Our Daily Bread Podcast | Our Daily Bread Our Daily Bread Ministries

During our wedding ceremony, our minister said to me, “Do you promise to love, honor, and obey your husband, until death do you part?” Glancing at my fiancé, I whispered, “Obey?” We’d built our relationship on love and respect—not blind obedience, as the vows seemed to suggest. My husband’s father captured on film the wide-eyed moment I processed the word obey and said, “I do.”

Over the years, God has shown me that my resistance to the word obey had nothing to do with the incredibly complex relationship between a husband and wife. I’d understood obey to mean “subjugated” or “forced submission,” which Scripture doesn’t support. Rather, the word obey in the Bible expresses the many ways we can love God. As my husband and I celebrate thirty years of marriage, through the power of the Holy Spirit we’re still learning to love Jesus and each other.

When Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments” (John 14:15 nlt), He showed us that obedience to His Word would be the result of an ongoing loving and intimate relationship with Him (vv. 16-21).

Jesus’ love is selfless, unconditional, and never forceful or abusive. As we follow and honor Him in all our relationships, the Holy Spirit can help us see obedience to His Word as a wise and loving act of trust and worship.

Leaving home one morning, Dean found some friends waiting with balloons. His friend Josh stepped forward. “We entered your poems in a competition,” he said, before handing Dean an envelope. Inside was a card that read ‘First Prize,’ and soon everyone was crying tears of joy. Dean’s friends had done a beautiful thing, confirming his writing talent.

Weeping for joy is a paradoxical experience. Tears are normally a response to pain, not joy; and joy is normally expressed with laughter, not tears. Italian psychologists have noted that tears of joy come at times of deep personal meaning—like when we feel deeply loved or achieve a major goal. This led them to conclude that tears of joy are pointers to the meaning of our lives.

I imagine tears of joy erupting everywhere Jesus went. How could the parents of the man born blind not weep for joy when Jesus healed him (John 9:1-9), or Mary and Martha after He raised their brother from death (11:38-43)? When God’s people are brought into a restored world, “Tears of joy will stream down their faces,” God says, “and I will lead them home with great care” (Jeremiah 31:9 nlt).

If tears of joy show us the meaning of our lives, imagine that great day to come. As tears stream down our faces, we’ll know without doubt that the meaning of life has always been to live intimately with Him.

A routine wellness check for little Calvin revealed a few unexpected spots on his body. During the visit, he was given some shots, and the injection spot was covered with a bandage. At home, when the time came to remove the small adhesive covering, Calvin whimpered with four-year-old fear. Seeking to console his son, his father said, “Calvin, you know I’d never do anything to hurt you.” His father wanted his son to trust him more than fearing the removal of the bandage.

Four-year-olds aren’t the only ones who grow faint in the face of discomfort. Surgeries, separation from loved ones, mental or psychological challenges—and more—prompt our fears, sighs, cries, and groans.

One of David’s fear-filled moments was when he found himself in Philistine territory while fleeing a jealous King Saul. When he was recognized, he was anxious about what might happen to him (see 1 Samuel 21:10-11): “David . . . was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath” (v. 12). Reflecting on this uncomfortable situation, David wrote, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. . . . In God I trust and am not afraid” (Psalm 56:3-4).

What shall we do when life’s discomforts stir up our fears? We can gaze into the face of our heavenly Father, who’s always there to help us.

“Prayers for an upcoming brain scan.” “That my kids would come back to church.” “Comfort for Dave, who lost his wife.” Our card ministry team receives a weekly list of prayer requests like these so we can pray and send each person a handwritten note. The requests are overwhelming, and our efforts can feel small and unnoticed. That changed after I received a heartfelt thank-you card from the recently bereaved husband, with a copy of his beloved wife’s obituary. I realized anew that prayer matters.

Jesus modeled that we should pray earnestly, often, and with hopeful faith. His time on earth was limited, but He prioritized getting away by Himself to pray (Mark 1:35; 6:46; 14:32).

Hundreds of year earlier, the Israelite king Hezekiah learned this lesson too. He was told that an illness would soon take his life (2 Kings 20:1). In distress and weeping bitterly, Hezekiah “turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord” (vv. 2-3). In this instance, God’s response was immediate. He healed Hezekiah’s sickness, added fifteen years to his life, and promised to rescue the kingdom from an adversary (vv. 5-6). God answered his prayer not because Hezekiah was living a good life, but “for [His] own honor and the sake of [His] servant David” (v. 6 nlt). We may not always receive what we ask for, but we can be sure that God is working in and through every prayer.

The “monster” in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of the most widely known literary characters, captivating our cultural imagination. But close readers of the beloved novel know that a strong case can be made that Shelley actually portrays Victor Frankenstein, the delusional scientist who created the creature, as the real monster. After creating an intelligent creature, Victor denies him any guidance, companionship, or hope of happiness—seemingly guaranteeing the creature’s descent into desperation and rage. Confronting Victor, the creature laments, “You, my creator, would tear me to pieces and triumph.”

Scripture reveals how different the true Creator of all things is—with unchanging, tireless love for His creation. God didn’t create on a whim, but out of love created a beautiful, good world (Genesis 1:31). And even when humanity turned from Him to choose monstrous evil instead, God’s commitment to and love for humanity didn’t change.

As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, God’s love for His creation was so great He was willing to give even what was most dear to Him—“his one and only Son” (John 3:16)—that the world might be saved. Jesus sacrificed Himself, bearing the consequences of our sin, so “that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (v. 15).

We have a Creator we can trust with our hearts and lives.

Even after Jesus had set my son Geoff free from years of substance abuse, I still had worries. We’d been through much together and my focus sometimes  remained on his difficult past instead of the future God had for him. Parents of addicts often worry about relapse, and one day at a family gathering , I pulled Geoff aside. “Remember,” I told him, “we have an adversary, and he’s powerful.” “I know, Dad,” he responded. “He has power, but he has no authority.”

In that moment I was reminded of Jesus’ incomparable  authority to rescue us from our sins and transform our lives as we look to Him. Immediately I thought of His words to His disciples shortly before He returned to His Father in heaven: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go . . .” (Matthew 28:18–19).

The crucified and risen Jesus  has made a way for us to come to Him no matter what our past may be. . . He holds both our past and our future. Because He’s promised to be with us always (v. 20), we can be assured that He’ll accomplish His purposes and that our lives are  in His unfailing hands. Jesus gives us unparalleled hope, a hope so good we can’t keep it to ourselves. The devil and the world may have some power for a little while, but “all authority” belongs to Jesus forever.