Courage to Obey | Exodus 19-20

How many of you are rule followers? Some love rules. You read the instructions before assembling the furniture. You arrive to the airport 3 hours early. You use turning signals in the parking lot. You color inside the lines. For others, rules are more like suggestions or ideas. No body really hates rules, they just hate the rules from people we don’t trust.  We gladly follow the rules from people we trust and respect. We’ll take medicine we can’t pronounce if we trust our doctor. We’ll follow a financial plan if we believe that our advisor know what they are talking about. But when we don’t trust the person giving the command, then the rules seem restrictive instead of protective. Unfortunately, that is exactly how many people see God. A lot of people see Christianity as a list of rules. Don’t do this. Stop doing that. Behave. Be good. Try harder. The assumption is that Christianity is all about control and behavior modification. But the real issue underneath obedience isn’t effort, but TRUST. Our struggle to obey is because we do not trust God. We don’t trust His wisdom and His goodness. We don’t believe that His way is better. We don’t trust that God has our best interest at heart.

The book of Exodus can be divided into two parts and Exodus 19-20 are in the middle of it. Everything before it builds up to it and what comes after it flows from it.God has rescued His people by the blood of the Lamb, and they have crossed over by faith into a new life of freedom. Now they are standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, and they are going to receive from God through Moses what He wants for them. God has already brought them out, split the sea and defeated their enemies, now he asks them to obey Him. The question is not “do they understand the rules” but rather, “will they trust God?” In Exodus 19-20, we learn that courage to obey comes from a relationship with God who has rescued us.