Faith On Steroids

Accountability – Part Two - Week 24

The Genesis account of Joseph suggests at least three reasons his brothers hated him. First, Joseph tattled on them, conveying bad reports of their behavior to their father: “Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren, being still a lad even with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought evil report of them unto their father.” [1]

Second, Joseph was the favorite of their father, Israel: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colours.” [2]

Third, Joseph told of his dreams in which the family would do obeisance to him: “And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren; and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them: ‘Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves came round about, and bowed down to my sheaf.’ And his brethren said to him: ‘Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?’ And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said: ‘Behold, I have dreamed yet a dream: and, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.’ And he told it to his father, and to his brethren; and his father rebuked him, and said unto him: ‘What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down to thee to the earth?’ And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying in mind.” [3]

Joseph’s seeming aspirations created in his brothers’ hearts such hatred that they sought to murder him: “And they saw him afar off, and before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.” [4]

Reason suggests that if Joseph’s dream came from God, his brothers could not and should not resist it, and if God did not give Joseph the dream, they should have laughed at his arrogance. [5] But anger is the enemy of reason. Men do in the heat of passion what their reason, in a moment of objectivity, abhors. You are never in greater danger of living in regret than when you find anger beginning to take its awful hold on you.

God’s people can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” [6] By the time you reach the end of Genesis, you discover that the only people injured by trying to hurt Joseph were those who, in anger, sought to murder him.

When Moses descended Mount Sinai and found the people worshipping the golden calf, in a fit of righteous indignation, he threw to the ground the two stone tablets engraved by God with the Ten Commandments. Later God said to him, “Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou didst break.” [7]

Later on in the Exodus, the people complained because of a lack of water and God instructed Moses to speak to the rock. In a fit of righteous indignation, Moses struck the rock. Because he hit the rock instead of speaking to the rock, God said he could not enter the Promised Land. “But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, ‘Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.’” [8] Moses’ expression of anger was his idea, not God’s.

Moses took the initiative when breaking the tablets of stone and God honored his act. But when he again took the initiative in communicating anger, he did so by neglecting to listen carefully to God’s instructions – and it cost him the opportunity to enter the Promised Land. Anger does this; it blocks your ability to listen carefully to what your authority says. Any time you take the initiative in doing God’s will, be very careful. God will not tolerate improvising at the expense of His instructions.

There seems to be perpetual tension between viewing Scripture objectively, on the one hand, and acknowledging its authority, on the other. You may agree that it is the inspired Word of God, and that you are obliged to obey it. But authority is restrictive; you want to do what you want. Therefore you are more prone to manipulate Scripture than any other literature. For example, most see no reason to manipulate the information in the morning newspaper simply because they are not under its authority; it is not telling them what to do. (People do manipulate the tax code, for example, in an effort to avoid paying taxes.)

When you interpret Scripture you must answer three questions. What does it say? What does it mean? How do I apply it? Knowing that you must move from the second to the third question, you can easily be tempted to manipulate the text to avoid the uncomfortable choice of altering your life and condemning your own disobedience.

For example, Jesus said, “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” [9] You can easily justify your disobedience by arguing that many who ask for money spend what they get on alcohol or drugs.

For this reason liberal commentators on the Bible are often more accurate than conservative commentators. Liberals don’t view Scripture as authoritative, don’t feel obligated to obey it, and therefore are more objective in their interpretation. Dependence, surrender, neutrality, an eagerness to obey God, no vested interest in the outcome, not trying to build anything - these are key in knowing God and His ways. The urge to manipulate authority is great, and the more absolute the authority, the greater the urge to manipulate.

Jesus says that when you pray you are to pray in His name. [10] Whatever it means to pray in His name, it includes your acknowledging His authority over all. You have no legitimate expectation of being heard if, when you pray in His name, you withhold any area of your life from His lordship.

Questions for Reflection

1 – List illustrations of situations (of which you are aware) where, because people resisted authority, they either ignored or manipulated the Bible.

2 – Are there any areas in your life where, because you do not wish to submit to God’s authority, you ignore the clear intent of Scripture? Evaluate this important matter very carefully.

3 – Do you resist the authority of other people by ignoring their request? What does this tell you about your concept of God?

4 – Do you believe Matthew 5:42 to be binding in your life? When do you think you can legitimately modify the words of Jesus – such as not giving a loaded gun to your small child for play?

[1] Genesis 37:2, JPS
[2] Verse 3
[3] Verses 5-11
[4] Verse 18
[5] We see this line of reasoning in the counsel of Gamaliel in Acts 5:34-39
[6] Hebrews 13:6, KJV – quoted from Psalm 118:6
[7] Exodus 34:1, JPS
[8] Deuteronomy 3:26, KJV
[9] Matthew 5:42, KJV
[10] Cf. John 16:24

This weekly meditation is provided by the Leadership Foundation (www.leadershipfoundation.org) & Walter Hendrichsen.

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