5 Ways to Disobey God

Five Ways to Disobey God

by Chris Reeves

As we begin the new year, let us think about how we all can do our best not to disobey God. Let us strive to please God and obey him. The Devil makes it easy for us to disobey God, and he will try to get us to do just that. Let us remind ourselves how we can disobey God. There are five ways.

1. By doing what God has said not to do. This is the way Adam and Eve disobeyed God. They ate what God had told them not to eat and were punished (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:6). Lot's wife also disobeyed this way. She looked back when God said not to look back and she was killed (Genesis 19:17,26). Whatever the temptation, whatever the reason, we must never do what God has said not to do (James 2:11).

2. By failing to do what God has said to do. This is the way Israel disobeyed. They did not enter the land of Canaan when God told them to do so and they were punished (Numbers 13:30-14:3). Jonah also disobeyed this way. He did not go to Ninevah when God told him to go and he was punished (Jonah 1:1-3). Regardless of the obstacles and challenges that lie ahead, we must always do what God has planned for us to do (James 4:17).

3. By adding to God's word. This is the way Nadab and Abihu disobeyed. They added "strange fire" which the Lord had not commanded them and they perished (Leviticus 10:1-2). No matter what good work or neat idea we would like to add to God's plan, we must never add to God's word (2 John 9).

4. By taking from God's word. This is the way the blind men (Matthew 9:27-31) and the leper (Mark 1:40-45) disobeyed. They took the first part of what Jesus said and obeyed it, but ignored the rest of what Jesus said. Even if there are things that we think are unnecessary or inconvenient in God's word that we would like to remove, we must never take away from God's commandments (Deuteronomy 4:2).

5. By substituting for what is commanded by God. This is what Naaman tried to do. He tried to reap the benefits of God's mercy by substituting his river for God's river and he found out that it won't work (2 K.5:8-14). No matter how much we think our ways are better than God's ways, we must never substitute what we like for what God commands (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Let us work hard this year to obey the Lord, never disobey.

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