Obey in Faith

I own a motorcycle, and I used to ride it too.  As life has gotten busy, and our family has grown, it now functions more like that object in your small Minneapolis garage, that you need to scoot past to get in your car every day.

To ride a motorcycle you need to get a special license, and are encourage to take classes to learn how to ride.  One of the things you may learn, is that there are several ways to make the bike turn, or to increase the turn of the bike, while taking a corner. And one of these ways, maybe the most controlled way, is not naturally intuitive.  

So for example, if you are taking a left turn and are going too fast, you can tighten your turn by take the handlebars and turning them to the….right. To increase your turn to the left you actually want to turn right first.  But if in this moment, you were to panic and try to turn the handle bars sharply to the left, you would likely get thrown off the motorcycle.

So if you are going to miss a turn, what you should do is initially push the handle bars in the opposite direction and it will help you turn. Now if you're curious, here is the WHY.  When you turn the handlebars initially to the right, this shifts the weight of the motorcycle farther left, and with this steeper angle you can tighten your turn and stay on the road.

So here is the point: you don’t need to understand why this works, for it to save your life.  By following good instructions, even if you don’t fully understand them, you can save your life.

Or take, Uzzah for example in the Old Testament.  He and his friends decided to move the Ark of the Covenant on a cart, rather than carry it as the LORD had commanded.  And scripture says it was a new cart. Now I’m not sure their thinking, maybe they thought this would be easier or better. What’s easier and better than carrying the Ark of God on a new cart? 

If you know the story, you know that the Oxen stumble and Uzzah reaches out to save the Ark and is struck down by God for touching the Ark of the Holy God who was present with His people.   Now it would be impossible for Uzzah and his friends to anticipate all the scenarios that could come about while moving the ark.  But the thing is, they didn’t have to.  If they would have believed the Lord and followed his command, they would have been safe, and wouldn’t need to worry about tragic, unforeseen consequences of their error.

To follow Jesus, means to listen and follow what he says.  Sometime the reasons are given plainly, and sometimes they aren’t.  Sometimes the reasons are easy to understand, and sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes obedience seems easy and natural, and sometimes it seems costly and hard.

We will never understand the full wisdom of God, and when it isn’t plain to us, we act in faith, and obey.  

Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understand, acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your path strait.”  

We may not know every reason, but one reason is abundantly clear.  The God who created us, and loves us, and died and rose again to forgive us and redeem us.  The God who revealed himself as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love”. That God commands you to. And if God sought for our joy and good while we were separated from him, how much more does he seek our joy and good now that we are reconciled to him through faith in Jesus. His words and commands are lamps to our feet and lights to our path.

You may not know all the reasons and benefits of a command of God, but you don’t need to, and the amazing thing is that obedience will actually increase your understanding. You will be like my son who I keep telling to flip is hands on the golf club, he doesn’t understand, until he listens to me and then crushes the ball (over time).  By obedience his understanding, and our understanding, will increase.

By faith we trust him when he calls us to self control and purity in our dating relationships, to integrity and honesty in our work, to be generous to others and forgive others, and to seek him in his word, confess our sins to him.

So kids, it is good to obey God, even when you don’t understand why. And adults, it is good to obey God, even if you don’t fully understand why.  Obedience is always blessed by God. 

Prayer

Father, forgive us for obeying only when we understand.  Forgive us for calculating if the benefit, or the cost of an action is worth it, rather than asking is it right?  Forgive us for putting our understanding over your's. Let us not be like Adam and Eve, who leaned on their own understanding, rather than trusting and obeying God in the garden.  Forgive us if we say or think, I tried obeying Jesus, and it isn’t working for me. If we say that, we do not know what we are saying.  Father, remind us of your love for us, and forgive us as we confess these sins, and other sins, in this time of silent confession.

Closing Prayer

Father, having confessed our sins to you, through your Spirit now give us the strength and faith to trust your wisdom and follow your instruction.  Jesus you have said, that whoever hears and does your words “will be like a man who built his house on a rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”  Jesus you are our rock. You are our savior, our healer, our strength, our portion in life.  Thank you for your abundant love towards us. Help us to believe that more and more. It’s in your name we pray, Amen.