The “O” Word (or, essingblay omescay omfray…)

Josh 22:1-5
22:1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
2 And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you:
3 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God.
4 And now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side Jordan.
5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
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I’m not kidding, I cannot speak pig latin.
The comedian, Bill Cosby said one time that the word “obey” was a fun word to say. He said it sounded like a pig latin word, “O-Bey”. He then went into a hilarious routine about the disobedience of his children.
The word “obey” is in the Bible 69 times. This does not include the other forms of the word such as “obedience”, etc. Obedience is very important in the structure of the Kingdom of God. It is, actually, a vital fiber in the well-woven fabric of every part of our lives. Obedience is important in the familial structure, in our public social order, & so forth, & so on. Obedience is inevitable. A person may say they do not believe in living a life of obedience. They may purport to be a free-spirit and thus they choose to not obey society’s rules. But they are still yet obedient. They are obedient to the rules of the “free-spirit”, which says, “Do not conform”. They are not obeying the rules of a certain aspect of society, but they are obedient all the same, just to a different set of rules! Romans 6:12 refers to sin that reigns in our bodies and how we may find ourselves obeying its evil desires. Oh, yes. We all obey, and we choose which rules we obey.
Throughout the Old Testament you’ll see the act of a sacrifice to be vital to God’s relationship with humanity. And yet, as important as a sacrifice is to God, his word says that obedience is better than sacrifice. (We obviously do not offer the blood of animals today, but we offer the sacrifice of praise!) The Bible tells us over & over to “obey the voice” of God. In general we do not have a problem with the concept of obeying the voice of God. (Unless we happen to be closely associated with Psychiatrists, then we’re concerned about ANY voices we may hear!) But in general, Christians have no problem with this foundational belief. It’s the other instructions of obedience that our society & sometimes even our own flesh struggle with. But the Bible instructs us to:
Obey the commandments of the Lord, (Deuteronomy 11:27)
Obey the truth (Romans 2:8)
Obey your parents (Ephesians 6:1)
Obey your employer (Colossians 3:22)
Obey the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8)
Obey the written instruction of the Apostles (2 Thessalonians 3:14)
Obey government officials & the laws of the land (Titus 3:1)
Obey your spiritual leaders (Hebrews 13:17)
That’s a lot of pig latin: Obey! Obey! Obey!
The older we get, the harder obedience is! The definition is simple: to comply with or follow the commands, restrictions, wishes, or instructions.
It also means, to submit or conform in action to.
Simple, but hard… And quite necessary.
Do you know what the antonym of obedience is? Rebellion. And unfortunately, 1 Sam 15:23, lets us know just how strongly God feels about rebellion, “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. “ (Yikes!)
If we’re going to be blessed by God for our obedience, we’re going to have to take note of something important in our opening passage of scripture (Josh 22:1-5). These people were blessed not simply for their obedience to God, but because they had also obeyed both Moses AND Joshua. Obedience is a purposeful behavior that we conform to and God blesses us for doing so. There is no grey area with God. He blesses obedience & curses rebellion.
It may seem easier to learn to speak pig latin than to actually obey the authority figures God has placed in our lives; from our pastor, to our boss, to whoever else there may be. Whether you understand Pig-latten, or not, choose to “O-bey”.
essingblay omescay omfray obedienceway
Oh, forget it! I’m trying to say, “Blessing comes from obedience!”

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