“I just learned that I shouldn’t marry a non-Christian man. How cruel and unreasonable is God to say I should obey this? Isn’t a kind and honest boy enough?”  

This was new and discouraging information for my young believing grad student. Perhaps the local church avoided the topic as the number of women attenders far out-numbered men and, in her culture, you had to be married. That pressure far outweighed any drawbacks she could imagine to an unshared faith.

But really, is obedience ever a popular topic? The strict, unsmiling teacher or parent may come to mind. Or training for your dog.Or the military. Or maybe the challenge of raising a child who doesn’t obey you.“I was raised to believe it was the school’s job to teach this. Now, as a parent I’m not so sure,” was often shared in my teacher classes. 

The obedience I read about in the Bible is so much more than ‘doing as I’m told” or showing respect for rules. Jesus says it’s how I know He’s from God. It’s how “I discern that I am coming to recognize and understand him.” (Thank you, Amplified Bible.) It is so important that if I say I love God and fail to keep His commandments, I am a liar!  It’s how I show my love for him. God said way back in the Old Testament that obedience was better than sacrifice! I had read that verse so many times before I saw it through an Israelite’s eyes...an Israelite; whose relationship with God was centered around such offerings. 

“Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands.” Psalm 119:73 

After many cups of tea mixed with prayer and long chats, the wisdom and beauty of a marriage of two believers became clearer and clearer to my student. “He did make me, after all.” Not easy, for nowhere does scripture speak of the ease or convenience of obedience. She still wondered how she’d find her guy, but wise and loving, notcruel and unreasonable described her God. “We know we have come to know Him if we obey his commands.”