Are you resisting God because you don't understand some facet of His truth?
Obedience to your Creator must come through faith.
The Bible, in no uncertain terms, relates the stories of two different kinds of people: those who questioned God and disobeyed His orders because they were displeased with His answers, and those who obeyed Him without questioning. The first way leads to eternal death; the second way leads to eternal life.
Be honest with yourself! How do you ask questions about the Bible? How do you seek the truth? Is it wrong to ask questions? Why do you ask questions? Is it to learn or to argue? To understand or to rationalize? To obey or to rebel?
More often than not, people ask questions not because they are truly interested in the answer, but because they are looking for an excuse to disagree — to not submit themselves to an order — or simply to pretend they are smart.
For instance, to the carnal mind, Sabbath-keeping doesn't make much sense. What's so holy about the seventh day of the week? Why should the Sabbath be different than any other day? What difference does it make whether God rested on that day or not?
The answer, of course, is utterly simple for those who believe in God and are honestly searching for the truth. If for no other reason, we keep the Sabbath because God says to!
Faith does not require understanding
Strange as it may seem, your obedience to God does not depend upon His answers to your "whys."
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1). Notice! The Bible does not say, "Faith is the answer to all of your questions" or "the satisfaction of your intellectual curiosity." Faith is implicit trust in God and His Word — whether you understand its meaning or not. You believe God without questioning — and do what He says.
"For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (verses 2-3). The understanding is through faith, and not by arriving at some answer that is plausible to you — the answer that humanly you may have wanted.
When you grasp this truth, your attitude will change, and you will have a totally different outlook on life — a depth of faith in God that you have not experienced before.
Adam and Eve missed the point
Our first parents questioned God's orders and refused to believe Him. God commanded Adam: "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:16-17).
And as Adam and Eve let doubts enter their minds, they gradually became vulnerable to Satan's destructive deceptions. Why, indeed, had God given them such an unfair order? Why didn't He want them to eat of that particular fruit? Why, of all the trees in the garden, should this one be forbidden? The couple was unable — actually unwilling — to understand God's reasons, and they refused to obey Him without fully grasping the purpose of His order — and agreeing with it.
And so came about, as Herbert W. Armstrong has called it, the first "scientific experiment." It was based on distrust of God's Word! Adam and Eve yielded to their intellectual curiosity — to vanity. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat" (Gen. 3:6).
Think. Where did the pair get the idea that the tree was good for food and would "make one wise"? Had God told them that? No. Under Satan's influence, Adam and Eve convinced themselves that it was possible for them to reach the goal of God-ship without submitting to God's order. They rejected the Holy Spirit — which, in time, would have caused them to understand everything they needed to know for salvation.
Do you see how this can also affect all of us as Christians? If your obedience to God depends upon His answers to your questions — answers that will satisfy you — then you are most vulnerable to Satan's attacks. Satan is today trying to divide the Church by putting doubts in God's people's minds!
Noah didn't ask why
Noah was righteous before God. How can we be? The Bible simply states, "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God" (Gen. 6:9).
Unlike Adam and Eve, Noah did not question God's orders. He didn't doubt His Creator's intentions and Word. "Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he" (verse 22).
Simple, isn't it? A childlike faith. Yet, ironic as it may seem, many people today, swayed by their intellectual vanity, claim that the biblical account of Noah's ark is not scientific. They are convinced — despite what God says — that the ark could not have been big enough to shelter all of the animals. Or they raise questions about how the animals of their own accord came into the ark. None of this, in the minds of the "wise" of this world, is scientific. In short, they distrust God's Word.
But Noah didn't. He faithfully obeyed the order, went ahead with the construction and after many years of hard labor, completed it — just in time, before the waters came. Noah trusted God's scientific mind!
Abraham's obedience
Abraham's life is one of the most difficult stories for a carnal mind to accept. In some ways, it may even sound illogical to a converted mind. Just imagine! Abraham was 75 years old when God told him, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee" (Gen. 12:1).
But why? Why should an older man be ordered to leave his homeland and settle in an unknown country? Why couldn't God choose a younger man? After all, Abraham was prosperous and blessed in his native country. He was a happy man. Why did he have to move? Couldn't God have blessed him or his children in some other ways — ways that would have been more humane and more logical?
However valid these questions may seem, our forefather Abraham didn't ask them. He trusted God and obeyed Him. "So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him" (verse 4).
And how about the unthinkable order God gave the old patriarch to sacrifice Isaac, the son he loved? Does that really make sense? Is it just — is it godly — to kill a son and burn him as an offering?
Let's face it — Abraham could have found numerous reasons to argue with God — to even doubt Him. Why did God have to put him through such difficult tests? Can you possibly obey a God who tells you to kill your son, when He Himself has emphatically ordered you, "Thou shall not kill"? Why in the world would God give such an impossible order?
Again, humanly speaking, these are logical questions, but Abraham knew that his obedience to God was not subject to his perfect understanding of God's orders. He unconditionally trusted and obeyed his Creator, who knows all things best.
"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him" (Gen. 22:3).
What an attitude! Would you have acted the same way? Would you have obeyed God without raising all kinds of objections? No wonder Abraham is called "the father of us all" (Rom. 4:16) — in faith! Now compare his attitude with that of Saul, the first human king of Israel.
Obedience is better than sacrifice
Unlike Abraham, King Saul did not choose to walk with God. He questioned the orders he received, rather than obeying in faith.
Saul was instructed by the prophet Samuel: "And thou shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do" (1 Sam. 10:8).
The order was clear. It needed no explanation. But Saul had neither Abraham's obedient attitude nor Noah's patience. He allowed his vanity to lead him into disobedience. He asked why Samuel — and not he, the king — should perform the burnt offerings. What difference would that really make? And why should the waiting period be seven days? What if Samuel were delayed? There was no obvious reason for him to follow the order exactly.
Actually, Samuel was delayed. For some reason, he did not show up at the appointed time. King Saul needed no better excuse to disobey. Since the prophet didn't come at the appointed time — and since "the people were scattered from him" — he took things in his own hands and offered the burnt offerings.
However, no sooner had he undertaken the task than Samuel arrived. "Thou hast done foolishly," he told the king. "Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever" (1 Sam. 13:13). Saul failed to pass the test. His heart was not right and God rejected him.
Saul's character was also tested when God ordered him to "go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass" (I Sam. 15:3).
Once again, Saul and his people had something to say. why did God want to smite every single Amalekite and utterly destroy their belongings? Was that kind? Why not spare the children and women? What wrong had they done? Moreover, why take vengeance on the oxen, sheep, camels and asses?
To King Saul's carnal mind none of this made sense. Any responsible human being could simply not obey such an order — even if it came from God. Consequently, "Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly" (verse 9).
Strange, isn't it? King Saul and his people thought they knew better than God. This reasoning prevented them from obeying Him.
"And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams" (verse 22).
What a lesson for all of us to learn. And what a pity that some of God's people have forgotten it. Partial obedience is not sufficient. With God, it's all or nothing.