Over the last year conversations and concerns have risen over the issues of health and safety. Practices have been encouraged, mandates have been issued, and guidelines laid down all for the sake of being safe. Entire lives have been changed and adjusted but I wonder with all of our concern over these things, have we ever added to the conversation or considered the questions, “Is it ever safe to disobey God?” or “Is it ever beneficial to our health to put aside what God has commanded?”?
How would you answer those questions? What do we see in Scripture? In Ps. 32:3, David arrived at the conclusion, “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.” When David disobeyed and lived in unrepentant, unconfessed sin there were physical health consequences in his life. In 1 Cor. 11:30, Paul said, “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.” Why did this happen at Corinth? It was because of their disobedience in regards to Communion. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira were struck down before the Church for lying to the Holy Spirit. In Lev. 10, Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord for offering up incense that He had not commanded them to. In Heb. 10:26 there is the warning, “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of fire which will consume the adversaries.”
Obedience is certainly not optional in our relationship with the Lord nor should disobedience be disregarded. John says in 1 John 2:3-4, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him…”. You cannot live in sin and disobedience and honor the Lord your God. As we’ve looked at, neither can you expect this to be a healthy or safe route. As James said, “So, for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17). As you seek what is best, seek what God has given you to do and trust Him in your obedience.
Seeking To Trust And Obey With You, Pastor Rudy