The Joy of Obedience

“It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.” (Pr 21:15 AV)

We want to meditate upon the first part of this proverb.  The joy of obedience is not something that is readily accepted.  Since the garden of Eden, mankind has been convinced there is more joy in disobedience than there is in obedience.  This has been our constant struggle.  The flesh wants us to believe life is better when we fulfill our desires.  Our flesh entices us to pursue a desire.  In the immediate aftermath of that desire, it is a pleasure.  However, guilt is the next emotion that comes.  There is a sense of condemnation from the work of the Spirit.  We feel estranged from the LORD.  The lost, even though they think life is wonderful apart from God have nothing to which to compare it.  They have never walked with God so how are they to correct in assuming a life of self-determination and pleasure is better than a life surrendered to the LORD? 

Years ago, I went into this funhouse.  It was not a horror house.  It was one of those old-fashioned fun houses with different parts of it made up in the theme of optician illusion.  A room of mirrors, perhaps.  Or a room of bumper pillars.  One room I remember very distinctly.  The walls, openings, and stationary objects were all fashioned to make the room look as though it was impassible.  The object was to enter one door and try to make it out the other.  The floor was on an incline.  It sure was fun trying to keep one’s balance and get to the other end of the room.  After a while, the bumps and falling was not so much fun anymore.  Then I noticed something.  The floor was the only constant.  Even though it was uphill, it was not on a tilt.  The walls, windows, framed in openings, and obstructions were all contrary to one another and built on a tilt.  If I kept my eyes on the floor, it was easy getting through the remainder of the obstacle.  It was more fun and brought greater joy to comply with the only absolute in the room than to bounce around by everything else that went contrary to nature itself.  There was more joy in submitting to that which was true than to become a victim of all that which was not.

Adam and Eve learned the hard way there is more joy in obedience than there is in disobedience.  There is more joy in solving a problem and getting the right solution than getting it marked wrong.  The world is trying to convince mankind they are miserable as they comply with God’s design.  Children are victims of rebellious adult’s twisted evil.  Children are being convinced God did not know what He was doing when He created them and they could be much happier if they do what they want.  This struggle is right down where we live.  No matter our spiritual standing with God, we struggle over the pleasures of sin for a season.  We forget that walking as God would have us to walk will bring us the greatest amount of joy possible.  This joy, according to Jesus, no man can take from us.  We simply must trust it.