One thing stands pre-eminently above all others in our relation with God, and that is obedience. He attaches the utmost importance to His will alone being done, whether in Heaven or on earth (Matt. 6:10). Implicit obedience on the part of His creatures is demanded, and never will He allow His supreme will to be resisted with impunity (Rom. 9:19). Pharaoh found this out to his complete destruction. Why have the Jews, the ancient chosen people, been so severely chastened? Simply, they persisted in refusing to obey the voice of the Lord. Of that nation we have His pathetic lament: “O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river” (Isa. 48:18). To know and do the will of God is what He requires of us. We must therefore read His Word daily, meditatively, consecutively, prayerfully, and according to the four key words of Deuteronomy—hear, remember, keep, do.
So important is it to learn to obey, that God begins with the child, giving it the only commandment with promise, that it may be well with the child and its days lengthened. And the father is told to bring up his child “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:1-4). If the child does not learn to obey the parents when it is young, how will it obey God in after life? Young believers are exhorted to submit themselves unto the elder, obeying them that are the guides of the Assembly (1 Pet. 5:5; Heb. 13:17); yea, all of us are enjoined to be subject to one another; and this subjection is likewise to be rendered to those who are in authority, to the King and all rulers (1 Pet. 2:13-17).
The “spirit of lawlessness” is spreading everywhere —in the home, in the Church, in the world—preparing the way for the Lawless One, whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of His Coming (2 Thess. 2:8). In contradistinction, let us seek grace that it may truthfully be said of both reader and writer, “Your obedience is come abroad unto all men” (Rom. 16:19).