Obedience is saying ‘yes’ to God and doing what He asks us to do. It will always be a response to God’s word to us as people.
Disobedience can be blatant at times (think of Jonah, running in the opposite direction to God’s commands!), but it can also be mixed with half-hearted obedience (think of Saul who protested to Samuel that he had obeyed God, even though Samuel could hear the bleating of sheep which told him Saul had not done all that had been asked of him.) Samuel reminded Saul that ‘to obey is better than sacrifice’ (1 Sam 15:20) – half-hearted obedience is an insult to God who did not spare His only Son but gave Him freely for our sins.
Jonah is an example of how grudging our obedience can be at times. Even when Jonah finally obeyed God, he was not pleased that the Ninevites repented and were spared God’s judgment. (Jonah 4:1-2) Jonah knew God’s merciful, loving character, but still felt that Nineveh should have suffered judgment. He was happy to receive God’s love, mercy, forgiveness and protection from himself, but was reluctant to see that extended to others. We can be encouraged by the fact God uses complex, ungrateful, rebellious, disobedient people like Jonah! – that means there’s hope for us too! At the same time, we need to learn from Jonah’s example and understand that if we have received freely, we must also freely give. (Matt 10:8)
Obeying God is costly, but He is our rightful owner, the creator of heaven and earth and the One who has paid for us through the blood of Christ (Ps 47:2, 1 Chron 29:11, Gen 15:2, 8; Deut 9:26, Judges 6:22, Ps 68:20, 1 Cor 6:19-20). Jesus Himself learned obedience through what He suffered (Heb 5:8) and modelled costly obedience for us as He submitted His will to the Father’s in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42). We must learn to do the same if we are to enter into the blessings that God gives to all who obey.