Simple Obedience
“Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.’”
Today’s Text: Joshua 6:1-14 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
Obeying the word of God will often make no sense to us. And that is because from the moment that we are born, our perspectives have been shaped by a fallen world and a fallen humanity. And that would be true even if we were raised in a convent or a monastery.
Given that, there are two verses that are always in the forefront of my own thinking:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
— Proverbs 3:5He says, “Be still and know that I am God;”
— Psalm 46:10a
The Scriptures testify to these truths through the lives of God’s people over and over again, but I’ve found that it is not easy to apply my life to these truths consistently.
Besides the “brainwashing” I am subject to by the world, another reason may be that being “still” does not necessarily mean doing nothing. First and foremost, there is prayer that should be and needs to be lifted up, at least.
But maybe the heart of being still is discerning the essence of obedience. Meaning: No matter what we do and no matter what happens in our lives, knowing that it is only our obedience to His commands that leads to anything good (according to God’s definition of “good”).
For example, when we read this account of the conquest of Jericho, the Lord told Joshua to do certain things. Joshua obeyed His commands to the letter. But he also did some other things, like having armed men go in front of the trumpeters who were in front of the ark. Of course, whatever he added did not interfere with the commands that were given.
For whatever reason, Joshua thought it was a good idea (maybe necessary?) to have those armed men go in front of the trumpeters and the ark. But in the end it was only the specific commands that he obeyed that led to the victory at Jericho, not anything that Joshua may have added.
My Bible reading schedule had me in 1 John 3 this morning, which talks about the obedience that is born of Christ’s righteousness. It says this:
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
— 1 John 3:23
I have to make every effort to trust in the Lord with all my heart, to be still and know He is in control, and to keep my perspective BASIC and simple as He commanded us.
Father, Your ways are good. Your ways are the only ways that will prevail. Give me wisdom and strength to understand Your ways and to trust in You alone. And lead me in the paths of righteousness. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
