Delayed Obedience Is Disobedience

In Psalm 119:60 I read, “Without delay I hurry to obey your commands.” (GNT)

The Bible is full of life instructions. They’re called the commands of God. He expects me to obey his commands right away, and he expects me to obey them fully.

Imagine if a parent tells a child to do something and he or she says, “I’ll think about it.” Wouldn’t there be consequences? But I do that to God all the time. God says he wants me to do something, and I say, “I’ll think about it.” But I don’t have that kind of authority. It’s no different from a child telling a parent, “I’ll think about it.”

When the Creator of the universe tells me to do something, he expects me to do it—now. Every parent knows delayed obedience is disobedience.

God also wants me to obey his commands fully. I can’t pick and choose, making one list of the instructions I’ll follow and another of those I won’t. Partial obedience is disobedience.

The Psalmist says, “Without delay I hurry to obey your commands” (Psalm 119:60 GNT).

That means I don’t pause to question God’s instructions before I obey them. I obey first—and seek understanding later. In fact, I won’t fully understand many of God’s commands until I’ve first obeyed them. In many cases, it’s my obedience that unlocks my understanding.

So what has God told me to do that I haven’t started doing yet? What am I waiting for? God has my best interests at heart. Go ahead and do what he’s told me to do.

In summary, without delay, I need to hurry to obey what God commands me to do. The Bible is full of life instructions, called the commands of God. God expects me to obey his commands right away, and to obey them fully. But often God tells me he wants me to do something, and I say, “I’ll think about it.” In reality, I don’t have that kind of authority. When the Creator of the universe tells me to do something, he expects me to do it—now. Delayed obedience is disobedience. God also wants me to obey his commands fully. I can’t pick and choose, making one list I’ll follow and another I won’t. Partial obedience is disobedience. “Without delay I hurry to obey your commands.” That means I don’t pause to question God’s instructions before I obey them. I obey first—and seek understanding later. In fact, I won’t fully understand many of God’s commands until I’ve first obeyed them. It’s my obedience that unlocks my understanding. So what has God told me to do that I haven’t started doing yet? What am I waiting for? God has my best interests at heart. Go ahead and do what he’s told me to do.

God's word is true and wonderful. I need to stay true to God and his word no matter how I feel or how bad things become around me. Obedience to God's laws is the only way to achieve real happiness. Any delay on my part is the same as disobedience. 

Lord, I need you. Please give me Your strength for today and remind me in little ways that I can believe in, have faith and to trust you in everything including being the authority for my life, my self-worth and my future. You have my best interests in mind. I ask you for wisdom and guidance for my day, my work, my leadership, my interactions with others, my training for a future job role and for leading a small group. I pray these things through you Son Jesus’ name, amen.