What Does it Mean to Obey God? By Emily Saxe
Since we often struggle with what it really means to obey God, I’m happy to introduce my guest, Emily Saxe. Emily and I connected online several years ago, and participate in many of the same writing and blogging circles. And she just released a Bible study on obedience.
I fear obeying God.
There. I said it.
My days fill with what feels like endless demands. I work a writing and editing job I began in obedience to God. My husband and I spend countless weekends renovating our home — a home we bought knowing God desired our hospitality. When the world wasn’t at war against a virus, I spent many Sundays serving at church.
So you see, every time I obey God, He asks me to add something new to my already-overflowing plate.
At least, that’s what I used to think obedience meant.
What Do You Fear?
I recently published a three-week Bible study on the little book of the Bible called Haggai. The first time I studied Haggai, God blew me away with some truth about obedience. Truth I simply cannot keep to myself. Because I know if I struggle with the fear of believing obedience means adding more to my schedule, then I’m guessing I’m not the only one.
God took my fear of obedience and placed me beside the returned exiles in Jerusalem. These families spent years ignoring God’s command to rebuild His temple, which lay in ruins. They started out in obedience, but then fear of neighboring bullies put a stop to their efforts.
So they settled into a routine of comfort. Of padding their own lives with finished homes and planted crops. All while God’s temple remained in ruins.
They feared obeying God during those years. They feared for their safety, but they also feared obeying God would mean adding too much to their already-full plates. Walking by the temple ruins, they closed their eyes and hardened their hearts toward what they knew God had asked of them.
What it Actually Means to Obey God
But then something incredible happened. God used Haggai to knock some sense into these exiles. They realized the error of their actions, and they began rebuilding the temple (you can read all about this in Haggai 1). Here’s where God knocked some sense into me, too.
Despite the actions that looked just like obedience, God spoke again to the people, calling them out for their misplaced priorities. And that’s when I realized this truth: Obeying God is not about adding more obedient-looking tasks to my to do list — it’s about the priorities of my heart.
Obeying God is not about adding more obedient-looking tasks to my to do list — it’s about the priorities of my heart. ~ Emily Saxe #studythebiblicaltruths Share on XWe place far too much weight behind getting all our Christian gold stars each week. We focus on reading our Bibles each day, volunteering our time to help those in need, serving in church, and the list goes on.
Yes, those are all wonderful things to accomplish. But if we do any of those actions out of obligation or out of the desire for God to bless us, then we’re not obeying at all. We’re offering sacrifices to God that repulse Him (Haggai 2:13-14).
Walking In Obedience
Maybe it sounds funny that I found freedom in knowing my actions I once thought as obedience actually repulse God at times. But our Savior gives grace, and I know I can come to Him in any moment and seek forgiveness for my misplaced priorities.
The freedom I found in this truth came with the realization that God cares more about my heart than my to-do list. He doesn’t see obedience only as grand gestures of Christian kindness. He asks that I act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him (Micah 6:8).
God cares more about my heart than my to-do list. He doesn’t see obedience only as grand gestures of Christian kindness. He asks that I act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him (Micah 6:8). Emily Saxe #studythebiblicaltruths… Share on XWalking humbly alongside Jesus means obedience takes shape even in the mundane aspects of my day. I can love my family well, all in obedience. I can work with diligence at my job, all in obedience. And I can wash dishes, fold laundry, weed the garden and make the shopping list, all in obedience.
How freeing it is to know God desires my heart above all else! I don’t need to check certain things off my list in order to obey. I don’t need to fear God towers above me, waiting to tell me about that next stressful task I must do to please Him.
No, God desires my priorities to match His own. Sometimes He does ask things of us that call us beyond our comfort zones. But that’s another jewel we find in Haggai — when He asks, He provides.
God’s Glory When We Obey
Each day I beat back my fear to obey. For I know my fear comes from the lies swirling around me, threatening to strangle my freedom in Christ. Instead of fear, I will choose joy.
After all, walking next to my God in humility sounds like the most peaceful, joyful act of obedience I could ever experience.
If you’d like to discover more about God’s glory in your obedience, join me in my new three-week Bible study on Haggai! “Mundane Obedience: Discovering God’s glory in our daily obedience” is now available! You can find out more here! Available on Amazon.
