Is Obedience a Choice?

                                                                 Folsom Lake 2014



There was a particular time in my life when I felt God telling me to humble myself. And of course God presented an opportunity to do such. It was a Sunday morning at church. My husband happened to be giving his testimony this day. The band was singing and at this particular time, the band would call people up to kneel at the front of the church as they felt led. I was feeling led and knew that God was telling me to go forward. What I did instead was sit there frozen in my seat. My pride got in the way. I didn't think much of the event until about a month later when I began to have all sorts of problems that eventually led me to experience complete brokenness. Then I remembered what God had told me to do. We are faithless but God remains faithful!

We are living in a lawless society where we believe that everything is a choice. And honestly we have lots of choices and it has affected how we think about God.  We may serve in church, or teach bible study and do all sorts of things but there might be one area in our life that God wants and we have remained un-surrendered. We are self willed and are led by our own selfish desires and what we think is best for us. We let ourselves get away with a lot. But God says to be holy. How much does our disobedience separate and keep us further away from Him? Disobedience is sin and sin separates. It really is an awful experience to disobey and see the fruit of the disobedience because its bitter.

Proverbs 1:28-33

“When they cry for help, I will not answer.
    Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me.
²⁹ For they hated knowledge
    and chose not to fear the Lord.
³⁰ They rejected my advice
    and paid no attention when I corrected them.
³¹ Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way,
    choking on their own schemes.
³² For simpletons turn away from me—to death.
    Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.
³³ But all who listen to me will live in peace,
    untroubled by fear of harm.”

Of course we serve a loving and forgiving God but when we disobey we are essentially saying that we are on the throne- not God, we are the one in authority-not God- we make the decisions-not God. Trust me you don't know better than a loving God. He knows us inside and out, he knows exactly what we need and he knows what steps we need to take to get us where he wants us to go. Living a surrendered life results in success, fruit, and an intimate relationship with the God of the universe. It takes courage to obey and usually God isn't going to ask you to move a mountain until he has asked you to take that first step in faith. When he asks you to do something- be honored that you are participating in his plan to redeem the world! Be encouraged because when we do things God's way, we will not be disappointed!