Gods word is filled with all kinds of promises and blessings for His people, its amazing how many times God spoke His will into the lives of the various personalities who had personal encounters and relationships with Him, and sometimes this blessings weren’t limited to just individuals, as was in the case of Abraham, through him, whole generations would be blessed. In both the old and new covenant, we find examples and warnings, both sides of the scenario, some hearkened to Gods directive and in doing so received His blessing, while others somehow failed to do what He told them to do, and thus missed the blessing of victorious living, the underlining difference in both cases is the word obedience, but the question is, what was responsible for some to obtain a good report while others lost out? Why were people’s attitudes to Gods instruction contrasting, even though sometimes they heard the same words and had the same opportunities, yet the results were as far apart as day and night? I have often said the things of God do not happen to people automatically, its not like a cold or a seizure, you have to believe for them for you to obtain, Heb 4:2 says, For unto us was the word preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. This says, it’s the same word but the way men apply it to their lives differ significantly, and its in the application that the spoken word finds expression in individual lives, faith or belief is essential to the working of the word, and there’s no other way to show faith than by taking the necessary action, that’s true obedience.
People have written all various things on the subject of belief and obedience, and its not my objective in this article to focus on that, it’s the process we go through from hearing to acting that’s my main concern here, everyday experiences with humans has made me realize that, before we heed anybodies advice on whatever issue we are facing, there must first be an element of trust, if I don’t trust you as a person I don’t care how much experience you have on that particular issue, I wont take your advice, the person always comes before the principle, the man before the message, and it’s the same thing in our relationship with God, most people haven’t gotten to the level where they can totally trust God, hence they find it difficult to take hold of His word to the point of absolute obedience, Ps 20:7 says, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. The psalmist here says, the name that comes first into your thoughts when you are engaged in warfare or battle is the one in whom your trust is, and he says, as for Him, it’s the name of the Lord, which means, in God he trusts. Ps 21:7 reveals this truth, it says, The king (David) trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most high he shall not be moved. Emphasis Mine. No wonder Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived wrote in Prov 3:5, 6, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding: In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.
We cant overemphasize the effect of trusting in Gods faithfulness to come through for us on our ability to obey Him, how then do we get to trust Him, again I take a cue from experiences with fellow humans, before you reach a point where you can say you trust someone, you must really get to know the person, I hear someone say, wait a minute, I know God, I mean, I am born again and Spirit filled, in fact I have been born again for 25 years, but I still cant come to grasp with fully obeying Him, guess what? If you really knew Him, obeying Him wont be an issue, a lot of people have met Jesus but haven’t taken time out to really know Him, when you take time out to know Him in the very sense of the word, I mean when you really have experiential knowledge of Him, His instructions will be the very life blood of your life and destiny, that was the difference between Moses and the children of Israel, Ps 103:7 says, He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel. His ways are higher than His acts, once you know His ways, its inevitable you’ll have a handle on His acts, but unfortunately most Christians consider His ways an absolute waste of time, they’ll rather have someone lay hands on them to receive their healing than take time out to get to study His word, meditate on it, plant that seed in their hearts until they see a harvest of healing, how sad. Ps 10:9a drives this point straight home, it says, And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; Absolute trust comes only from knowing Him personally not just depending on what the preacher or television evangelist says, because that person wont be with you all the time but Gods word and the Holy Spirit will, it make sense to find him out for yourself.
How then do we know Him, is there something we have to do in order to really say we have a good knowledge of this great God we serve? Yes there is and its called seeking after Him, for you to get to know Him you must seek Him, Jesus said in Mt 7:7, seek and ye shall find; this is one of the most instructive statements in the new testament, you must go seeking, go searching, you must take time to study the word, meditate on it, read any material that comes your way that points to knowing God more, that way you can be rest assured that you cant lose, once you know the one who has everything in His hands, your life and destiny is guaranteed, Ps 9:10 says, And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou Lord has not forsaken them that seek thee. Because most people aren’t seeking Him, when God finds one person that’s sincere in His heart to really seek Him, He has no other option but to reveal and manifest Himself to that individual. Deut 4:29 says, Thou shall seek the Lord thy God, thou shall find Him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. No wonder David charged Solomon when He was about to die in 1Chr 28:9 saying, And thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee, but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off forever. Prov 8:17b says, And those that seek me early shall find me. Is 55:6 says, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Make up your mind today to take this little steps I have outlined here; seek Him, Know Him, Trust Him, and then obeying Him will become second nature to you, God bless you.