If you’d like to discover more about God’s glory in your obedience, join me in my new three-week Bible study on Haggai! “Mundane Obedience: Discovering God’s glory in our daily obedience." Emily Saxe #BookBoost #author Share on X
About Emily Saxe
Emily Saxe is founder and managing editor of her devotional-based website, To Unearth, where she encourages her readers to see God at work in their ordinary. Working as a full-time freelance writer and editor, her heart and her pen are drawn to stories of faith as she helps people share how God is working in their lives. Everyone has a story to tell, and Emily loves helping to give people a voice to share their own story. Read more of Emily’s articles on To Unearth.
You can also find Emily here: Pinterest/Instagram/Facebook
I hope you enjoyed Emily’s article and will check out her study and purchase it. My copy will be on it’s way soon, because who doesn’t need more help in the spiritual obedience department.
Sometimes I participate in these link-ups:
Legacy Linkup/Inspire Me Monday/Literacy Musings/Tell His Story/Purposeful Faith/Recharge Wednesday/Worth Beyond Rubies/Tune in Thursday/Heart Encouragement/Embracing the Unexpected and Faith On Fire.
© 2020 Karen Friday, All rights reserved
Thank you, Karen, for hosting me today! I pray God continues to use this message to break down fears and excite us toward daily obedience!
Glad to have you, Emily. The message is such a needed one. Thanks for showing us how obeying God is NOT: checking “Christian” expectations off our to-do list; gaining some kind of proverbial brownie points with God; or fear for what God might do to us if we don’t.
We must place our focus on loving God and showing His love to others. Our “to do” lists can overwhelm us at times. Placing God first helps me. 🙂
So true, Melissa. It certainly overwhelms me. Glad Emily reminded us obedience is a matter of the heart.
Thank you, Karen, and Emily for this lesson today. Obedience has often scared me…in my mind, it meant God was going to remove something or someone from my life since that had happened before. But I know God desires relationship more than anything and to of my love for Him, I obey.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Stephanie. Many of us worry (me too) about these kind of negative results from obedience, but that is not anywhere in God’s Word. The Bible reminds us that He loves obedience more than sacrifice and if we love Him, we obey. Obeying with the right heart has always meant my ultimate good and God’s glory. Yes, it is about intimate relationship.
Wonderful message, Emily! Yes, obeying God is definitely about getting our priorities straight in our day to day lives, not about adding more stress to something we think we should be doing. Thanks for sharing here at Karen’s place. Blessings to both of you!
Martha, we do add more stress to our lives when we heap on what we think is expected of us as Christians or what we expect of ourselves.
Yes!! Real obedience has been on my heart the last year or so. I cannot stop thinking about it!
Thank you, Jessica. Love how Emily pointed out that if we do any actions out of obligation or out of the desire for God to bless us, then we’re not obeying at all. We’re offering sacrifices to God that repulse Him (Haggai 2:13-14).
It’s nice to meet you here, Emily! Congrats on your Bible study. Check-lists and gold stars can hide motives that we ourselves don’t recognize. It’s one reason I try to start my quiet time with Psalm 139:23, 24, asking God to reveal my TRUE motives. Thanks for sharing today! Blessings to both you and Karen.
Hey Cathy, thanks for commenting on Emily’s great article. Love your practice of asking the Lord to reveal your true motives. For us check-list kind of people, that’s something we need reminding of often.
This is a wonderful post, Emily (and Karen)! If only we didn’t have to learn this lesson over and over again! For us perfectionistic workaholics, it’s easy to think we’ve learned this and put it all behind us, once we’ve recognized what we’ve been doing. But then years down the road we discover that we’ve forgotten the lesson. We’ve begun to serve again out of a sense of obligation, rather than of adoration and trust in the Savior. Therefore, as a constantly recovering perfectionist, I thank you for addressing this right now. I’ve done it to myself again, and as a result I’ve been feeling increasingly overwhelmed and depressed. No outside voices were needed this time asking me to do more tasks before I learned how to give a healthy, “no.” Nope, now, it’s just me and my sense of perfection and of completion. Yesterday I had recognized it and determined to take a pause and to rest in the Lord. Today confirms it. Thank you.
