#openthoughts - Obedience and Faithfulness

‘Faithful people are Obedient, they listen to instructions and carry them out knowing that it will work out for their good’

Some time ago, I was undertaking a course in SIA Door Supervision. We were told that in order for us to follow instructions properly and carry them out, we first need to trust the person giving the information to us. It hadn’t quite sunk in until we had an evacuation at work. When I told everyone to head in a certain direction, they followed that path and were out safely. I believe that if they didn’t have faith in me, they would have went in a different direction.
In order for us to follow instructions and be obedient, we must first have faith and believe.

Abraham is someone who had great faith. There are two instances which never cease to amaze the human mind.

Hebrews 11 tells us that by faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise

Genesis 12:1-2 Now [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].

Genesis 12 tells us that God told Abraham to leave his father’s land and to go to a place that will be shown to him and after that, God made a covenant with him. Now, if me and you were told to do just that, I would imagine you would want to find out the destination, the route to get there and the name of it. In fact, you would a hundred and one questions for God. Abraham, on the other hand, got up and left and started his journey. Where he was going, that wasn’t revealed but he went along because he had faith in God, the type of faith that will allow you to follow where God takes you.

Abraham then had a son called Isaac and later on, in Genesis 22, we see that God told Isaac to offer up his son as a sacrifice.

Genesis 22:1 [God] said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you.
Being told to give up your only son would be painful. I’d imagine you would question God on this and ask why. I mean looking at it from a full on perspective, it seems like God had an agenda. If someone told you to give up something you truly loved, would you do it? When you look at it through human eyes, it doesn’t add up. I’m sure you would think to yourself, how could I ever do that?
Nevertheless, Abraham took his son Isaac up and got him ready to be sacrificed and was ready to the deed when an angel stopped him.

Genesis 22: 11-12 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! He answered, Here I am.
And He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear and revere God, since you have not held back from Me or begrudged giving Me your son, your only son

In both these passages we can see two main themes which stick out – Faith and Obedience. Abraham trusted God and had so much faith in him that he was will to forsake his ways and Obey God in all things.

Through his obedience and faith, God made a covenant that he would bless Abraham and make him a father of many nations. Your obedience and faithfulness is linked to a lifetime of blessings not only for you but for your whole generation.

Noah was another man who had great faith and a was a very righteous man. God told him to build an ark because he was going to flood the whole earth.

Genesis 6: 13-22: And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”
Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

Whilst the ark was built, people mocked him but Noah stood firm and carried on building. God didn’t give Noah a specific time of when the flood will happen so for Noah he only had God’s word to stand on and also the promise that God would flood the earth. Now came a point when the ark was built, the flood finally came, some time after God first told Noah that it would come.
Through faith, Noah built the ark and through his obedience, God established his covenant with Noah.

Your faith is an indication that you are ready and willing to trust God in all things with the knowledge that God will work it out for your good. 

I pray that as you read, God will place a greater desire within you to remain obedient in Jesus name. Amen