Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth, wrote: ‘Tonight I sit on the porch, our old German Shepherd dog lying at my feet. Thunder rumbles in the distance. As the storm nears he tears into the front yard to meet it…furiously doing battle. As it passes he returns to the porch, convinced he has driven it away. He’s a German guard dog, carefully trained in search and rescue, attack and obedience. Search and rescue in these mountains can come in handy. I can’t imagine an occasion on which I’d give the order to attack. But a well-trained dog can sense hostility or spot a weapon (even what resembles a weapon), in which case it’s a wise person who freezes in his tracks. But it’s the obedience training that gives real joy. To stop, to sit, to lie down, to go away, to search, to stay, to heel. A disobedient dog is not only a headache, he can be a liability. Obedience makes a dog a joy.
Is it less so with God and His children? There are some I know who’ve been trained in attack. We will not mention their names – you may know a few – but they’re skilled at it. Then there are those trained in search and rescue. (I put the Salvation Army in this group.) And there are those who’ve been trained in obedience. I think this more than anything else must give the Lord pleasure. Simple obedience; joyful, eager, unquestioning obedience. To be able to say with the psalmist, “I delight to do Your will, O my God” would be the height of training for the Christian. For this is what gives God the greatest pleasure.’
Numbers 32-34, Mark 9:30-50
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