By Pr Isaiah White
In the Old Testament, prophets spearheaded the teachings against disobedience.
They warned that children should obey their parents (Exodus 20:12) or else risk being killed (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).
The nation of Israel was reminded that being blessed depended on how obedient they were, and that curses were inevitable consequences of disobedience (Deuteronomy 27-28).
Disobedience is one of the major problems in the Old Testament and the prophets emphasised it as the cause of all the problems the people of Israel suffered.
Of all people, we expected Prophet Jonah to have known better of this, before he strayed and disobeyed God. Through his experience, we learn the cost of disobedience.
He paid the fare
“But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3).
The first cost that Jonah incurred due to his disobedience to God was spending money.
While God was to take on the costs of where He had sent him, Jonah paid the fare for his journey of disobedience.
This world is filled with people who are spending their wealth due to disobedience.
God said “thou shalt not kill”, but some nations are spending on weapons of mass destruction.
In a world where the will of God is marital faithfulness, many are spending money on adulterous ventures.
They are spending on pornographic materials, building houses, buying cars, and all sorts of things for their mistresses.
The cost of disobeying God manifests in the things we are spending our wealth and health on.
Are you paying the fare, and to which destination? Check your ways to see if you are living and spending your life, health, and wealth on disobedience.
Costing others
Jonah 1:5: “Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load.”
We learn from Jonah that when you disobey God, the people around you may also suffer due to your disobedience.
The merchants who were going the right way were joined by a disobedient prophet going the wrong way, and they had to throw their merchandise in the sea to survive. This was a loss to them!
Children might suffer due to their parents’ disobedience, and likewise, parents might suffer because of disobedient children.
An unfaithful spouse will have their family hurt because of her/his disobedient choices.
This is exactly what Jonah caused in the ship; his fellow travelers lost their property, only because he was disobeying God’s word.
Disobedience kills
Due to disobedience, Jonah went to sleep and did not know what was happening around him.
“But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep” (Jonah 1:5).
Sleep is a state of unconsciousness. While others were praying and calling God to survive, he was in deep sleep, unconscious, and was about to drown with the ship.
The disadvantage of disobedience is that it might lead one to hang on to inanimate things, which may cause them to drown.
Disobedience cuts off our spiritual fillers and we cannot discern the voice of the Spirit.
Because disobedience is resistance to the will of God, our will takes nowhere but down into sleep to die and suffer unconsciously.
Disobedience took Jonah down to Tarshish. He went down to the lower deck of the ship and went to sleep.
When he was found, he was cast down into the sea. Deep down in the sea, he was swallowed by the fish and he went down in its belly. Disobedience takes us down.
We are called to obey
Obedience demonstrates who we are, the kind of God we worship, and the world we anticipate.
It does not secure us better relations with God than the ones we have with Him already; obedience is rather the effect of that relationship we have with Him.
To us Christians, obedience is an expression of our faith in God.
It is a principle of life that cannot be traded for anything materialistic.
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1Samuel 15:22).
The writer is a life coach and pastor.
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Email: whitemwine@gmail.com
