Acts 5:29 highlights this principle when Peter and the apostles said, "We must obey God rather than human beings!" They were instructed by religious leaders to stop preaching about Jesus, but they chose to obey God's command to spread the Gospel. Daniel 3 tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who refused to obey King Nebuchadnezzar's decree to worship a golden statue. They chose to obey God's command against idolatry, even at the risk of being thrown into a fiery furnace.

 

Romans 13:1-2 advises, "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted." However, this obedience is conditional on the authorities not commanding actions that contradict God's laws.

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In the book of Esther, Queen Esther disobeyed the law that prohibited approaching the king without being summoned. She did so to save her people from destruction, saying, "If I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16). Her act of disobedience was in line with God's greater purpose of preserving the Jewish people. Midwives' Courageous Disobedience: In Exodus 1:17, the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, disobeyed Pharaoh's order to kill all newborn Hebrew boys. They feared God and allowed the boys to live, showing obedience to God's value of life over the king's command.