All of us know the meaning of obedience and from our childhood we have been taught to obey our teachers, our parents etc. As I was reading the Bible, the word obedience popped in to mind and many instances from the bible flashed in my mind. The only thing the Lord expects from us is obedience and leave everything in his capable hands.

In Genesis we see the price Adam and Eve paid for their disobedience. God created everything with love and handed it over to Adam and Eve with the only instruction not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gn 2:-16-17). If only Adam and Eve had obeyed, they could have continued to leave in the Garden of Eden and not go through the sufferings.

We also see Abraham obeying God without any questions and goes to the Mountain to sacrifice his only son Isaac and God rewards his obedience and provides him with the lamb for the sacrifice (Gn 22: 1-14).

In Numbers 20:8, the Lord told Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water.” Moses instead of obeying God’s command strike the rock instead and we see in verse twelve the price Moses had to pay for his disobedience “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them” (Numbers 20:12).

We see another example of the price Samson had to pay for his obedience in the book of Judges. As long as Samson obeyed the Lord and did not cut his hair he was strong and the minute he cuts his hair he loses his strength and is captured by his enemies and undergoes torture.

We see the greatest example of obedience in Mother Mary and Joseph. We see Mary obeying the word of the Lord with just these words, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord”. We also see Joseph accepting the word of the Lord and accepts Mary

We have so many examples the most important of all is well explained by St Paul in his letter to the Romans, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Rm 5:9). This verse sums up the reward of obedience and should be an inspiration and guiding force for us to walk in the ways of the Lord and be obedient to the will of God.

Katheline