Obedience is the only act that pleases God

Despite Jesus teachings in Mathew 12:50: ‘For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.’ Many of us today still have the thought that God is only God of the Jews. However, this which Jesus teaches us is the word of God from the beginning of times. The obedient to God’s word are the ones to inherit God’s favour and greatness upon their lives. Well, God does not reward sin nor evil doers but welcome the sincere and heartly repentance of the contrite soul.

In Exodus we read over and over how Pharaoh heart was hardened numerous times because God saw the inclination of his heart and desires. Pharaoh did not have any intention to honour nor obey God, but to get away with his cruelty upon the Israelites. At the end Pharaoh provoked God’s anger upon him and his people to the point of losing his first born. God warned Pharaoh many times and give him space and time to repentance, but he decided to turn from God every time. At the end his sin and the sin he imposed/taught his people has destroyed them and left them behind.

The beautiful thing about the wrath of God upon Egypt is that many Egyptians turned away from their wrong deeds and obeyed God. This we can see in Exodus 9:20. And God ordered Moses to give instruction of divine protection to them just as he does to the Israelites. This show’s what Jesus teaches us in Mathew 12:50. God is God of those who obey his word, not only of the Israelites. Well, because of Abraham faithfulness in teaching his people about the fear and love of God, the Israelites has gotten the great privilege to know and honour God from an early age and as a home duty – this is the greatest blessing of all giving to mankind. Glory is to God and may the same spirit of Abraham come and dwell in the hearts of God’s people today. In Jesus Holy Name. Amen.

But how could those few Egyptians have turned away from Pharaoh anyway? And how did they intreated and obey the one and true God and creator under Pharaoh’s rule? Well, my guess is that, as sinful as they were, they were tired of living in sin, and this made them bold enough to come to God and ask for forgiveness from their heart.

Pharaoh has gotten a lot of opportunity to come to God in repentance, but he did not. He chooses to lie to God to get away with his wickedness and disobedience. And one of the things that probably proved God that Pharaoh was not sincere, is that Pharaoh chooses not to come to God himself, instead he used Moses to intreat to God every time he felt threatened, Exodus 9: 34-35. In today’s world even Christians are caught up in seeking someone to intreat to God for their sins and are not bold or sincere enough to come to God our/themselves. But Jesus is our only way to God. So, either we pray to Jesus directly or pray to our father in heaven in Jesus’ name. All from a sincere heart and contrite soul.

And for us all when we are sceptic about God’s love, mercy, and divine protection, do not fear and fail the test, because doubt is part of our growth in faith to God and Jesus. Well, the enemy of our souls is always targeting after our believe in God so that we disbelieve his mercy for us. So, as we see in the book of Exodus and many other books throughout the Holy Scriptures, God fights the battles and will stop the oppressor if his people are not, please with all that is taking place, so, just cry out to him.

And in today’s world the oppressor is not visible as Pharaoh in flesh. Our Pharaohs today are mainly the systems and institutions of the world. We are slaves, threatened, illtreated and cursed to live an unhealthy and stressful life under various meaningless systems and rules that are specifically designed by the enemy for that purpose.

But freedom is in Jesus. The way to freedom is no longer through Moses or anyone else but though Jesus. To be free we must believe in Jesus and follow his teachings unto the end. Then we have won the battle and are ready to take on the crown of salvation at the right hand of Jesus our redeemer.