Obey The Word

Joshua 1:8 – “Observe to do according to all that is written therein.”

Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in '71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn't call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team. Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory."

So it is with the child of God. In Matthew 28:20 Christ commands, “Observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” These commands to be obeyed are found in God’s Word. The Lord wants us to obey Him. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in Heaven." God blesses those who obey His Word. But so often, men rebel against the authority of God’s Word and choose to disobey, thinking the commands of the Bible as trivial. Andrew Bonar, a Scottish preacher of the nineteenth century, said, "It is not the importance of the thing, but the majesty of the Lawgiver, that is to be the standard of obedience...Some, indeed, might reckon such minute and arbitrary rules as these as trifling. But the principle involved in obedience or disobedience was none other than the same principle which was tried in Eden at the foot of the forbidden tree. It is really this: Is the Lord to be obeyed in all things whatsoever He commands? Is He a holy Lawgiver? Are His creatures bound to give implicit assent to His will?" 

You will find that obedience to God’s commands brings peace of mind. Christ in John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” The sweet psalmist of Israel tells us in Psalm 119:165, “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”  Isaiah 26:3 promises, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Obedience brings blessings from God. Deuteronomy 2:2 says, “And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.” In Luke 11:28, the Lord Jesus said, "Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it." The blessings of God are ours for the claiming – all He expects of us is obedience to His Word.

Obedience brings glory to God. Psalm 56:10 says, “In God will I praise his word: in the Lord will I praise his word.” Psalm 105:45 – “That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the Lord.” Psalm 119:7 – “I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.”

To return to the illustration of Roger Staubach, God has given us the playbook – He sends in our instructions through it – He expects us to obey them. When we bow to His Will we will have harmony, fulfillment, and victory in our Christian lives.

Quote – “The cost of obedience is nothing compared with the cost of disobedience.” – Richard Baxter 

"Lord, You have blessed us greatly with the gift of scripture.  Help us to glorify your name by obeying every precept of your precious, holy Word.  Amen."