God would have flunked West Point.
With a walled city and its skilled army blocking your path, what’s your strategy? March around it for seven days then blow your trumpet. The walls will tumble down.
Right.
Yet there’s something both wise and refreshing in this old tale told around Hebrew campfires.
I’ve spent my life in churches developing strategies for God’s kingdom. Vision and mission statements. Long range plans. Communication plans. Task forces, goals, metrics. Key objectives. Leadership development. Capital campaigns.
But in the end, what knocks down the walls? A Go Fund Me established for a child with leukemia. A meal brought over to a family whose mother is undergoing chemo. A “sneakers with soul” drive providing shoes for inner city kids.
There’s something very powerful about letting God focus on the big stuff while we’re faithful in the small. Obeying the tugs on our hearts. Drying tears. Filling stomachs. Putting Skechers on children’s feet.
This is all silly when you look at big goals, the kingdom breaking in, etc. Yet maybe it frees up God by moving us out of the way. Too often religious people speak for God when they should spend their time being quiet (like the Hebrew marchers) and simply obeying. Our words and ego sabotage.
If we focus on the small, what-looks-silly stuff, then we might be surprised at how the larger things take care of themselves. We might be surprised at how the walls crack because their foundations are weakening by the parade of silent, faithful people.
The Hebrews marched themselves into a cohesive community. The redundancy of footsteps, following the divine irrationality, brought them together. They shared anticipation as well as obedience.
Amazing what God does through people doing silly things.
Your thoughts remind me of my favorite quote from Mother Teresa…..”We can do no
great things, only small things with great love “ . Thank you, Pastor Greg, for reminding us that the smaller things DO matter.
Thanks, Greg. I need this reminder often to keep from getting overwhelmed by the enormous problems that the world faces everyday which make my individual efforts feel insufficient.
It is amazing how God works in ways that seem silly to us. Paul says it this way:
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”c
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.” – 1 Corinthians 1:18-21