When
God Instructs, Obey!
It’s
a privilege; not to be second guessed
Most of
us would be familiar with the Johari Window. It is the work of two American
psychologists – Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham. The Johari Window is a technique
that can be used to understand ourselves and others better.
It is
essentially a feedback mechanism with four windows:
- Known to Self and Known to Others (Arena / Open)
- Known to Self, but Not known to Others (Facade or Mass /Hidden)
- Unknown to Self, but Known to Others (Blind Spot)
- Unknown to Self and Unknown to Others (Unknown)
For
this reflection I would like to focus on the Blind Spot (Unknown to Self, but
Known to Others).
When I
first got into the field of advertising, it was not my area of interest. I preferred
journalism. But God knew better.
I was
in between jobs, when I bumped into a collegemate from St Xavier’s College,
Mumbai.
“You
know what Mathew; I think you should join advertising. You will like it. You
will take to it like duck to water”. Not only did she make that proclamation
with such conviction, she also set up an interview with her husband, who was
the General Manager of a leading advertising agency in the country. I began my
apprenticeship in advertising.
Unknown
to me, absolutely unsolicited, out-of-the-blue, a collegemate, spots my
‘potential’ and sets me up for success. My potential and destiny were Unknown
to me, but known to the other. By His Grace.
“Meanwhile, Moses was
shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led
the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of
God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing
fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not
consumed. So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this
marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”
After telling Moses that the ground he is standing on
is holy, God shares the entreaties of the Israelites with Moses:
“And now the
cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the
Egyptians are oppressing them. Therefore, go! I am sending
you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
“God
said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This
is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ (Exodus
1:14)
Yahweh,
the I AM, the LORD, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’, spotted the potential in Moses, which
Moses did not see in himself or would not see in himself.
After
the royal life in the Pharaoh’s palace and the providential escape after
killing an Egyptian while defending an Israelite, it would come as no surprise
to anyone that Moses preferred the peace and tranquility of grazing his
father-in-law’s flock. But God had a bigger flock in mind for him which he was
being asked to shepherd out from Egypt.
“But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that
I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Sometimes good things come our way.
But we become apprehensive of our ability to carry out the responsibilities
involved. This is where our faith walk makes a difference. God’s plans for us
are always bigger than our imagination and our self-view.
Moses resisted his appointment
(Exodus 4:10-14):
“Please,
Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor
since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.
“And
the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the
deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now
go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”
“Then
the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the
Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to
meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You
are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to
speak, and I will teach you what to do. He will speak to the
people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to
him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform
signs with it.”
The
trouble that God needs to go through when we resist.
God
needed Moses to make His plan work - the work of freeing the Israelites from
Egyptian slavery and to occupy the Promise Land. God had preserved Moses from Pharaoh’s
‘boy’ killing spree (Exodus 1:22), for this very purpose. God provided Moses, his
brother, Aaron, to do the speaking, while Moses performed the miracles.
God
was with Moses. He spoke directly to Moses. God was protective of Moses. When Miriam,
the sister of Moses opposed him on some matter, her skin turned leprous. (Numbers
12).
Though
just an apprentice at the advertising agency, without much knowledge of how
systems worked, my boss trusted me to assist him with the launch of a new
product – at that time one of the most expensive advertising campaigns of the
agency.
I
took to it like ‘duck to water’. So confident was I that I started following my
own counsel. Then something went wrong. It was media related issue with some
consequences for the agency.
Instead
of firing me on the spot which I richly deserved, he just said, “Next time I
tell you to do something, do it exactly the way I tell you to do it. You are
not being paid to think, simply follow the instruction given.”
That’s
one lesson I hope I never to forget. When instructed by a superior, just do it.
In doubt, clarify. But do it.
A
privilege cannot be abused without consequences.
In
Numbers 20, a privileged bunch, with God personally escorting them from Egypt
to the Promised Land, grumbled at the Desert of Zin.
“Now there was no
water for the community, and the people gathered in
opposition to Moses and Aaron (2).
“The Lord said
to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the
assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its
water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and
their livestock can drink (7,8).”
“So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he
commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the
assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen,
you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised
his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and
the community and their livestock drank (9-11).
‘’But the Lord said
to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as
holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community
into the land I give them (12).”
“These were the waters of Meribah where the Israelites
quarreled with the Lord and
where he was proved holy among them.”
God's punishment was
harsh. “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the
eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the
land that I have given them” (Num.20:12). Moses and Aaron, like all the
people who rebelled against God’s plan earlier (Num. 14:22-23), did not to enter the Promised
Land.
In fact, none of the
first generation of Israelites who left Egypt, except Joshua and Caleb (who was
unintimidated by giants who were descendants of Anak in the land God had asked
them to conquer) entered the Promise Land.
One can argue that Moses
was frustrated. He was. Moses was angry. He was. Moses was afraid to look
foolish. He was. What if no water sprang forth? So, he hit the rock twice, just
to be doubly sure. In contravention to God’s command.
The discipline and
ability to understand your superior’s instruction, and to execute it to
perfection, is what is expected of each one of us.
You could get a second
chance, like the one my boss gave me. Or you could get fired (lose out on the ‘’Promised
Land’’).
I catch myself telling
my children, when they did not do something exactly the way I asked them to do,
or had not done it at all, that obedience is so important. That in times when
the right reflexive response is needed, a potential accident, when mere seconds
are involved, the instinct to obey is what will save them.
While Moses spearheaded
the Exodus, Noah was chosen by God to start a whole new race. He obeyed to a
fault.
God told Noah: “This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits
long … (Gen 6:14)
Noah obeyed God, not only in building the Ark,
but building it exactly to God’s architectural design, “Put a door in the side
of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks (16).”
Noah did not ponder or ask, “Lord, why three
decks? That’s a lot of work.”
He got his answer when the boat was ready and the
cargo had to be loaded.
“Two of every kind of bird, of every
kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground
will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is
to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.
God said, “Everything on
earth will perish. But I will establish my
covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your
wife and your sons’ wives with you (17-18).”
“Noah did
everything just as God commanded him (20-22).”
That is a call to us
too. To “enter the ark” as Noah’s family did. They were saved from perishing
with the rest of the world.
“For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
In our life too, may we not ‘strike twice to draw
water from the rock, but trust God, that his word to strike just once is enough;
that He may be glorified’.
For Isaiah 55:11 tell us, “So shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I sent it.”
Sunday, April 19, 2020
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