Obedience is hard. Let no one tell you otherwise. Obedience has always been hard for me. Whether it was about the forbidden cookie on my mother’s counter or the larger cookies of adulthood, saying no to my cravings is never easy. Where is the joy in saying no to yourself? I can’t remember a time that it felt GOOD.

 

In the Bible God gives a message to a very disobedient king named Saul.

 

“Does the LORD delight as much in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better that the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)

 

The message is clear from God’s end, it is more important for you to obey Me than to try and bless Me with the overflow of your labor. This is a tough pill to swallow for all of us. It’s message became very clear in a recent event in my life.

 

I buy and sell houses for a living. I help people buy and sell their homes and I buy and sell houses for a profit for myself. This is a process that I’ve gotten fairly good at over the years. I can see a deal, run the numbers, negotiate my sale price, and then profit. The most recent deal looked fantastic on paper. It would have been one of the best deals I have ever done. I made the offer, negotiated, and was set to close. Then something happened…obedience.

 

Over the course of an entire sleepless night God would not give me peace on my decision. I wrestled with him during those lonely hours of the morning. He gave me no reason to withdraw from the deal. Withdrawing would cause me to lose funds that I could not get back with absolutely nothing to show for it. I used all my arguments with God. I explained my case passionately. Still no peace.

 

So then I broke and said, “God if you’ll provide a way of escape where I can get all my funds back, then I’ll know you want me to withdraw.” I could swear I could hear the angels laughing at my negotiation tactic with the Almighty.

 

Still no peace.

 

God wanted my obedience in the hard stuff. He wanted me to bow my knee when my money was on the line and my pride was begging to take a hit. I had to obey regardless of what came of my obedience.

 

My experience with this deal has given me insight into why obedience is so stinking hard. Obedience requires all of us.   It’s not 10% of us like our tithe. Obedience is the whole kitten caboodle of our pride and will. We set out in a direction that seems best to us. When God confronts us, we have to change our direction. Obedience can make us look like fools. It grates against our greatest lie that WE KNOW BEST.

 

Obedience demands that we admit that we don’t know best. Our world crumbles when we are asked to obey.

 

I think that’s the joy of the whole deal. I must give up all of myself to obey but I am in turn receiving something back from God. It may not be my earnest money or pride. The gifts we receive from broken obedience gives us what we can’t receive without it, God. We receive His plans. We are brought into connection with His person. Obedience brings the joy of God’s delight.

 

When I really think about it, in the history of my life obedience has always given me more than I gave up. Obedience puts us in direct connection with the Author of our life. At its core, this is where joy finds its home.