This is an excerpt from chapter 3 of Angela Moreno’s new book The O Word: Why obedience isn’t a bad word. You can purchase your copy at Amazon.

Let’s do a brief recap so we are all on the same page. God asks us to do something for Him. We either choose to obey or to disobey. We do one of three things:

1. We immediately do what God asks.
2. We make a list of reasons why or why not we should do what is asked; we think about it.
3. We just outright disobey and do our own thing.

No matter how valid our reasons are for disobeying, we are still choosing to not follow the will of God and to sin against Him.

Now to what I think is one of the most important aspects of obedience. Our choice to obey or disobey affects those around us, even people we don’t know or realize will be affected. It’s the good old-fashion cause and effect rule that we learn in elementary school. When we choose to obey God, our choice affects others. When we choose to disobey God, our choice affects others. Some of those effects are positive and some of those effects are negative.

Let’s look at an example that had huge ripple effects on many people. David is one of the most beloved figures in the Bible. If you grew up in church, you probably heard about him defeating the giant Goliath with a slingshot. David was always a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). Even though David so badly wanted to do right in God’s eyes, he like us often fell short.

In 2 Samuel 11, we read of a series of bad choices and disobedience to God’s law that sends David and the people around him down a dark path. During David’s time, kings went to war with their troops to maintain and fight for land. David decided to sit this war out and sent Joab to fight instead. Act of disobedience number one.

One evening, unable to sleep, David got up and went to the rooftop of his home. Here David eyes Bathsheba, the wife of one of his loyal soldiers who is off fighting for Israel. David was so smitten with Bathsheba that he decides to sleep with her, and she gets pregnant. Act of disobedience number two.

Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, returns to Jerusalem at the request of King David. David had concocted a plan to have Uriah sleep with his wife Bathsheba so Uriah would think that David’s child was Uriah’s child. When that plan fails, Uriah is sent back into the battlefield with a note to Joab. Uriah carried his very own death sentence back to the battlefield. David told Joab to put Uriah on the frontlines where the battle was the fiercest and withdraw the rest of the troops from Uriah so he would die in the battle. Joab obeyed and Uriah died. Act of disobedience number three.

The prophet Nathan admonishes David on the Lord’s behalf. He also tells David that the punishment for his actions is the death of the baby born to him and Bathsheba. David’s disobedience caused the death of two innocent bystanders who had absolutely nothing to do with David’s disobedience.

This wouldn’t be the only time David’s disobedience caused negative consequences for others. When David conducted an unauthorized census of the fighting men of Israel, a direct violation of God’s law, the consequences were felt by those who had nothing to do with David’s act of disobedience. The seer Gad gave David a choice of punishments: three years of famine, three months of fleeing a pursuing enemy, or three days of plagues over Israel. David chose three days of plagues and 70,000 Israelites died. All from one man’s disobedience.

Seems unfair right?

We would never do something that would cause this much destruction and devastation.

Or would you?

How many times have you heard about a spouse cheating on their significant other? Or have you been the spouse cheating or cheated on? There is destruction on all sides. Families are torn apart. Children no longer have a two-parent home. Trust is destroyed, and it may take years for the person who was cheated on to trust again. What about the shame of friends and family members? The life you once knew is now over and a new one must begin because of an act of disobedience.

What about the person who embezzles from his job? When the person is caught, the amount is so high that he is facing felony charges and jail time. His reputation is shot and forget about getting a job in the industry he was working in. His family is so embarrassed that they chose to leave. He is on his own to fight the battle alone. A life destroyed by disobedience.

Now that we are completely bummed out by the act of disobedience, let’s talk about the effects of obedience.