There really is joy in obedience

Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts. - Psalms 119:2 NLT

If you are a parent then you know the joys and frustrations of raising your children. Sometimes they listen, but most of the time they do not. "Pick up your toys." "Clean up your room." "Please put your dirty clothes in the hamper." Why won't they just do it? What we are forgetting is that we probably did and still do the exact same thing.

Think about your day. Did you do anything today that you probably should not have done? With all the people that drive over the speed limit, roll through stop signs, etc. I would venture to guess that the answer is yes.

Why do we do that? Well, we were born into sin. It has been like that since the incident in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve at the forbidden fruit. And each time we do something we shouldn't we are probably asking ourselves why. This is what usually I hear in my head afterwards: "I know better than to say that." or "I know better than to do that." I then will find myself asking God for His forgiveness. 

The thing is, obeying God isn't always difficult. In 2 Kings 5, Naaman suffers from leprosy. He eventually goes to see the prophet Elisha. 

So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house.But Elisha sent a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of your leprosy.”But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! - 2 Kings 5:9-11

He was expecting it to be something even easier than what Elisha instructed him to do. His officers tried to reason with him asking him if Elisha had asked him to do something difficult, wouldn't he have done it? Naaman finally relents and goes. Imagine his joy at being healed of the leprosy. 

It doesn't matter of what God is asking us to do is hard or not, we will experience joy by being obedient. We simply need to trust Him and do what He is asking us to do.