On my last post I pointed out an important difference between the life we acquired through our physical birth and the life we acquired through our spiritual birth, a difference residing in the fact that while the former is mostly marked by recurrences the latter unfolds itself through occurrences only. In other words, the former life returns on its own footprints time and again, but the latter never treads the same path twice.
So what does it mean in practice? It means that our spiritual life—contrary to our secular life—cannot be lived mechanically. For instance, when we tie our shoes we do it mechanically, i.e., we do it without thinking. In fact we can even do it with our eyes closed because we have been trained through thousands of repetitions to do it automatically. The same is true about putting our pants on, eating a bowl of soup, or washing the dishes. But when it comes to our spiritual life such automation makes no sense, for we have never passed this way before. This simple truth is often overlooked and the misapprehension always leads to a self-reliance that has little to offer.
The Exodus exemplifies the principal. The people of Israel were constantly penetrating the unprecedented, the unknown knowable, the mystery of divine wisdom. It is this constant entrance into the unfamiliar that marks the progressing life of the twice born. In this unknown land of experiences never lived, of uncharted paths, of unprecedented circumstances and events, only God is sufficient; we are as blind men in need of help. Without Him we cannot proceed nor succeed.
This insufficiency is beautifully expressed in the Book of Isaiah:
And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them” (Isaiah 42:16).
An unhealthy practice
Now the observation mentioned above is not always understood and we often find ourselves living our spiritual life as we live the secular. The result is a robotic lifestyle leading nowhere, or worse, leading the wrong direction.
The tendency to build prototype in our mind is one of the expressions of this doomed procedure. Let me explain. Let’s say brother George has a deep problem with drinking and we, with concern and love, want to help him. The situation is somewhat delicate and we don’t exactly know how to handle the case, so we go on our knees and inquire from God, asking for guidance and wisdom. Happily, soon enough, God in His love and mercy guides our steps and through a definite course of action and specific counsels we help George to overcome his problem.
Now, we might not be aware of it but often the course of action we took and the counsels we gave become a sort of prototype stored in our subconsciousness. Hence, when we meet another George—his name might be Alexander, John, or Oliver—we simply apply the pattern we have learned in former experiences. Consequently we don’t need to inquire of God for we think we know how to handle the situation. So we push the button and the process begins.
After having dealt with 47 people classified in the George category we are regarded as “expert”. In fact we might write a book entitled, “The George syndrome”, and Christians who are facing a George might be inclined to buy our book and to apply the rhetorical mechanism therein expressed.
This sort of handling, as professional as it may appear, can only lead to mediocrity or absolute disaster. It is so because there are no two Georges; each person is unique; and even if you would deal with the same George the circumstances would surely be different. In fact, George would no longer be the same person, for he would have experienced changes in time. In other words, you would find yourself treading a path you have never trodden. Consequently you would need to go on your knees as you did the first time, asking God to direct your steps. The counsel found in the Book of Proverbs is still valid today:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Prov. 3:5).
God might guide us taking the past into account, but His guidance will not be a duplicate of what He used in the past because everything is in flux.
The example of Josiah
The Bible offers us multiple examples of the importance of inquiring of God at all times. One of them is found in 2 Chronicles. It has to do with Josiah, one of the most righteous king Judah has ever had.
We read in 2 Kings 23:25 the following:
Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.”
He began to seek God at the age of 16, and began to clean the land of its idols at the age of 20. It is written of him:
And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left” (2 Chr. 34:2).
And again: “There had been no Passover kept in Israel like that since the days of Samuel the prophet; and none of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as Josiah kept, with the priests and the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (2 Chr. 35:18).
But one day this great king leaned on his own understanding and didn’t inquire of God. This happened when Necho, king of Egypt, was going to cross the land of Judah with his army to reach Carchemish, an important city in Syria, where he was going to fight against the Babylonians. He could have circumvented the land of Judah but God had told him to make haste. Here is the passage:
After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates; and Josiah went out against him. 21 But he sent messengers to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I have not come against you this day, but against the house with which I have war; for God commanded me to make haste. Refrain from meddling with God, who is with me, lest He destroy you.” 22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo” (2 Chronicles 35:20–22).
Let us put ourselves in the shoes of Josiah. A pagan king is about to invade his land with a huge army and he wants him to believe God is with him and that he has no interest in the land of Judah. The deceit seems too obvious. Every time an army had come to the borders of Judah it was to invade it and take possession of it. The deception was conspicuous. So he engaged in battle with the Egyptian army and died.
And the archers shot King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded.” 24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jerusalem. So he died, and was buried in one of the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah” (2 Chronicles 35:23,24).
What a sad end. It seems everything was so obvious. Beware of acting fast on the ostensible reason that the suitable course of action is crystal clear. It has misled many before and the result is often devastating. Josiah could have inquired of God as his custom was. But he was misled by the apparent clarity of the case.
Let us inquire from the Lord and wait on His leading, for we have never passed this way before.
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