June 20, 2011 (Day 32) Obedience

As with anything in life and especially trials that we go through, obedience is a choice. I am always closely reminded of that with having a toddler. We always tell Ava, “Make a good choice, you have to choose to listen and obey.” These words are repeated hundreds of times during the week and at times I feel like a broken record. I am sure in so many ways God experiences this on a daily level with me too. The frustration that you feel as a parent when your kids disobey is difficult, but the extreme joy can not be measured as you witness your kids making the choice to respond out of obedience.

The other day while reading the book My utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers, I came across a quote that completely turned on a huge light bulb for me. It says:

“The tiniest detail in which I obey has all the omnipotent (unlimited or infinite) power of the grace of God behind it.” (Excerpt from June 15^th devotional)

I sat there to let it soak in and it totally changed the way I had ever thought of obedience. As I continue on my journey with the Lord there was the very real revelation that by me choosing to disobey I am left with nothing, yet when I choose to obey that act has all the power of the grace of God behind it. It completely compelled me to want that heart to quickly respond out of obedience to God.

As I read a book on David & Goliath to Ava for nap today it was explaining the story in a very simple way. It said that David spent his days with the sheep as a shepherd and God gave him all that time to learn how to practice fighting Goliath. It was another light bulb for me as I considered the huge truth behind that simple phrase. You would think that God would have sent David off to battle with his brothers to prepare him to fight the fiercest battle with Goliath. You would think that David would have been known in all the land as the mightiest fighter before he was chosen to fight the giant. And yet we see God taking David away from all of it into the fields to protect the sheep. It was there that David was taught how to “fight giants.”

God used that time in David’s life to allow him to focus on who God was. He protected the sheep from fierce predators with his sling and his stones. When the time came, when all others were too focused on tactics, David had created a daily routine of obeying God in the tiniest of details and was ready for the battle. He chose to obey because God had created that heart in him all his days being spent as a simple shepherd boy.

I look at Chris & I and I see exactly why God chose us. When all is said and done, God will receive 100% of the glory. I am 24 years old, a college drop out, a stay at home mom with no medical background, and we live off of a small single income. My husband is a contractor turned tech salesman for Dell with no college degree.  In terms of the world, we are lower class and uneducated. But, to God we are couple who He has been taking through the fire since our marriage began instilling in us a heart to obey. So, no I don’t have a college degree or a fancy career title, but with every detail of my life as I strive to obey, I have the complete infinite power of the grace of God behind me. When all is said and done Chris & I will not be able to say that we were educated to understand Jackson’s heart condition, that we were well off enough to pay for all of his care, or that  we were wise enough to know what to do.  But just as David had his sling and his stones, Chris & I stand daily at the battlefield with our simple tools ready to move in the direction God has for us.

There is nothing simple about how David took down Goliath and yet all that was physically used was a small sling and a stone. The real power and the real weapon was that David chose to obey the calling of the Lord and with that a simple swing of the sling was carried by all the omnipotent power of the grace of God. The people watched in amazement as the young boy defeated the giant. Lord, may you create in me a routine of obedience so that when you call me to respond, my choice is that of a willing and able heart to run to the battlefield with confidence that you are with me!