Obedience No Matter the Outcome
If you knew everything you built would be lost, would you still obey?
If you knew that all the work you were doing today would end ultimately in defeat, would you still do it? If you knew the thing you were building, or the life you were working towards, or the reforms you were making would still not be enough to save your efforts—would you keep going?
Sometimes God calls us to momentary work that won’t last. Sometimes God calls us to temporary work that serves for a moment, but won’t for a lifetime. Sometimes God calls us to obedience, but the fruit comes later.
When I was a kid I learned about a lot of Old Testament characters, but for some reason “Good King Josiah” stands out. I don’t remember much of what I learned about him in childhood, but his obedience and goodness stuck with me. Recently, I reread his story in 2 Chronicles and was struck not by his goodness, but by the temporary nature of his reforms.
Josiah comes in a time where the kings have led God’s people into repeated rebellion. If the theme of the book of Judges is “there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” then the theme of Kings and Chronicles is “there is a king in Israel and he does what is right in his own eyes.” And the outcome is still the same. They ask for a king like the nations, and the king can’t lead them rightly. They have a king like the nations, and he leads them farther away from Yahweh.
The kingdom is not working for Israel.
But every few kings, a good one pops up. Every few kings, God draws his people back to him. Josiah is one of those kings. He returns the people to worship. He restores the temple and the Levitical sacrificial system (2 Chron. 34:8-13). He leads the people in repentance. He smashes idols and brings the Torah back to the people (2 Chron. 34:3-7). He seeks counsel and establishes the priesthood (2 Chron 34:19-22). He recovers the word of God and gives it to the people (2 Chron. 34:14-21). He’s a good king. In all of this, God speaks to Josiah both words of healing and words of judgment.
None of this would be enough.
God would stay his hand in Josiah’s day, but the people will need to pay for their rebellion. The sins of the fathers cannot be abated, the land must be purged and cleansed of the idolatry. And yet, Josiah keeps reforming. He knows the land will never be restored to its intended glory. He knows there is no going back to the days of prosperity and blessing without first dealing with the sin in the camp. But he still moves forward in repentance and reformation. He moves forward with calling God’s people to renewing the covenant (2 Chron. 34:29-33). He moves forward with going back to the basics—observing the Passover and cleansing them from their sin (2 Chron. 35).
Why?
I like to think it’s because obedience matters. It doesn’t matter what God does in ten years if you don’t walk faithfully in the next ten minutes. Josiah was called to the people in front of him. The people in front of him needed to be brought back to the God who had delivered them repeatedly and given them everything. Even if the land was to be stripped from them, they needed to repent and follow him for as long it was theirs.
God cares about every individual person’s response to him. We can’t respond for the person next to us, any more than Josiah could respond for the wayward nation. He could lead them to the well, but they had to grab the cup and gather their own water. In other words, he could smash their idols, but only they could resolve to never erect another one.
But along with that, no human response (even from the Good King Josiah) is enough to stay the hand of judgment we all deserve. Josiah could lead the people to the altar, but he couldn’t die for the people. He could lead people to the book of the law, but he couldn’t make them obey it. His reforms are impressive, but as the prophet Huldah tells him in 2 Chronicles 34, judgment is needed and right for the rebellion of the people.
We can’t move people to respond and change. Only God can do that. We can’t stop the discipline of the Lord on people. We can’t stay his hand of judgment.. We can speak his word to those in our hearing. We can lay foundation stones of faith, trusting that he will see the project through. We can minister and serve not knowing the outcome because we know we’re part of something bigger than our moment. God is building a people for himself, and sometimes he has to take them through the waters of discipline and exile to get them to the other side. We’re simply called to walk in obedience for today. He will take care of the rest.
It runs counter to our modern notion of building something you can see and experience in your lifetime. In a microwave culture, we expect results yesterday.
Sometimes he calls us to obedience and faithfulness even while we can’t see how and where the plane is going to land. Sometimes he calls us to build something for a time, knowing that one day it won’t last. It was there for the moment and for the people at that time, but it wasn’t meant to stay.
Regardless, the story of Josiah is an encouragement to us. The people in every story matter. Repentance in every age matters. Obedience to God’s word, even if it means it all crumbles after, matters. Sometimes the success story is you walked faithfully that day. The end result doesn’t always have to be “and they lived happily ever after”—especially in this life.
In the end, Josiah walked faithfully all the way to glory. He was one man in one time period. The calling on his life is the same calling on mine (and yours). Obey no matter the outcome. Follow the Savior and his word even if it doesn’t end in perceived success. The people of your moment matter, even if you never see the end result of their growth.
