What is that? How does Joy and obedience go in the same sentence? Especially if you add in the word Raw? What do you think of when you hear the word Obedience? Rules, laws, oppression, enslavement? Or do you think of boundaries, safety nets. Security and love?
For all of you parents out there you remember when you were kids, but now with your parent hat on what did the concept of obedience take on? If we are the one asking for obedience we don’t mind it, do we? Why? Because we know better than our kids. We want to keep them from harm, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When you are obedient it keeps you out of trouble.
I remember as a kid I was for the most part pretty good. Mostly because I knew that in a small town anything that I even thought of would get back to my grandma and word would travel to my folks before I even got home. I also had so many adopted grandmas and grandpas in my church. The very thought of doing something that would change their perspective of how they looked at me was enough to keep me on the straight and narrow.
But I know that probably a good share of kids do not feel this way. In fact, they would rather be like the 1 that left the flock either purposely or just from distraction and wandered down the wrong path away from the shepherd.
What does raw obedience look like? When all is stripped down. When you have to be obedient when it is painful, hard, or you don’t understand it. When God asks you to do something that seems out of your comfort zone. Or something that every fiber of your being says NO I Don’t want to! It is linked to strong emotions.
Maybe God was asking you, or telling you to move. Move to a different location, leave your house, your friends, your job? Maybe He was asking you to chart a different path, a different career. Maybe you have or are experiencing a very Hard and difficult medical illness or issue. Maybe you feel led to go into the scary unknown and all emotions and nerves are raw and on end.
God gives us free will, always has and always will. But he allows us the opportunity to choose wisely, to choose Him and His ways. And even when we are like the 1 that strays, he will be patient. He will seek us out and ultimately save us from ourselves, IF we are willing to let him rescue us. Sometimes we do not want to be rescued from ourselves or our situations. Have you ever found yourself down a path of wrong decisions, wrong turns, and wrong advice? Couple a strong-willed personality with the gift of Free-will and that can be a recipe for disaster if one is not very aware of the potential harm. Or it can be the potential for unbelievably great things. And that is where the Joy comes into play.
When we do choose to follow and obey God’s commandments there can be a joy that bubbles from deep down in our toes. One that “feels” the security and safety in God even if we are facing our own mortality, because we know that this life is temporary and what is waiting for us is far better. It is a Joy in knowing that when we are obedient we will be blessed. God has promised to be by our side and guide us on the path that we should go.
He has said if you follow me my yoke is easy and burden is light. This has always resonated with me. Another reason that I guess I try to be “good” is because when we’re not; life is a lot harder. And I really want to take the easiest route possible. Oh sure life is still going to be full of struggles and trials, but by following his ways we can get from Point A to Point B without all of the extended detours, and a few less heartaches and bumps in the road, or brick wall at a dead end. I was told once by a very good friend, “that God tries subtlety first and when that doesn’t work he puts up a brick wall.”
As parents we do not take “Joy” in having to discipline our kids. In fact, it breaks our hearts when we see them being disobedient, choosing poorly and making bad decisions. When they are young it is our job and responsibility to keep them safe and help instruct and teach them to make the right choices. Sometimes however the hardest thing as a parent is to step back and let them make those decisions on their own even if it means a harder, tougher more challenging path.
Now think of God as our parent. The same holds true. Everyone always wants to know why God allows bad things to happen? Well as a parent when free will and space is given He wants nothing more than for us to choose wisely and it breaks his heart when we do not.
Just like us as parents, when WE choose wisely and allow God to guide us through the tough decisions in life and to discern his voice over the World’s chaos and commotion it, brings him such Joy. And when we know we are living in the Spirit with not just obedience but Raw exposed obedience even when it is hard, we will be filled with a Joy that will radiate to others, giving them the desire to make the right decisions too.
