Digging Ditches Part 2

"Thus saith the Lord: Make this valley full of ditches."
2 Kings 3: 16

**Excerpts from Digging Ditches by Helen Roseveare.  For background see my last post.**

The Lord started to re-focus my heart from the ever-deep desire to live on the mountain-tops, to the realization that God's work is mostly done in the valleys.


So the next stage of my life's journey was established on that promise.  That it might not be easy, that there will be heartaches and deep problems on route, I was well aware.  He did not promise me a bed of roses without thorns.  But He did promise me that others would be blessed if I would obey and trust Him.


So I was to learn to go deeper down to "dig ditches" that were often unseen and unrecognized by others, but which God promised to fill with blessing for others.  My first instinct was "Okay, God, I'll dig you a Suez Canal!" but that was not what he asked for!  My Lord wanted just daily small obediences; He wanted me to do whatever needed to be done next without needing to be thanked or recognized, without a pedestal or a halo.


"You dig that ditch daily and I will fill it daily!"


He wants me to dig ditches, hundreds of little, often unconnected, ditches. Preaching, teaching, visiting, sharing, chatting, being available without seeing any special blessing, these were the ditches I dug.


I was not being asked to dig a Suez Canal, just a multitude of small ditches, each one individually important.


The digging might well involve blistered hands and a sore heart.


Was God asking me to live a day at a time, and do each small task as it arose without asking for one long-term goal?  Ditches?  It's not what we trained for!  We have no proper tools!  It's beneath our dignity!  Of course, without the ditches, the water God wanted to send would have been wasted.  The ditches were essential to contain the promised blessing.


And another ditch was dug and another blessing poured out by our gracious God.


And I must keep on digging ditches until my valley is full - without regrets, without looking backwards, (nor to be planning endlessly for tomorrow and the what-might-be of the future) but rather with joy and expectation waiting for the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour.

Digging Ditches Part 1

I've mentioned in my last post that I have two favorite books.  I talked about Disappointment with God here.  My other favorite book is Digging Ditches by Helen Roseveare.  Dr. Helen Roseveare was a missionary to the Congo from 1953 to 1973.  In 1964 she was taken prisoner by rebel forces and she remained a prisoner for five months, enduring beatings and rapings. She left the Congo and headed back to England after her release but returned to the Congo in 1966 to assist in the rebuilding of the nation. She helped establish a new medical school and hospital (the other hospitals that she built were destroyed) and served there until she left in 1973.  

She wrote Digging Ditches later in life (subtitled: The Latest Chapter of An Inspirational Life) after her earlier "mountain top experiences" as she was trying to figure out what the next "big" thing God had for her.  As a result of an illness of her own, she was asked to take a leave of absence of sorts from full-time missionary work; thus, leaving her in a position to seek God’s will for her life. In her pursuit, she landed on 2 Kings 3:16. God gives us valleys and we are to dig ditches. This book is about those ditches that she must dig, while holding onto His promises to fill them, even if she never sees how.

What hit me about this book is the realization that every life isn't filled with these continual really big moments or accomplishments that receive fame, thanks, or praise.  Millions of Christians live their life day to day digging ditches, trusting that they will be filled with life-giving water.  There was a time when I was always trying to find that big thing that God wanted me to do, this major accomplishment that God created me for.  But what if there's isn't this huge event or moment that He has planned for me?  What if I'm suppose to bring glory to God in all the seemingly mundane things I do on a daily basis?  What if it's about talking to people and sharing life with friends?  What if it's about comforting someone when they hurt?  What if it's about doing my job with a smile because someone walking in the door needs one?  And what if I never see or hear about the results of my obedience?