Obeying God, Pt. 4

The Bible is replete with examples of people whom God greatly blessed because of their obedience to Him. We will discuss several such examples today.

Obeying God, Pt. 4

"He replied, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.'"

(Luke 11:28)

Dr. Charles Stanley was a Bible preacher. He loved the Word of God and had a passion to study and diligently preach the sacred Scriptures. For 50 years he preached at FBC Atlanta, Georgia. What a tremendous responsibility and privilege to serve the Lord in vocational ministry. Every Christian is called to serve Jesus, no doubt about it. However, God calls some to serve Him vocationally. I have served as pastor at Great Hills Baptist Church for almost 14 years. I love the Lord, His Word, and His people, our church family. If you are a pastor reading this devotion today, I admonish you with all that is within me to do what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." Stanley gave multiple examples from the lives of people in the Bible whom God greatly blessed because of their obedience to serve Him.

He gave the following examples:

God commanded Noah to build the ark; he obeyed God, and God blessed him by saving him and his family from the flood. God commanded Abraham to leave his family and "go to a land I will show you." He obeyed God and became the father of the nation of Israel, through whom the Messiah came. God told Moses to tell Pharoah, "let My people go." Moses did what God told him to do, but it was far from easy! But in the end, he set free an entire race of people.

Joshua was a general for Moses, and God said to him that when he came to Jericho, he was to forget traditional military strategies and do this very unconventional thing: march around the city for 7 days, and on the 7th day, march around the city 7 times. Joshua probably thought this could not be of God, but even though he did not understand, he fully trusted God and obeyed these commands. The result was, the walls of Jericho fell flat!

David ran from Saul for years. He could have killed him twice, but he obeyed God. It was difficult, but he became king when God was ready for him to become king. God used him to write much of the Book of Psalms. He was also blessed by God to make provisions to build the Temple in Jerusalem.

Jehoshaphat came under attack and called out to God. The prophet said, "the LORD will fight the battle." His military strategy included sending out the choir in the front and then for the soldiers to march behind. This was a difficult thing for any king to do, but they started marching, and there was total confusion for the enemy. God blessed them with victory, and they did not even have to fight the battle. Jesus told Peter, "Let us go catch fish," even though it was in the daytime and the fishermen had already fished and caught nothing. Peter may have had his doubts about the success of such a fishing trip, but he obeyed, and they got two boatloads of fish!

Stanley concluded his citing biblical examples with the story of Paul. God saved him and led him through many troubled seasons. He was faithful to God even in prison and wrote the prison epistles that continue to bless the Church today. In every case, God blessed obedience. This principle is not just true for biblical characters but is true for us as well. God always blesses obedience, without exception.