Obedience

They are the women of Matthew’s first Chapter, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary. They are also the subjects of Francine Rivers’ “A Lineage of Grace.” I’ve found the book to be a pleasure to read and a blessing of information.

I enjoy what Judah told Tamar of his God, that what He requires is obedience. Tamar had asked about the God of Judah’s family, since he did not worship the Canaanite gods. What sacrifice did Judah’s God require, she asked.

Amazing, but that is still true today, just as it was for Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Isaac, you and I. Obedience – the quality of compliance with the instructions of authority.

God has provided those instructions since the beginning of time. He gave Adam specific instructions as to what he could and could not do. He provided a companion, a helpmeet, to aid in fulfilling those instructions. They failed.

Noah was given instructions, too. He complied to begin Adam’s job anew. Abraham was given specific prophesies that took a very long time to occur. Enough time that Sarah laughed at the possibility God proposed, yet it happened. A son was born, only to be sacrificed – but hold! There was more!

So often we fail to look beyond ‘obedience’ to what God has in store. Had Adam and Eve believed that God was true, where would they be? If Noah had ignored God’s instructions, where would he be? If Abraham had waited beyond Hagar? If Abraham had not prepared Isaac?

What if? For any of the Bible characters we learn about – what if they had not shown obedience?

We’ve been told, and shown, time and time again what God requires.

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, (Deuteronomy 10:12 KJV)

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8 KJV)

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38 KJV)

Why has mankind found that so hard to do?