Trust and obey

Good Morning Everyone,

There are times when the Lord lays a subject on my heart, I feel it could be a book instead of an Encouragement, a few paragraphs long. Such is the subject today. Did you know, a major theme of the Word of God is the subject of obedience to God and to authorities He has set in place? Just doing what God says reigns supreme in the plan for us, the World, and all of life, itself.

For instance, we all know about Adam and Eve, the temptation to eat of the tree of good and evil, and the fall of man (the entire human race) because of one action, but why was that tree placed in the garden in the first place? I mean, Adam was given dominion over the entire earth and everything in said earth was for him to eat, partake in, and have it be in subjection to him. Why would God place a beautiful tree with wonderful looking fruit, then say, "don't touch it"?

The reason for the tree, had to do with obedience. Yes, that's right, simply obeying God in His commandments. It's taken me 72 years to realize that:((( (Pretty dense, huh?) God just wanted man to trust Him and obey what He said to do. Adam and Eve, though, listened to the enemy (another fallen being), didn't do the one thing God said, and the rest is history, isn't it? All the sin, degradation, horrible things we do to each other, and all the things that steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10), stem from this one act of disobedience.

At my house, there is a rule for my grand kids and other children that stay with us. This rule is simply called "Rule #1"; and it states; "do what Pops and MyG says". When in doubt as to whether or not to do something, refer to rule #1. The kids can play, do what they want to do, have fun (lots of things to do at our house, pool, bikes, scooters, PlayStation, watch TV, play board games, tree house, run around on an acre of land to romp on and play ball, etc., ride the go cart, and much, much more. Again, though, when in doubt, as to what to do or how to handle a particular situation, refer to RULE NO. 1:)))

1 Samuel 15:21-23 (AMP) says; "Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king." God had told Saul to destroy everything of the people of Amelek (wipe all memory of them out entirely), but he did not kill the king and he kept all the animals, supposedly for sacrifice to the Lord.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (AMP) says; "[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)." (NKJV) "bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." (Let's expand this a little in another translation.)

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (MSG) says; "The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity."

The rules God put in place are actually for protection of His children and the welfare of all. For some reason, though, man has always wanted to do his/her own thing and go against what God has said. (Independence) It has been proven, time and again, this isn't very wise, but man/woman still wants to do his/her thing, anyway. Now, because of this rebellion, the World is in the shape it's in, on the brink of destruction and chaos. That's "doing it my way" instead of God's. We also have an enemy that leads us astray on every hand, don't we.

My encouragement to you, today, is to follow the old hymn that says; "Trust and obey, for there’s no other way To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." There are things the Lord has asked of us, a way to live, that will enable the child of God to live a perfectly wonderful life, free from worry, stress, sickness and disease, lack, everything bad that happens. We have freedom to live life the way we want, within the confines of God's parameters and that life is WONDERFUL. (I've finally discovered this over 50+ years) 

Everything that is in place, in the Word, that seems negative, is for our protection and good. (Simply remember your parents and the rules they had. Father God is even more protective of His kids.) If we obey God, "do what God says", our lives can and will be fruitful, lovely, fulfilling, the best it can be. I've tried the other side, (unfortunately) and found out that trusting and obeying God is so much better.

Love in Jesus,

David