Faithful Obedience

You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days.

Joshua 6:3 (NLT)

           

            The walls were some of the strongest they’d ever laid eyes on. Tall, wide enough to incorporate houses, guarded by soldiers on duty day and night, and sealed with strong gates, Jericho’s walls were virtually indomitable. Surely the Israelites took one look at the daunting obstacle before them and wondered how they would ever conquer such a fortified city.

            To make matters worse, Joshua instructed his troops to march around the town once a day for six days, then walk around Jericho seven times on the seventh day. That’s a like asking a professional basketball player to clean the locker rooms or expecting a successful surgeon to man the phones in his clinic. Joshua’s soldiers were trained for hand to hand combat. Their palms were itching to wield their sharpened swords. Yet, rather than fight, these skilled warriors were instructed to march around the city walls every day. Surely, they must have questioned the wisdom of God’s plan.

            Trudging around a wall for six days isn’t all that glamorous. It’s dusty, humbling, and undignified. But God did have a purpose for the plodding. He was teaching the Israelites the value of faithful obedience. Trust and obey; such a difficult task at times, especially when we’re down in the dirt and the grime.

            At times, God asks the same of us. Caring for a special-needs child can often be a challenge to our sense of purpose and our pride; changing diapers, bathing them after they’ve soiled themselves, feeding them when they can’t feed themselves, or picking up spilled Cheerios day after day, leaves us wondering if this is all there is to this life. Surely, God didn’t put us on this earth solely for this? Doesn’t he have a greater purpose, a bigger plan for our lives?

            Yet God calls us to trust and obey. For some reason, He chose me, He chose you, to raise this special child and He’s entrusted to us the task of caring for them. Far from glamorous, our role is not necessarily to wield a sword but to trudge around those daunting walls day after day in faithful obedience until, one day, they crumble into mere pebbles at our feet.

            There is no greater love, no greater service, than to love even when our child can't love in return. Our victories may not be witnessed by a throng of onlookers, but God notices every little act of loving service we perform in His name. Some of our greatest achievements may not be those seen by the eyes of men, but those perceived only by our Heavenly Father. One day, we will behold our Savior face to face, and He will hand us a crown sparkling with the jewels of faithful obedience. He will look into our eyes and say for all of heaven to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”