I can tell you from firsthand experience that cleaning up after animals isn’t the most pleasant job in the world.
When my boys were young, we all wanted to learn to ride. Horseback riding is expensive, however, so when we began taking riding lessons, we also began cleaning stalls for the owner of the horse farm to support our hobby. You can believe me when I say that we used to come home reeking. In fact, we each had special clothing we wore when we went to the stable, and we would take these off before entering the house and then head straight to the shower.
The job was also a thankless one. Horses don’t care if their barn is clean or not, and though it would be “squeaky-clean” when we finished, it never stayed that way long. As soon as the horses were brought back in, you couldn’t tell we had ever been there.
So why did we persist in mucking stalls? Because it was the way we could take riding lessons.
Over time, as we got to know the owner of the riding stable, and she came to trust us to the point where we could take the horses out anytime we wanted to. Bonus! All because we were willing to muck stalls!
This reminds me of a verse in Proverbs: “Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; But much increase comes by the strength of an ox.” (Prov 14:4, NKJV)
Livestock was necessary for livelihood in Solomon’s day; therefore, though your trough would stay clean without an ox, and though you wouldn’t have the unpleasant task of cleaning up after that ox, you also would not have had the tools you needed to cultivate your land and support your family!
What does this have to do with life today?
There is a lot of “stall mucking” that has to be done in each of our lives. In fact, we can’t avoid the “dirty troughs” at all, for things that “dirty” our “barns”–illness, financial difficulties, natural disasters, persecution, family problems, job problems, abuse, etc.–arise all the time.
No, it isn’t fun to deal with these problems. It’s a dirty, stinky, thankless job that sometimes can take months and even years to resolve, if ever. But let’s remember that the unpleasant things in life are often necessary for the greater good. Without mucking stalls, there would have been no horseback riding or riding lessons for my boys and I, and without the need to clean up the trough after the lifestock, there would have been no oxen to plow the fields and earn a livelihood. In the same way, God can bring us blessing from the “stalls” we have to “muck” through our lives as well.
The Apostle Paul knew what I’m talking about, and it was with Heavenly wisdom that he wrote: “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Rom 5:3-5, NKJV).
But words are cheap. Did Paul practice what he preached?
Absolutely. The last two chapters of Acts are a prime example. Paul had lots of “stalls to muck”. Though innocent of all charges, he was imprisoned by the Jews. He endured shipwreck and many other hardships before arriving in Rome, where he was kept for at least two years in chains. But this was the vehicle he needed to be able to reach Rome and the Roman people, and he used it to its maximum capacity. He spent the entire two years preaching and teaching, and as a result, the Roman church was born. Without those “ox troughs” to be “cleaned”, history would have been radically changed.
Got stalls to muck? Barns to clean? Problems to endure? Bring them on! Let’s follow Paul’s example and use these bad situations as tools for bringing glory to God’s name, for the real joy comes from the final reward!
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.