Obedience is a curious thing. It necessitates submitting before an authority figure. The charge to obey does not take into account your will or what you would like to do. There’s something beautiful about the way obeying a trustworthy figure bolsters the desire to be obedient again in the future.

There’s quite an interesting story in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus and His disciples are on the outskirts of Jerusalem preparing the entrance that history will remember as Palm Sunday. Jesus tells two of His disciples to go into the town where they will find a colt tied. This colt has never been ridden before, and if anyone asks what they are doing they are instructed to say, “The Lord has need of it.”

The two disciples follow the odd instructions to a tee. And sure enough as they are untying the colt, they’re confronted by someone. Could be the owner, some stranger, who knows, but someone says . . . what are you doing? To which the disciples, in obedience, give their instructed response. “The Lord has need of it.” The suspecting stranger finds that a sufficient reply and lets the disciples go with the unridden colt in hand (Mark 11:1-10).

Is this a Jedi mind trick? What’s going on here? Well, we don’t know much more than what the text gives us. These two disciples could have confusingly looked Jesus and said, “this sounds crazy” and refused to obey. All the while missing out on a pretty amazing experience.

Now, there are two takeaways I want to zero in on. The first is this: the obedient two disciples were given a confusing task. They trusted in Jesus anyways and exercised obedience. The situation played out exactly as they were told. There’s no doubt that as they return to Jesus with the colt that they’re now in an even better, deeper place to trust in Jesus moving forward.

Obedience towards the wrong person can also lead us astray. But once that comes to our attention, what happens? That person loses both our trust and our willingness to be obedient to them moving forward. Obedience to a trustworthy figure grows our trust and prepares us for larger tasks to come. We hear this spelled out in different words, “He who is faithful in a very little will be faithful with much” (Luke 16:10).

The second frame I want us to focus in on is that of the colt. Why was the colt included in the story?  We could get into previous prophecies in the Old Testament and such, but the simple reason is this – the Lord had need of it.

Friend, you and I are invited into the grand narrative that God is writing. He doesn’t need us to accomplish His purposes, but He chooses to invite us in and if we say yes, give us a role to play. Just like the colt, the Lord has need of you. There are things that only you can accomplish and people that your life in particular is primed to touch. Things and people that are different from my story.

When we step out in obedience towards a trustworthy God, it grows our trust in Him and readies us to risk just a little more and trust just a little deeper when we get that next invitation. The Lord is after our hearts. And He begins that work inside of us, but the work solidifies in us through our actions.

It’s one thing to say I believe in X, Y, or Z. It’s a whole other thing to do something because you believe in said thing. Obedience solidifies belief. And friend, your story is unique. It’s one of a kind. And you are where you are for a reason and for such a time as this. Let’s together say yes when we feel the promptings to obey and step out, why? – Because the Lord has need of it.