I’ve been thinking about how faith and obedience are linked. When you trust someone, you do what they say. If you don’t do what someone tells you to do, it means you don’t trust them.
In the Bible, God links faith and obedience over and over again. The promises of God are conditioned on us following the direction He gives us.
Deuteronomy 5:33 says,
“You shall walk in the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall process.“
In other words, if we follow the directions of the Lord life will go well.
God has made some incredible, specific promises in His Word about obedience. There are so many I can’t list them all. But here are a few:
- Psalm 7:10 promises, “My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.”
- Proverbs 16:20 promises, He who heeds the Word finds prosperity. Whoever trusts in the Lord is blessed.”
- Psalm 33:18 promises “The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy.”
Obedience is the premise behind all of His promises. God gives us promises by grace. But we get to enjoy His promises when we follow His instructions.
Whether we understand His instruction or not we need to obey Him no matter what.
Some of His commands might sound confusing, and maybe sometimes seem unfair. For example, the Bible tells us we should be a cheerful giver and give 10% of our income. Giving money away doesn’t seem very fair especially when you are struggling to make ends meet. But God tells us to test Him in these. Blessings come abundantly when they are given away. The Bible says when people do you evil, we are to do good to them
Things don’t always make sense from a human standpoint. But the things bags that don’t make sense to us are the things God asks us to do by faith. He wants us to trust Him and obey Him anyway.
From Pity to Praise 