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 X

We 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.