The Joy Of Obedience

The Joy of Obedience emphasizes that true happiness comes from fully surrendering to God’s will. The author compares this surrender to a loving relationsh ip, where obedience to God brings intimacy and joy. While others may follow a more relaxed path, those who obey God experience a unique privilege and blessing. The message encourages believers to embrace complete obedience, which leads to spiritual fulfillment and divine rewards .

Ionce read: "Perfect obedience would bring perfect happiness if we had perfect confidence in the power we obeyed." It struck me. It revealed a possible, yet undreamed-of, way to be happy. Later, despite my lawlessness, that saying haunted me. It promised a rest and a way to grow. It soothed and satisfied my yearnings.

I must say, I have discovered this rest, not as a vision, but as a reality. I have seen in the Lord Jesus, our Master. We can yield to Him and take His yoke upon us to find perfect rest. You, dear, hesitant soul, don't know the joy you are missing. The Master has revealed Himself to you. He calls for your complete surrender. You shrink and hesitate. A measure of surrender you are willing to make, and think indeed it is fit and proper you should. But you seem to think that an utter abandonment, without any reserves, is too much to be asked for. You are afraid of it. It involves too much, you think, and is too great a task. To be obedient in a measurable way is your desire; the idea of being completely obedient appalls you.

You see other souls, too. They walk with easy consciences in a wider path than the one marked out for you. You ask yourself, why is this? It seems strange, and perhaps hard, that you must do what they need not. And, you must leave undone what they have the liberty to do. Ah! Dear Christian, this very difference between you is your privilege, though you do not yet know it. Your Lord says, "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”(John14:21) You have His commandments; those you envy, have them not. You know the mind of your Lord about many things, in which, as yet, they are walking in darkness. Is not this a privilege? Is it regrettable that your soul is so close to your Master? He can tell you things that those farther away do not know. Do you not realize what a tender degree of intimacy this implies?

Many life relations require only a modest devotion from both parties. We may have great friendships.

Yet, we spend much of our lives in separate, differing pursuits. When together, we may enjoy each other's company. We may find many shared interests. But, we are not distressed by separation. Other, closer friendships do not interfere. We lack enough love to have the right or desire to share our most private affairs. A certain degree of reserve and distance is the suitable thing, we feel. But there are other relations in life where all this is changed. The friendship becomes love. The two hearts give themselves to one another, to be no longer two but one.

A union of souls takes place, which makes all that belongs to one the property of the other. Separate interests and separate paths in life are no longer possible. Things that were lawful before are now unlawful. It's due to the closeness of the tie that binds. The reserve and distance suitable for mere friendship become fatal in love. Love gives all, and must have all in return. One's wishes bind the other.

Each heart desires to know the other's secret wishes. It wants to fly on the wind to fulfill them.

Do people like this feel frustrated by the burden that love places on them? Do they envy the cool, calm friendships they see? Do they regret the closeness to their beloved because of the obligations it creates?

Do they not glory in these very obligations? And, with a tender, exulting joy, pity the poor, far-off ones who dare not come so near? Isn't every new revelation of each other's minds a delight? And, is any path hard that their love compels them to travel? Ah! Dear souls, if you've known this, even for a few hours; if you've ever loved someone enough to find joy in sacrificing for them; if you've ever longed to abandon your will to another as a sweet privilege, then, by all the love of your heavenly Master, I urge you to do the same for God!

He loves you with more than the love of friendship. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so does He rejoice over you. Only a full surrender will satisfy Him. He has given you all, and He asks for all in return. The slightest reserve will grieve Him to the heart. He spared not Himself, and how can you spare yourself? For your sake, He gave all He had. For His, you must do the same. Oh, be generous in your self-surrender! Meet His measureless devotion for you, with a measureless devotion to Him. Be glad and eager to throw yourself headlong into His dear arms, and to hand over the reins of government to Him. Whatever there is of you, let Him have it all. Give up forever everything separate from Him. I resign my freedom of choice. I rejoice in our union. It makes my devotion not just possible, but necessary.

Have you never longed to love someone far away? You were not close enough for a more intimate approach. Have you not felt a burning desire to surrender yourself to them? Yet, you had no one to whom you could give that love. Have not your hands been full of very precious, alabaster boxes of ointment? You have never been near enough to any heart to pour it out. If you hear your Lord's sweet voice, He is calling you to a place of closeness to Himself. It requires a separation from all else. It will make your devotion not just possible, but necessary. Will you shrink or hesitate?

Will you find it hard that He reveals more of His mind to you than to others? He will not let you be happy in anything that separates you from Himself. Do you want to go where He cannot go with you, or to have pursuits which He cannot share?

