"Hath God said?"

April 18, 2010

As the LORD commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua, and Joshua did it; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:15)

I qt-ed on Joshua 11 a few days ago, and that verse particularly stuck out to me. Joshua did EVERYTHING he was commanded to do, eg kill off all the people living in the area of Canaan, without questioning. To me, it was a demonstration/example of such unwavering, spontaneous, and steadfast obedience to the very word of God. And according to that verse, it was God's word to Moses, who then commanded Joshua. There is this chain of command, and Joshua willingly follows, without questioning Moses or God. As I was thinking about this verse, I feel like one of the major harms to this type of steadfast obedience that is truly required of us by God is our tendency to ask questions. We question whether or not what God has commanded is 'good,' we question if we heard correctly, if God would ACTUALLY command it of us, and then we attempt to use our own logical reasoning (very fallible indeed) to find an answer to our questions. Now this is all under the assumption that what God has commanded was very clearly made to us (eg, written in the Bible). I don't believe it is wrong to ask for confirmation from God of what He has commanded, but I do believe it wrong if we heard, but because of our own reasoning believe it to be wrong, and so do not obey.

Here's a great quote from The Cost of Discipleship that may help to clarify what I am talking about a bit more:

Moral difficulties were the first consequence of the Fall ... The Serpent in Paradise put them into the mind of the first man by asking, "Hath God said?" Until then the divine command had been clear enough, and man was ready to observe it in childlike obedience. But this is now past, and moral doubts and difficulties have crept in. The command, suggests the Serpent, needs to be explained and interpreted. "Hath God said?" Man must decide for himself what is good by using his conscience and his knowledge of good and evil. The commandment may be variously interpreted and explained: for God has given man a free will to decide what he will do. But this means disobedience from the start. Doubt and reflection take the place of spontaneous obedience. (Cost of Discipleship, Chapter 2)

I feel like lately I've been seeing instances of this 'doubt and reflection.' We like to take what has been so clearly commanded in the Bible and turn it about in our heads, using our limited knowledge of good and evil and our easily-fooled-conscience to determine what exactly is God commanding when sometimes, God doesn't call us to understand, but to just obey. We cannot understand everything God commands or all that He does or asks us to do; if we could, then our "God" has become too small for us. It is precisely because we are fallen creatures and created beings that we cannot ever fully understand every command God the creator has given us, but that does not exempt us from obeying.

It is amazing indeed at how highly we have come to place ourselves. So many times, the theological disputes I hear of (and sometimes even take part in) have their basis in our own pride that we have the right answer, that we have figured out what God actually means, and how such miraculous and amazing concepts such as grace, free will vs. predestination, salvation, etc. have indeed been understood and resolved with minds as small as ours. As if our minds could comprehend such glorious concepts only conceivable and perfected by so great a God that we have. So often, our generation and society has come to have this "unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in ... constant friction between men of corrupt mind" (1 Timothy 6:4), we like to ask questions that we'll never be able to get answers to, and use those questions as an excuse from obeying, and we become people "[who have] a form of godliness but [deny] its power" (2 Timothy 3:5) So what if we do not fully understand salvation, free will, predestination, etc? It does not exempt us from taking that step of faith to confess and believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

One example of such questioning and lack of obedience is brought up in The Cost of Discipleship: the question of obedience and believing. Which comes first? Do we obey because we believe? Or is it because we believe that we obey? Bonhoeffer dispels these questions, and says that both are true. It is precisely because we believe that we obey, and it is precisely because we obey that we are placed into a situation where belief is possible. If we only take half of that proposition: only those who believe obey, we are faced with situations where people feel like they just don't know how they can believe in God's commands, and so they use it as an excuse to disobey. For an extreme example, if someone could not believe or have the faith that God would call one to end an illegitimate relationship, they may use it as a "legit" excuse to not obey. On the other hand, if we take only the second part of the proposition: that only those who obey believe, you are thrown into a salvation that is by works only, which would also lead to damnation. And so the two are both necessary and both true, and there is no use in arguing about words or sequence, but to just take as is, and to obey.

I feel that a lot of times our questionings and endless musings are but unconscious excuses and opportunities for us to put off obedience. When God commands, our first instinct (because we are such 'intelligent' people) is to 'logically' think about it in our heads as to how God would want us to interpret such command before obeying. It's like when the lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor is that he is to love. He is trying to justify his disobedience by saying he doesn't know who his neighbors are.

Every moment and every situation challenges us to action and to obedience. We have literally no time to sit down and ask ourselves whether so-and-so is our neighbor or not. We must get into action and obey- we must behave like a neighbor to him. But perhaps this shocks you. Perhaps you still think you ought to think out beforehand and know what you ought to do. To that there is only one answer. You can only know and think about it by actually doing it. You can only learn what obedience is by obeying. It is no use asking questions; for it is only through obedience that you come to learn the truth. (Cost of Discipleship, Chapter 2)

I have an example! It's like trying to learn to swim without being in the water. One cannot fully understand or comprehend how to swim or take breaths while swimming without actually doing it. To learn and understand swimming, one must get into the water and try. Sometimes, we just have to take that jump of faith, to obey before we fully understand, so that in the process of obeying, we may begin to understand.

I think we ask questions too much, me included. That nagging feeling of having to know what exactly am I doing before doing it; it can be explained as either a pride issue or a fear issue. Too prideful to do something without understanding, forgetting that I am truly called to be a servant of God. A servant, and servants do not question their Master. They just obey. Fear, in that what God has commanded may lead to harm or to public censure or disapproval. Fear is really just another word for lack of trust in God's goodness and love for me. Either way, I believe we ask too many questions; we seek to understand things that are beyond comprehension, and yet we go at it because we believe that we are different, that we are intelligent, and that God's glorious mysteries could be revealed to such small, flawed creatures as we are. I believe we have to get rid of this pride and mentality, and return to our humble and proper place as servant-lovers of God, who obey unquestioningly, because He is both Master and Lover. Servants obey their Master because it is their duty, and lovers obey because they love and trust in the one who has so enraptured their heart. And we are called to be a wondrous combination of both!