doubt if:
- He somehow missed what we did, or worse,
- We somehow misinterpreted His instructions, or worse,
- We weren’t actually obeying God (could it have been a selfish impulse, or Satan confusing us?)
This is one of the more devious downsides to obedience – when we question why God is taking so long to… Invariably, at this point, we either blame God or ourselves. What we expected from God shouldn’t have taken this long!
Thus, the third trap of being obedient is: Our expectations of God’s timing and response are almost always wrong!
I call these first three motives – shameful. Because we should know better, but (often) we don’t. But the last item on my list is the worst offender of all – because it usually combines all three wrong motives:
- Forcing the issue: When all or most of the above happens, we generally get frustrated and try to force the issue. That is where we decide to take the wheel away from God and drive the bus ourselves! Consider all the examples God gave us in the Old Testament about this problem. If you go back and check, the cycle will become obvious:
- First, one of God’s people asks God for help (thinking that he/she is obeying Him and laying their petition before Him).
- God doesn’t answer (Wrong motives, wrong expectations, or impatience), or His answer is delayed because His timing is always best.
- So, our “hero” decides to “force the issue” and take matters into their own hand. Instead of waiting on God or asking God for help/direction, they “play” God and act on what they feel God (would have/should have) done. When we force the issue, we are not exercising faith; we are responding to the fear and doubt that creep into our mind when God doesn’t respond the way we think He should, in the time we think He should.
The final trap to being obedient is: We try to force the issue and “play” god.
This is the ugly backside of obedience. We try to rush God, anticipate God, and substitute ourselves for God. None of that works. What does? Let’s go back to where we started:
- Trying to obey God starts with a pure heart and good intentions.
- Once we’ve done our part, trust and faith must take over.
- It’s OK to ask for course corrections, but it is not our job to take over the wheel.
Why Jesus Makes a Difference!
Let’s go back for a moment to the Old Testament. Guys like Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and King David. They were powerful, decisive men of God. But they all had a weakness – they let their sinful nature get in the way! Sometimes, they had false motives; sometimes, they had wrong expectations; many times, they messed up on God’s timing; but their biggest flaw came as a result of their position as a leader – when things didn’t work out the way they expected, they forced the issue! Every time, God punished them for this. Practically the whole Old Testament is about this one lesson: Playing God never works – even when we have the best intentions!
Jesus came (among other things) to solve this problem. But a lot of us didn’t get the memo. If you still wonder if your motives are pure enough, if your expectations are in alignment with God’s, if you’re trying to rush God, or (worse) if you are (consciously or unconsciously) trying to force Him into doing what you want – STOP! God has given you a tool that no one in the Old Testament had. It’s called the Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, the very spirit of God resides in you. Ask Him! Is your obedience the result of a “right spirit within you?” (Psalms 51:10 ESV: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”) When things don’t go the way we think they should, even (and especially) after we believe we have been obedient, our #1 source of help is the Holy Spirit! Now, we most certainly have the freedom to go down the same road as all those people of the Old Testament, but what I’ve found is that there’s now a “still small voice” inside me telling me to STOP when I veer off track. That voice is the Holy Spirit (I used to think it was my mom or my wife, but I’ve learned to tell the difference!)
So, to sum up, here’s how to handle the back side of obedience:
- Start with a Clean Heart: Intentions matter. God will not be fooled. Is obedience truly your goal?
- Trust God: Trusting is both the end and the beginning, and the ending is always the hardest.
- Ask first, then act: Come before God with your concerns, and ask for direction.
- Wait, don’t force: The idea that you are helping God is a total fallacy. Be patient! Let God be God!
But people who wait for the Lord to help them will receive new strength. They will rise up high, as if they have the wings of eagles. They will run, and they will not become tired. They will walk, and they will not become weak. Isaiah 40:31 EASY
I began writing because I felt God was asking me to be obedient and do it. It violated my nature, because I asked, “Why me?” and “What do I have to say that others would want to hear?” But I obeyed. Then, almost no one noticed, and I began to question God. “Why do this if no one recognizes it is God talking and not me?” That was the backside of obedience talking. My writing isn’t about me. It isn’t about the response I get or don’t get. It is enough for me to know that I obeyed out of a clean heart, I trusted God, I acted on that trust, and now it isn’t up to me. So I wait for God to take the next step. Can you relate?
Like what you read? Don’t miss the next edition! Subscribe to my posts.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
