Is delayed obedience disobedience?

True obedience will also be prompt. Postponed obedience is often disobedience in one of its worst forms, and certainly argues both insubjection and self-will; for as soon as the command is given the obligation is binding, and every moment of delay (unless permitted by the parent) is the assertion and prolongation of opposition to his authority. The Lord has given us an incidental illustration of this, and its danger, in one of His parables. "Son, go work today in my vineyard … He answered and said, I go, sir: and went not." (Matt. 21:28-31.) Now in this case it is more than likely that the son meant to obey, when he replied, "I go, sir;" but putting off the execution of the command he received, and being thus disobedient, he still delayed, and in the end did not obey his father at all. As our Lord here shows, the son who said at first, "I will not," but afterward repented and went, was more obedient than he who said "I go," but went not. This danger is very subtle. Thus a child will often reason, It will do just as well in an hour hence; and as far as that one matter may be concerned it might be so. But it should be remembered, not only as pointed out, that the obligation to obedience is immediate, but also that the habit may soon be formed of neglecting to obey; and then the next step may soon be a disinclination to obey. Too much stress therefore cannot be laid upon the importance of a prompt response to every command received.

Obedience should be cheerful as well as prompt, or as the Scriptures teach in the case of servants, it should be "doing the will of God from the heart." (Eph. 6:6.) Everyone indeed will perceive that a mere external obedience — an obedience which is rendered reluctantly, which would not be rendered unless compelled — is no obedience at all. True obedience can only spring from love; as two lines of a hymn have it - "Love makes our willing feet In swift obedience move;"

As to the second question, it is practically answered already. In bestowing power, God is sovereign. When the Word has spoken, I am bound to obey. To "refuse obedience until," is to disobey; and it is to assume authority on my own will, and not wait till God chooses to do that which rests on His will. Back

The moment it is a matter of obedience which can be done, then it must be done. The commandment has not lost its authority.

That His call requires prompt, unhesitating obedience, He emphasizes Himself elsewhere. How great a thing is promptness, when once we are assured of the Lord's will. There is then nothing else to be considered, while moral hesitancy may so cloud this assurance as to make obedience then impracticable. Not alone in this, with how many would the present darkness of their way be clearly intelligible, if they would face honestly their past history. And that history must, after all, be faced one day.

c. The Hebrew has: “I hurried and delayed not to keep Thy commandments.” Of course a sinner cannot be saved by keeping His commandments, but in this sentence we find an important principle that forms part of a true conversion — total submission to His Word. There must be obedience to the Word of “repentance.” Now, what is true at the beginning of our spiritual lives is also true for the continuation of them. Never put off till tomorrow what you must do today. Prompt obedience is the secret of true spiritual growth.

"And Abraham rose up early in the morning." There is ready obedience. "I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments." Faith never stops to look at circumstances, or ponder results; it only looks at God; it expresses itself thus; "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the Gentiles; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." (Gal. 1:1, 5, 16) The moment we confer with flesh and blood, our testimony and service are marred, for flesh and blood can never obey. We must rise early, and carry out, through grace, the divine command. Thus we are blessed, and God is glorified. Having God's own word as the basis of our acting will ever impart strength and stability to our acting. If we merely act from impulse, when the impulse subsides, the acting will subside also.

But weak flesh is impatient of delay. It was too tedious for them to wait patiently for the Lord to appear and direct their steps. “I go a-fishing,” says one. “We come with thee,” say the rest. Oh, ye followers of the risen Christ, think of the impetuous Saul, that disobedient king who refused to wait for Samuel to offer the burnt sacrifice (1 Sam. 13:8-14). His fleshly haste cost him his kingdom. Sheep of Christ, will you not wait in patience for the Great Shepherd Who was smitten for you? Do not spoil your obedience by your impatience!

This, then, is the answer of our Lord to the first temptation. Why should He turn the stones into bread? He hung upon God's word: His Father had not told Him to do so. So should it ever be with us. Where we have no clear expression of the mind of God, it is always our place to wait till we have. Sometimes it may show our weakness that we do not know the mind of God, and this is distasteful to us. Restlessness would like to go somewhere, or do something, but this is not faith. Faith proves itself in waiting for God to manifest His will.

But some one, whose eye scans these lines, may say, or at least may feel disposed to say, "Well, after all, I am in perplexity as to my path. I really do not know which way to turn or what step to take." If this be the language of the reader, we would simply ask him this one question, "art thou following Jesus? If so, thou canst not be in perplexity. Art thou following the cloud? If so, thy way is as plain as God can make it." Here lies the root of the whole matter. Perplexity or uncertainty is very often the fruit of the working of the will. We are bent upon doing something which God does not want us to do at all — upon going somewhere that God does not want us to go. We pray about it, and get no answer. We pray again and again, and get no answer. How is this? Why the simple fact is that God wants us to be quiet — to stand still — to remain just where we are. Wherefore, instead of racking our brain and harassing our souls about what we ought to do, let us do nothing, but simply wait on God.

"Thou shalt make no covenant with them." Could ought be plainer than this? Could tattered garments, old shoes and mouldy bread alter the meaning of the divine command, or do away with the urgent necessity for strict obedience on the part of the congregation? Assuredly not. Nothing can ever afford a warrant for lowering, the breadth of a hair, the standard of obedience to the word of God. If there are difficulties in the way, if perplexing circumstances come before us, if things crop up for which we are not prepared, and as to which we are unable to form a judgement, what are we to do? Reason? Jump to conclusions? Act on our own, or on any human judgement? Most certainly not. What then? Wait on God; wait patiently, humbly, believingly; and He will assuredly counsel and guide. "The meek will he guide in judgement; and the meek will he teach his way. Had Joshua and the princes acted thus, they never would have made a league with the Gibeonites; and if the reader acts thus, he will be delivered from every evil work and preserved to the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.