Finding Joy in Obeying God
Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord. Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths. You have charged us to keep your commandments carefully. Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees! Psalms 119:1-5 God’s people live by what God tells them through His Word. The world pursues grand and noble purposes and goals to achieve. People have the tendency to seek out the greatest and most satisfying things in which they can invest their lives. It is customary for institutions to establish goals and objectives and then they organize themselves to achieve them. God’s people function in a completely different way. Once you claim you are a follower of God, you will arrange your life based on the revelation of God found in His Word and through the leading of the Holy Spirit. And at times, what God commands His children to do will not make sense. God already knows what is best does for your future, your family, or your church. People pursuing worldly desires will not bother that His Word govern their actions. “But God says to the wicked: ‘Why bother reciting my decrees and pretending to obey my covenant? For you refuse my discipline and treat my words like trash’” (Psalm 50:16-17). God calls His people and His desire is to reveal to you what is on His heart and what is His will. “If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God” (Psalm 50:23). God’s ways are not your ways! (see Isaiah 55:8-9). Whenever people do not base their lives on God’s leading, they “run wild.” (Proverbs 29:18). That is, they do what is right in their own eyes. They set their goals, arrange their agendas, and then pray to ask God’s blessings and stamp of approval. Do not allow the pursuit of the world occupy your hearts and your minds that you will live your life far outside of the will of God. Instead have the courage to pray and ask God to lead you. The only way for you to know God’s will is for Him to reveal it to you. You will never discover it on your own. When you hear from God through His Word, you have an immediate agenda for your life: obedience. As the writer of Proverbs observed (Proverbs 29:18b): “Joyful is he who obeys the law.”
Blessings.