Faith without obedience is no faith.
Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)
If we do not hold the unwavering belief that our Heavenly Father has plans and blessings of great goodness in store for us, we will be unable to obey Him. Although many of us have been promised much by the Lord, few of us have borne witness to the fulfillment of these promises. The root cause of our disappointment may lie in our own unbelief, which breeds disobedience. God tests us in the crucible of life, as He would refine gold, in order to purify us before we arrive at the promised land. And the crucial step in passing these tests is to submit ourselves in obedience to His will. Without complete trust in our Heavenly Father, we will lack the necessary faith to follow His commands.
Abraham, the faithful servant of the Lord, received a divine promise. To demonstrate his unwavering faith, he obeyed the Lord, left his homeland and settled in a foreign land. The Lord blessed him and Sarah with a son, Isaac, as promised. However, the Lord then asked him to make a tremendous sacrifice to test his heart – to offer his only son as a burnt offering.
He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2 NIV)
Despite the great difficulty of this task, Abraham had unshakable faith in the Lord, believing that He could resurrect Isaac to fulfill the promise. Thus, he was ready to obey the Lord’s command, showing that his faith was unbreakable. His faith brought obedience and the fulfillment of the promise.
When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, the Lord promised to deliver them from bondage and lead them to a land of milk and honey. However, when they reached the Red Sea with the Egyptian army behind them, they found themselves trapped and without an escape. Despite the promise they had received from the Lord, they began to doubt His ability to save them.
They also complained to Moses, “Wasn’t there enough room in Egypt to bury us? Is that why you brought us out here to die in the desert? Why did you bring us out of Egypt anyway? 12 While we were there, didn’t we tell you to leave us alone? We’d rather be slaves in Egypt than die in this desert!” (Exodus 14:11-12)
They saw the impossible before them and lost faith, causing them to complain against the Lord. Many times the Israelites didn’t trust the Lord and disobeyed him. All of them didn’t see the promise but died in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb. Israelites’ unbelief caused disobedience and brought death.
In the Garden of Gethsemene, Jesus fervently prayed to the Father, asking Him to remove the suffering that He knew lay before Him. Though Jesus wished for the suffering to be taken away, He ultimately surrendered to the Father’s will.
Abba,[a] Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36 NIV)
Initially, it appeared that the Father had not answered Jesus’ prayer, and He faced death on the cross. Nonetheless, Jesus trusted the Father even when His prayers seemed unanswered. He obeyed the Father’s will and faced His suffering with unwavering faith. On the third day, the Father raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand, giving Him dominion over everything. Jesus’ faith led him to obedience and fulfillment of the promise.
The path to the Lord’s promises is not always smooth or easy. Like Abraham and Jesus, we must obey the Lord’s commandments and trust Him wholeheartedly, even when the circumstances around us seem impossible. We must believe that the Lord who has made the promise will fulfill it, and this faith will cause us to obey and the fulfillment of the promise.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV)
Prayer
Father, give us a new heart and a renewed mind, that we may trust in you with all our heart and submit to your will, allowing you to make our paths to our promised land straight. Amen
Sol.Edvitta