Obedience to God

Throughout the scriptures Bible displays one of God's particular character. God can never stand disobedience. There are several examples both in Old and New testaments.

Cost of disobedience

Moses :
A man who was filled with anger when he saw God's people being afflicted in Egypt. The one who did great things for God before Pharaoh bringing a mighty nation to its knees and nothingness. One who suffered greatly because of the disobedience of Israelites (he once asked God "am I the father of these people?"). But when he disobeyed striking the rock instead of speaking to it, God made his mistake cost a great happiness of entering the promised land. God had to take away his life on the way.

Achan :
God commanded Joshua, 'No Israelite should take anything from the debris of Jericho, all should be burnt'. Achan took some gold ornaments. Though he openly admitted his mistake, he was destroyed along with his whole family. We read this in Joshua chapter 7. Because of the sin of Achan, the Israelites were defeated by the men of Ai and were chased out of their city. Disobedience of one man caused a defeat of whole nation.

Saul :
What a call! Being the first king of a God blessed nation cannot be taken that simply. The one who went searching for a donkey town to town was anointed 'king'. Many wars he won, for God's nation. Still when he disobeyed sacrificing the cattle he took from the land which was an abomination for the Lord, it costed just everything in his life. The Bible says the Lord commanded an evil-spirit to enter him. You know the rest of the story. Could anyone have imagined the kind of the death he went through?

Reward for Obedience

As soon as the word 'obedience' is spelt, the first name that flashes in my mind is Abraham. Not an easy obedience. God promised him a child at 75. Sarah being 65 was laughing. 25 years after the promise, they got the promised child. Came the test for his faith and obedience. God commanded the child to be sacrificed. Abraham did not delay. God himself had to stop him from sacrificing his only son. You know the remaining story. After this whenever God introduced himself, he called himself 'I am the God of Abraham'. Even today Abraham's being called 'father of faith'.

From all this we can conclude, God will not let his word to be taken in vain. He really counts how we obey his word. We clearly see the cost of disobedience and the rewards for obedience. May God talk to us. Praise the Lord! Amen.