Unity

OBEDEBIENCE

The Difficulty of Obeying G-d

The fact of the matter is that most find it very difficult, if not impossible, to obey God, at least most of the time.  Good proof of this is the violence, crimes, discord and misunderstanding we find all around us, and the whole world, for that matter. If people have no difficulty or not finding it impossible to obey G-d, then we would not have these terrible problems we see and come across all around us. All would be obeying G-d and all would be in harmony with G-d and with one another.  There would be peace everywhere and in everything - nice thought, huh?

Why We Need To Obey G-d

But before we can discuss how to be obedient to G-d we have to discuss a bit about the why of it all. Why do we need to be obedient to God? The reasons are so simple and yet so difficult to really internalize in our life.

We need to be obedient to G-d because ultimately we came from him, ultimately we are going back to him and because ultimately everything that happens in this world happens according to his will, NOT OURS, no matter what we'd like to think.

We need to be obedient because we came from God. He alone knows of what stuff we are made of and for what purpose we are made (Jer.29:11). So obeying him is simply natural since he alone knows where we are heading in life to. We do not know the direction of our life really. Only G-d knows. So, obeying him is the safest way to conduct ourselves in life.

We need to be obedient to G-d because everything that happens around us is ultimately due to his will. So if we insist on disobeying this will we will be the losers. He will win anyway at the end of the game. So, why go against him? It is better to obey him and win with him at the end.

Having very briefly discussed why we need to obey G-d, let us now go to the how. How are we to be obedient to G-d?

How Are We To Obey God

We are to be obedient to G-d by knowing more and more of him, reading what he has provided, etc.  There are people who say that G-d made this world and everything on it and left it to operate according to the laws he put therein. These people claim that God is impersonal. He may just be a Supreme Force that works in the affairs of men and nations by laws which he put in these affairs.

But if we try to know more and more of this G-d we will find that he is not just a force. He is a "person." He is a G-d who is most interested in all our affairs. But again we will not come to know this aspect of G-d if we do not care to advance in our personal knowledge of him.

And how are we going to know more of G-d so that we can obey him with love and affection? We can look at the things he created and reflect on his goodness, power and wisdom. We can read the books that are written about him and the Bible.

Secondly, after knowing more of G-d, we can obey him gladly and not with constraint. Sometimes we feel that some of his commandments are unfair, like loving our enemies. But if we really know G-d, this will no longer be a problem. We will know God is most fair, making his sun shine and his rain fall on his friends and enemies. Knowing that G-d is most fair, we will not need to force ourselves to obey G-d. We will joyfully obey G-d.

Thirdly, as we get to know more of G-d, and as we continue to obey him gladly, we will love him more and more and our obedience will be just an expression of our love for him. We will obey him, not because we "fear" him, as maybe our teachers in religion have taught us (threatening us with hell if we didn’t obey), but we will obey God because we love him.

Then if we obey G-d because we love him, we shall be obeying the greatest commandment of all: To love G-d with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul and with all our strength.

How are we to be obedient to G-d? We are to be obedient to G-d by knowing more of him, by gladly obeying him and by loving him. In return G-d will give us the best which he has in store for us. (Jer.29:11)