Obedience and Suffering
How easily do you learn?
Verse of the Day
“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him”
Today’s Devotional
At first glance, I don’t like this verse. I don’t like the thought that obedience is learned through suffering. I mean, I know that to be true in my life. I have learned to be obedient in certain things by going through some very difficult seasons of suffering first. But I don’t want to HAVE to suffer in order to learn. Also, it strikes me as odd that Jesus had to suffer to learn obedience. So I did some research.
Here’s what I found on this verse from the Enduring Word commentary. Jesus was God and is God, yet he learned obedience. God, enthroned in heaven’s glory, can only experience obedience by casting off the glory of the throne and humbling Himself as Jesus did. Why? Because God, enthroned in heaven, has nothing or no one to obey. All obey Him. So the only way for God to actually experience and participate in obedience is to put on flesh and be in a situation where obedience was required. Which is exactly what Jesus did for us. The angels must have marveled as they saw God the Son, who added humanity to His deity, actually live out obedience.
Jesus did not pass from disobedience to obedience. He learned obedience by actually obeying. Jesus did not have to learn how to obey, He learned what was involved in obedience. Jesus learned the experience of obedience, and part of that learning was enduring suffering. Jesus obeyed in spectacular challenges. He obeyed in ordinary life. He obeyed as a child, as a teen, and as a young man. He obeyed privately and publicly. He obeyed God the Father as well as rightful human authority. Jesus obeyed in all things, even to the end. Even when He was distressed to the point of sweating blood and asking His Dad if there might be another way to secure your salvation.
Even Jesus could not have learned and experienced obedience by mere observation. His becoming human and having to obey the call to the cross is just one more example of His ability to empathize with our suffering, because He has suffered a much harder call to obey than I have.
If suffering was used to teach Jesus to obey, then we must never despise it as a tool of instruction in our life. Having said that, I believe God’s primary intention is for us to learn the lessons we need by being in the Word and in relationship with God. But…we simply aren’t that smart. We usually need pain in order to really learn. Think about children. They typically don’t learn a valued lesson or skill without failure and consequences. Once they walk through the failure and the consequences, they are much more likely to retain the lesson we were trying to teach them all along. We adults are no better.
Perhaps we can discern a situation today based on suffering from our past. Perhaps today’s suffering is helping us to discern some truth that we could not discern otherwise. Perhaps…obedience in tasks in one area of life can lead to incredible discernment in another area. I firmly believe that obedience precedes discernment.
I am grateful to have a Savior who knows from experience the difficulty of obeying and the desire for an easier way out. I am incredibly grateful for His obedience. Because of that, we are saved. And because of His example, I can learn obedience.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
In what areas is it difficult for you to obey?
How can you learn from Jesus’s example of obedience?
How has God used suffering to teach you?
If you are seeking discernment in a specific area, what is a different area of your life where you can intentionally be obedient?