By Ruby Ramsey

 After Moses died, Joshua became the leader of the Israelite nation. In  Joshua 1 God spoke to Joshua. Three times in the first nine verses God said: "Be strong and of good courage." In verse 9 He added:

"...Do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

In Chapters 23-24 Joshua told the people things he wanted them to remember after he was dead.

"Behold this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and all your souls, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you, and not one word of them has failed." (Joshua 23:14)

Finally Joshua said in Joshua 24:24:

"...But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

We serve the same God Joshua and the Israelites served. We serve the same God but under a different Law. When we study this New Testament Law under which we serve this same God, we learn that we are also asked to submit to and to obey!

"It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in men." (Psalm 118:8)

"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, 'We ought to obey God rather than men."  (Acts 5:29)

In 1 Samuel 15 is the story of Saul being sent to Amalek. He was told to utterly destroy everything and everybody. Saul disobeyed. He thought he knew better than God. He brought back the king, the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs and all that was good. He was not willing to do what he was told to do and to uttlerly destroy everything.  He came before Samuel, and I imagine he was expecting to be commended. But Samuel told him: "...Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed better than the fat of rams."

To obey God is better than anything else we can do. God wants us to obey Him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength. Whatever God asks us to do, we should have that same mindset that Joshua had.

We should have the same mindset Christ had in the garden. Christ totally submitted to God. He was willing to die on that cruel cross, not for His sin, but for ours. Most likely, we will never have to be subjected to crucifixion, but whatever happens to us, we should be willing to suffer, but never disobey God!

"Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slave whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." (Romans 6:16-18)

We are slaves of righteousness when we obey God. God is a tenderhearted Master. He wants only good things for those who obey Him. He blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

Our obedience is what pleases God.