Obey and Honor
Deuteronomy 6:24-25 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always proper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness
Deuteronomy 10:12-14 And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.
Deuteronomy 11:1 Love the LORD your God and keep his decrees, his laws, and his commands always.
1 Samuel 16:7 The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
1 Kings 11:6, 9-13 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. . . .The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command. So the LORD said to Solomon, :Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one trible for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.
1 Chronicles 29:17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 119:2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart
Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 14:15 If you love me you will keep my commandments
Acts 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.”
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone!
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completions.
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
It used to break my heart when I was disobedient–even if not discovered, I felt bad, shame, and did not want my parents hurt by my disobedience and lack of trust and honor. And certainly, there was a portion that prayed that I would NOT be discovered for disobeying, and the wrong could somehow be swept away and I could be in the clear. That does NOT mean I did not suffer the guilt. I tried all sorts of reassurances–“Everyone else was doing it.” “I was good most of the time.” “I did all my chores when asked” (not always with a good attitude and heart), “I always try to do my best in school and stuff, I should be able to have this, do that….whatever those were. . . ” But again, even if my wrong was not discovered, I suffered. I was edgy, did not sleep well, grumpy with siblings, extra quiet at supper when it was family meal time. I hated those feelings.
Did they stop me from doing something I wanted even when told no before hand? Certainly, not always. Did it stop me from not wearing my brand new favorite shoes that were purchased for Easter and I was told to save them? No. I was told I was too young to wear nylons to school, stick with knee socks and old clunky shoes. No. So I went to a friend’s house, took the knee socks off, shoved them and the clunky shoes in my book bag, put on the nylons and my new princess shoes and off I went. About 2 PM that day, it started snowing, and the buses arrived early–no time to change out of the things I was not to be wearing. Probably no big deal. Our grandmother lived with us and was always doing some chore and she probably would not even notice me. My bus stop was about 20 minutes from the school and really, how much could it snow in 20 minutes? But I had a mile to walk to get to the end of the street. By the time I made it two houses, I feared my shoes would be ruined. Off came the shoes and into the book bag, and I continued to walk–without the clunky shoes either since I would have to wear those the next day–and they would still be damp. Everything would be okay. My friends and I picked up our pace and I walked home–just with nylons on my feet.
My grandmother was in the kitchen when I came in the front door–and certainly saw me–and this was the only time I saw her flustered, angry, high-pitched–and I didn’t realize until later, scared fully. She told me to strip off the nylons, and began bringing out plastic basins of cold water. The water certainly did not feel cold, and I fought her a bit. She just continued scolding and hustling about, threatening to tell my mother when she got home. And that added to my unease. A quick glance at the clock showed my mother would be home in 20-30 minutes, and here Gram was muddling about with these silly basins and scolding about frostbite–even though I assured her my feet felt warm.
Anyway, finally, she was able to use warm water and sent me to my room to get into sweats and warm toasty socks, and to “Never, ever do something that stupid again.” She still insisted she was telling my mother. Ah, end of life. I disobeyed, blatantly, I was sneaky, I had probably ruined my new shoes, and being so brazen to disobey, I probably deserved nothing for the rest of my life. I dreaded the confrontation, disappointment on my mother’s face and so on. And it was weird to have seen Gram so rattled. I truly did not realize until later what the fuss had been about as I really did not have a good understanding of frost bite.
But she never told my mother, my shoes were not ruined, and I tried to never do anything so foolish and frightening to them again.
True obedience shows a changed heart, a desire to obey, to want to please God, to be thankful always. He wants us to move from self-centeredness to loving and being generous and patient with others. Although at that time our family attended another church, and rarely heard an explanation of God’s verses, had bible study, and knew that God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit wanted to live within us to guide and help us grow. To me going to church was a rote, robotic almost time–no thinking–stand up, sit down, kneel down at appropriate times. But subconsciously, I wanted to be obedient, to know more and yet did not find that opportunity to learn more until late teens. And then, still without a solid church home, so my growth did not expand that much.
And although relieved Gram never told my mother about my huge disobedience, it stuck with me. There was relief, there was an unlying fear of perhaps perishing in the future for this big sin, and still I harbored shame and guilt. I knew enough from the church my family attended, we were supposed to confess our sins. My issue was confessing–sometimes even making some up–but to tell a imtermediary person did not set well with me. That galled me. Never liked it. Why should we not have access to God if He loved us?
Once we confessed, we believed God forgave. Or did we? My shame and guilt would rear its ugly head–how could I be forgiven for THAT? So although my head would reassure me I was forgiven–the Bible tells me so. But sometimes, that traitorous and doubtful heart would sometimes let Satan in to taunt and shame me again. “How could you be forgiven for doing something like THAT? You should truly feel shame and guilt for doing THAT.” And I could run down that rabbit hole and get all geared and messed up over these sins committed. It took a while to truly believe in His forgiveness. The more I get to know Him, the easier it becomes. What a blessing!
But since it has, I have been nothing but grateful to know more about God, Son and Holy Spirit. I am so thankful He chose me and ‘mybellaviews.’
Comments