Secret Three: The Secret Of Abiding Is Obeying
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The Secret of Abiding is Obeying
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love … You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
(Jn. 15:10,14, NKJV)
It is a fundamental law of the universe, ordained of God, that obedience leads to abiding. The person who obeys the laws of health will abide in health. The farmer who obeys the laws of nature will abide and enjoy the fruits of his labour. The scientist who obeys the laws of science will abide and be able to accomplish things. God has written certain laws and principles into this world, and we cannot disobey them without suffering.
I live not far from one of the world’s busiest airports, O’Hare in Chicago. Often I see huge planes taking off and landing, and I never cease to marvel at the fact that those gigantic machines can ever get off the ground and stay in the air. The law of gravity dictates that it cannot be done. But by obeying other laws, the aeronautical engineers can make the planes fly. If the pilot stops obeying, he stops abiding!
One reason we are facing ecological problems and crises is because we did not obey God’s laws. Had we obeyed, we would still be abiding in a world with plenty of pure air and water and a growing supply of natural resources. But we did not obey, so we cannot abide. The secret of abiding is obeying.
Why is this so? Why did God make obedience the secret of abiding?
To begin with, God obeys His own laws.
There are times when he performs miracles and brings a higher law into play, but God’s usual mode of working is to obey His own laws that He has built into the universe. Because He does obey these laws, we have the changes of seasons, we have harvests, and we can harness the tremendous power that the universe holds. All of science is based on the fact that God obeys His own laws. From the splitting of the atom to the charting of a distant planet, man can depend on God’s laws. If God once disobeyed his own laws, the universe would fall apart.
The source of evil in this world is man, not God. It was because of the first man’s disobedience to God’s law that sin came into the world. It is because men and women continue to disobey God’s will that evil grows and destroys in this world. The same divine law that gives the farmer corn when he plants corn also gives the sinner sorrow and death when he sins, for we reap what we sow. ‘Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life’ (Gal. 6:7–8).
Since God obeys His own laws, and the universe abides in Him because He does, then when we obey His Word, we too will abide in Him. To disobey God is to fly in the face of the whole universe! This explains why the disobedient person has so much trouble, not only inwardly, but also outwardly. When the child of God obeys the will of God, everything in the world works for him, but when the child of God disobeys the will of God, everything works against him. There are times when obedience seems to bring difficulty; but the trial is only temporary, and the result will be blessing. Paul and Silas obeyed God in going to Philippi, and ended up in prison. But the result was great blessing in the salvation of the jailer and his family, and the establishing of a new church.
Everything in the universe obeys God except man, and man has the most to gain by obeying and the most to lose by disobeying! The biggest stars and the tiniest cells all obey God’s will. This is what keeps the universe together: ‘lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding’ (Ps. 148:8). No part of His natural creation would ever think of questioning God’s will, let alone disobeying it. Only man questions and disobeys God’s will, because man (by God’s grace) has a will of his own. He was created to make decisions, and he can decide to disobey God.
This is the second reason why obedience is the secret of abiding: obedience involves the will. We do not abide simply by having thoughts about God’s will or even feelings about God’s will. We abide when we obey God’s will, and this means submitting our will. Of course, we ought to do the will of God from the heart, and we ought to be intelligent about it; but the important thing is doing it. No amount of thoughts in the mind and feelings in the heart can compensate for disobedience of the will.
Too many Christians settle for an intellectual experience. They study the Bible, learn facts and definitions, and try to explain doctrines; but they never obey what God tells them. Other believers have only an emotional experience: they try to generate and cultivate ‘spiritual feelings’ that help them ‘enjoy the Lord’. While sincere emotion is certainly a part of the Christian life, it is not the only part.
We must realize that the will is the centre of the Christian life. We obey God, not because we feel like it, but because it is the right thing to do. And we should graduate from obeying because we have to into obeying because we want to. Jonah finally obeyed God; but deep within, he still wanted his own way. ‘Doing the will of God from the heart’ (Eph. 6:6) is the best description of the kind of obedience God is seeking.
Our Lord uses Himself as the example of obedience. ‘If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love’ (Jn. 15:10, NKJV). ‘“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work”’ (Jn. 4:34). ‘I seek not to please myself but him who sent me’ (Jn. 5:30). ‘For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me’ (Jn. 6:38). ‘I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart (Ps. 40:8).
Because the Son loved the Father, He obeyed His will, no matter what the cost. Jesus did not permit people to turn Him from the will of God. When Peter suggested that Jesus not go to the cross, Jesus replied, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns’ (Mt. 16:23). Our Lord’s obedience to the will of God cost Him His life. ‘He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!’ (Phil. 2:8). This is what He meant by ‘taking up a cross’. He meant obedience in spite of suffering, shame, and sacrifice.
You and I will do everything possible to avoid obedience. And yet obedience is the very key to God’s blessing. King Saul tried to substitute sacrifice for obedience, but God would not accept the substitute (1 Sam. 15:22). Jesus told a story about two sons who were given orders by their father, and one of the boys substituted words for obedience (Mt. 21:28–32). His words were not accepted. In His parable of the talents (Mt. 25:14–30), Jesus told about a one-talent man who tried to substitute excuses for disobedience; and he was judged. There is no substitute for obedience.
As God’s children, we should want to obey Him so that we might abide in Him. The blessings we receive come from the abiding, just as the abiding comes from the obeying. These blessings are not a reward for obeying; they are a result of abiding. We must never bargain with God. We must never say, ‘Lord I will obey what you command if You will do for me what I want done.’ Our obedience must be complete and unconditional. ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ (Acts 22:10).
The tragic results of disobedience are recorded in the Bible, beginning with man’s first rebellion in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve did not abide because they did not obey. In spite of occasional failures, Abraham obeyed God and maintained his fellowship with Him. Abraham became ‘God’s friend’ (Jas. 2:23), while Lot became a friend of the world. The nation of Israel disobeyed God and did not abide in their land. First they were carried to Babylon; then they were scattered throughout the world. ‘See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse – the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God’ (Deut. 11:26–28).
Obedience releases power. When the scientist obeys the laws of science, built into nature by God, then he can release power. The farmer who obeys the laws of growth will release power and produce fruit. But when we disobey these laws, the power that is released will destroy us and not help us. Disobey the laws that govern electricity and you may kill yourself and others. Obey them, and you will abide.
But obeying is one of the most difficult things in the world! There is something perverse and selfish in our very nature that tells us, ‘Do it your own way! Don’t bow down to anybody else!’ We inherited this stubbornness from our first parents, and they got it by listening to Satan’s, ‘Did God really say …?’ (Gen. 3:1). Paul described our sad plight: ‘For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.’ (Rom. 7:18–19).
How can you and I obey God?