You shall command the priest who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, “When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.” Joshua 3:8
Sometimes obedience just doesn’t make sense. Sometimes God asks us to do something that seems incompatiable with what we feel or understand. I imagine that this was the Israelites’ experience when God told the priest to stang in the Jordan River. They may have found it hard to believe that God would again help up waters like He did at the Red Sea. Still, He called them to trust and obey Him.
In every relationship and in every circumstance, we are to live to celebrate our God and bless Him through obedience. Through the day and into the night, both when people watch us and when no one is near, we must be resolved to make God smile. Our hearts must beat for His honor and our souls must sing for His pleasure. We are to live each moment in a manner that is worthy of His love and empowered by His grace. The Spirit awakens our heart to think first of God’s joy before we speak, write, or take action. As God’s Word unveils His heart and opens our eyes to what gives Him delight, we determine to weave every fiber in the fabric of our lives into a garment of praise.
There is no higher calling and no greater joy than to give all that we are to glorify God. To pursue His pleasure is the aim of our obedience. To know His pleasure is our supreme treasure.
Glorious God, when I stand on the brink of difficulty or on the summit of success, may my heart embrace Your will and seek Your pleasure. May the resounding song of Christ’s love rooted deep in my soul propel me to step forward in concert with Your purposes for me. I pray that I might adjust every thought, word, and action of my life according to Your desire, as unveiled by Your Spirit and through Your Word. Amen.