Melinda, we sure are kindred-spirits, I’m a recovering perfectionist. In fact, I’ve broken up with perfectionism several times only to go back during weak moments. I also forget this lesson and have to learn it all over again or take the same class again with the Lord as the instructor just shaking His head that I’m back! 🙂 Love how you said, “serve out of a sense of obligation, rather than adoration and trust in the Savior.” Thanks for your insightful comment and glad this Emily’s message resonated with you.
A wonderful and inspiring post ladies. Thank all y’all so much for sharing an important discipleship lesson. I loved the many demonstrations of what obedience to God isn’t also.
True, J.D. We have to recognize what obedience to God is and isn’t. Love how Emily noted, “How freeing it is to know God desires my heart above all else! I don’t need to check certain things off my list in order to obey. I don’t need to fear God towers above me, waiting to tell me about that next stressful task I must do to please Him.”
It is hard to distinguish between wanting to please God and obeying God. Great post with wonderful examples that helped me try to sort it out. Thanks Karen and Emily.
That is hard, Yvonne. For me, and it’s scriptural truth, if I really love God, I want to wholeheartedly obey Him. Thank you!
I love your review of this study on Haggai, Emily. I often question the ways and hows and living outside the box. Because what we say and do sometimes is more sacrifice more than obedience. And even how we do church. Great insights!
Oh, how I agree, Ava. “Lord, teach us what it means to obey You fully out of a heart of love and with a pure motive to do Your will and what You ask of us. Amen.”
So many times, I feared to obey God. Sometimes, I obeyed anyway. Always, the grace that came to me, whether through other people or otherwise, was astonishing. I’ve come to fear less, but I’m far from fear-free. Great post, Emily. God bless!
Thanks for sharing your experience, Nancy. I’ve often found that many times I need to obey rather the emotions are there or not.
Thank you for helping us view obedience as a heart matter, not a to-do list to check off. This is such a freeing message, Emily! May we keep the Lord in our heart and in our hands as we go about our day living out of love for our loving Father God. May our love for God be an extension of everything we do and may others see Christ through us as we carry that joy of our salvation through our day!
Isn’t it so freeing, Melissa?! Just as Emily found freedom in obedience from her heart and not a Christian to-do list, the same freedom is ours when we surrender to His will and His way because “walking next to my God in humility sounds like the most peaceful, joyful act of obedience I could ever experience.”
Amen, Emily, and thank you, Karen, for hosting Emily’s post. The short narrative in Haggai matches the really long narratives about David and Joseph. We obey in our hearts. My heart is not always in my service. Sometimes I do things just because. I need to be more purposeful in serving God. Thank you for writing about this.
“More purposeful in serving God” I like that Stephen. Yes, David and Joseph certainly have an obedience story they tell as well. As Emily related from Haggai, “Despite the actions that looked just like obedience, God spoke again to the people, calling them out for their misplaced priorities.”
Thanks Karen for sharing Emily’s post. Great reminders Sister! My favorite saying is, at the end of the day we will be standing before the Lord alone. Focusing too much on the stuff and business for the Lord and not enough on the personal relationship truly is a problem. Its so easy to lose sight of what really is important in life.. thanks again and God Bless!!!
That’s truth Stephen, we are only accountable for ourselves before God daily, not others. May we seek relationship and true obedience over busyness, and humblly walking with God over checking off the things on a Christian list.
Sweet message. It always gets back to the heart, doesn’t it! It’s what God is really interested in. Thanks for sharing.
Donna, when it comes to the Christian journey, it really is a heart issue. It started with our heart and it stays with our heart.
Such a good point: obeying God doesn’t mean adding more and more, but doing whatever He calls us to do from the heart.
Agree, not adding on more to a list, but walking in obedience to God’s calling in our lives and the truth of the Scripture.
Oh much joy and peace comes when we choose to make obedience a lifestyle, our spiritual goal. We don’t need to have all the answers to say ‘yes’ to God. The Spirit helps us trust His heart, His character, and remember His faithfulness in past seasons of obedience.
Thank you, ladies, for sharing these truths.
Bless you both!
Linda, I like how you said making obedience is a lifestyle and our spiritual goal. That’s what God wanted for the Israelites and what He wants for us! Thanks for sharing your insight.
It’s all about the heart. We could be following rules and making choices about what we think God wants from us, but if our heart isn’t right, there’s no point. Great reminder about what true obedience means. Thank you, Emily.
So true, Wendy. God wants our heart, then obedience will naturally flow from the right motive.