What Is Obedience, Anyway?

What Is Obedience, Anyway?

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word translated into English as obedience means "to hear." The New Testament agrees with this, and gets more detailed. The Greek word means "to hear or listen in a state of submission" or "attentive hearkening." Another use of the same word means "to trust."

Obedience

All believers know that obedience is part of the Christian experience. God expects His people to obey Him. We have several reminders of this. There are those two stone tablets made famous in the Charlton Heston movie. There is the picture of God as Father and us as His children. There is the account of Adam and Eve eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

We all realize that God has every right to expect certain behavior of us, and throughout the Bible, He exercises that right. We all realize that there are commandments He has given us which apply to us as a whole. We should love each other. We should all abstain from immoral behavior. We should give. We should not get drunk. We should pray. We are accountable to Him for the way we raise our children.

These and many other truths are universal, applying to everyone. Since we all have a basic understanding of that concept, I am going to skip over it, and focus on one aspect of obedience, that of obeying Him on an individual basis.

Besides those commandments which we should all obey, there are times when He gives us commands on a more personal basis. He may tell an individual that He wants him or her to handle a situation a certain way.

NOTE: This is a good time to interject that when I say tell or speak, I have never heard an audible voice from God, yet I know there are times when He has impressed upon me that He wants me to do something (or, many times, He wants me NOT to do something). It is a feeling I get inside, and I know it's Him speaking. In the past, He has told me to confess and apologize when I have done something to offend someone. He has told me to pray for a friend. He has told me that He wants me to fast for a particular time period. He has told me to say a certain something to a friend who needed to hear it. I realize this may be new to some readers, and some will be skeptical when they hear someone talk of God speaking to them. I can tell you that it does happen, and when it happens to you, you will know it's Him.

Having said all that, it is important to know that just because we may know it's Him speaking to us on an individual basis, there is no guarantee that we will act in obedience. Jonah is one example. He knew it was God telling him to go to Nineveh to preach; there was no doubt in his mind. He did not say to himself: "Maybe that's not God. Maybe it's just random thoughts popping into my head." Yet he chose to disobey Him.

In that case, God chose to use radical methods to bring Jonah around to His way of thinking, but He doesn't always do that to individuals. However, I can guarantee you that if you know it's Him telling you to do something, you are better off in your own personal circumstances obeying Him. He simply knows better than you and me what lies ahead, and many times He impresses upon us to steer our lives in a particular direction because He knows what's going to happen.