Obedience, What is it?
Obedience in the Noah 1828 dictionary is, Compliance with a command, prohibition or known law and rule of duty prescribed; the performance of what is required or enjoined by authority, or the abstaining from what is prohibited, in compliance with the command or prohibition.
In the greek language the word obedience stems from the word hypakoḗ (from191 /akoúō, "to hear" and 5259 /hypó, "beneath") – obedience – literally, "submission to what is heard" obedience as the response to someone speaking.
To hear and come underneath.
In Ruth 1 we see how Ruth looses her husband and instead of remarrying and moving on with her own life she decides to stay and care for her mother in law Naomi. Verse 1:16-17 Ruth is confirming to Naomi she will never leave her side. 16-17But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”
In chapter two of Ruth as she gleans in the fields and works to provide for her and Naomi; she finds favor. Naomi's kinsman Boaz gave Ruth protection as she worked in the fields. (2:10) In this moment she falls to her face and says to Boaz, "why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?"
(2:11-12) Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. 12 May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”
You see Ruth could have left Naomi in Chapter one just like her sister in law, but her commitment to Naomi out weighed whatever she thought her future could hold. She went and as she went she found favor in Boaz, and he protected her. In Chapter 3 Naomi gives Ruth instructions to lay at his feet (3:3-4). Ruth was obedient.
If Ruth had not stayed committed to caring for Naomi and being obedient to Naomi's counsel then she would have never seen the favor God wanted to bless her with. Now in this story Boaz takes Ruth as his bride, but really her obedience traces the line all the way up to David. You see when God calls us to be obedient: to come under one's authority and submit we think it's about us, but it's NOT! Just maybe God is going to use your obedience to line up your children, or children's children, or someone else's family. You never know who your obedience is for!
In the greek language the word obedience stems from the word hypakoḗ (from191 /akoúō, "to hear" and 5259 /hypó, "beneath") – obedience – literally, "submission to what is heard" obedience as the response to someone speaking.
To hear and come underneath.
In Ruth 1 we see how Ruth looses her husband and instead of remarrying and moving on with her own life she decides to stay and care for her mother in law Naomi. Verse 1:16-17 Ruth is confirming to Naomi she will never leave her side. 16-17But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”
In chapter two of Ruth as she gleans in the fields and works to provide for her and Naomi; she finds favor. Naomi's kinsman Boaz gave Ruth protection as she worked in the fields. (2:10) In this moment she falls to her face and says to Boaz, "why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?"
(2:11-12) Boaz replied to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. 12 May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”
You see Ruth could have left Naomi in Chapter one just like her sister in law, but her commitment to Naomi out weighed whatever she thought her future could hold. She went and as she went she found favor in Boaz, and he protected her. In Chapter 3 Naomi gives Ruth instructions to lay at his feet (3:3-4). Ruth was obedient.
If Ruth had not stayed committed to caring for Naomi and being obedient to Naomi's counsel then she would have never seen the favor God wanted to bless her with. Now in this story Boaz takes Ruth as his bride, but really her obedience traces the line all the way up to David. You see when God calls us to be obedient: to come under one's authority and submit we think it's about us, but it's NOT! Just maybe God is going to use your obedience to line up your children, or children's children, or someone else's family. You never know who your obedience is for!
Comments
Post a Comment