No! No, a thousand times, no! You will spring out to meet His dear will with an eager joy. Even His slightest wish will become a binding law to you, which it would fairly break your heart to disobey. You will rejoice in the narrowness of the path He sets for you. You will pity, with infinite sorrow, the poor, far-off ones who have missed this joy. Love's obligations will be its sweetest privileges. Your right to give your all to your Lord will feel like a lift into a realm of unspeakable glory. Perfect happiness will come from perfect obedience. You will then know a bit of what Jesus meant when He said, “ I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”( Psalms 40:8 ) And do you think the joy in this will be all on your side? Has the Lord no joy in those who have thus surrendered themselves to Him, and who love to obey Him? Ah, my friends, we are unfit to speak of this. But the Scriptures reveal glimpses of the delight, satisfaction, and joy our Lord has in us. They ravish the soul with their wondrous hints of blessedness. That we should need Him is easy to comprehend; that He should need us seems incomprehensible. It is natural to desire Him. But that He should desire us is hard to believe. And yet, over and over, He says it, and what can we do but believe Him?

He has made our hearts able to feel this great love. He has offered Himself as its object. It is infinitely precious to Him. He says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.

And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him"(John 4:21). He knocks at every heart, seeking to be its supreme love. “Will you have me?” He says to the believer, “ To be your beloved, will you follow me into suffering and loneliness? Will you endure hardship for my sake? Ask for no reward but my smile and praise.

Will you throw yourself with an utter abandonment into my will? Will you give up to me the absolute control of yourself and all that you are? Will you be content with pleasing me and me only? May I have my way within you in all things? Will you come into so close a union with me as to make a separation from the world necessary? Will you accept me as your only Lord, and leave all others, to cleave only unto me?” In a thousand ways , He makes this offer of oneness with Himself to every believer. But all do not say “Yes,” to Him. Other loves and other interests seem to them too precious to be cast aside.

They do not miss Heaven because of this. But they miss an unspeakable joy.

You, however, are not one of these. From the very first your soul has cried out eagerly and gladly to all His offers, “Yes, Lord; yes!” You are more than ready to pour out upon Him all your richest treasures of love and devotedness. Your enthusiasm for self-surrender may disturb some moderate Christians.

Your love makes necessary a separation from the world, which a lower love cannot even conceive of.

Sacrifices and services are possible and sweet to you. They could not come from a less devoted heart.

The life upon which you have entered gives you the right to a lavish outpouring of your all upon your beloved One. Services, of which more distant souls know nothing, become now your sweetest privilege.

Your Lord claims from you, because of your union with Him, far more than He claims of them.

What to them is lawful, love has made unlawful for you. To you He can make known His secrets, and to you He looks for an instant response to every requirement of His love. Oh, it is wonderful! The glorious, unspeakable privilege upon which you have entered! It will matter little if men hate you. They may shun you, reproach you, and cast out your name as evil for His sake! "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Your reward is great in Heaven. If you share in His suffering, you shall share in His glory." In you He is seeing of the travail of His soul, and is satisfied. Your love and devotedness are His precious reward for all He has done for you.

It is unspeakably sweet to Him. Do not be afraid then to let yourself go in a heart-whole devotedness to your Lord that can brook no reserves. Others may not approve, but He will, and that is enough. Do not measure your obedience or your service. Let your heart and your hand be as free to serve Him, as His heart and His hand were to serve you. Let Him have all there is of you, body, soul, and spirit, time, talents, voice, everything. Lay your whole life open before Him that He may control it. Say to Him each day, “Lord, how shall I regulate this day so as to please you? Where shal l I go? What shall I do? Whom shall I visit? What shall I say?” Give your intellect up into His control and say, “Lord, tell me how to think so as to please you?” Give Him your reading, your pursuits, your friendships. Then say, "Lord, give me the insi ght to judge these things with your wisdom."” Do not let there be a day nor an hour in which you are not intelligently doing His will, and following Him wholly.

Serving Him will give your life a halo. It will gild even the dullest life with a heavenly glow.

Have you ever grieved that the romance of youth is so soon lost in the hard realities of the world? Bring God into your life and its details. A greater joy will thrill your soul than youth's brightest days could know. Nothing will seem hard or stern again. The meanest life will be glorified by this. As I watched a poor woman at her wash-tub, I thought of the disheartening aspects of her life. I wondered why such lives must exist. Then, with a thrill of joy, I recalled the possible glorification of it. I told myself, even this life, lived in and with Christ, following Him wherever He leads, would be glorious.

Every hour of it would be filled with enthusiasm.

I am comforted to know that God's greatest blessings lie with the poorest and most humble lives. "For," says our Lord Himself, "whosoever," whether rich or poor, old or young, bond or free.

Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and my mother.

Pause a moment over these simple yet amazing words. His brother, sister, and mother! What would we not have given to have been one of these! Oh, let me beg you, beloved Christian. Come, taste and see how good the Lord is. He has wonderful things in store for those who "keep His commandments, and do what is pleasing in His sight." "If you listen closely to the Lord your God and obey all His commandments today, He will elevate you above all the nations on earth. If you listen to the Lord your God, all these blessings will come upon you."

“ Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. (Deuteronomy 28:3-7) "T he LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.” (Deuteronomy 28:8 -9) “ And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,”(Deuteronomy 28:10 -13) For the Israelites, it was outward and temporary. For us, it is inward and spiritual. And, it is far more glorious. May our surrendered wills leap out to embrace it in all its fullness!