COSTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF OBEDIENCE August 13, 2020

No, the title is not misspelled, because the Word we read today is really something that has been controversial for thousands of years.  It deals with a lot of issues that still fuels conflicts and wars even to our time today—when the Bible records that GOD instructed the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt, to take the promised land of Canaan, and drive away and utterly destroy its then-inhabitants, as detailed in the fifth book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, chapter 7. 

 

Non-Zionists would argue that in this regard, Israel is one of the biggest land-grabbers in history, akin to the European colonists who destroyed thousand-years-old cultures, resources and peoples in many countries around the world outside of theirs just to feed their greed for gold, for spices, for glory.  This sentiment is also at the heart of those who persecuted the modern-day Jews, one of the most prominent of whom was the Adolf we know during World War 2, and many others over the decades even until now, in many places around the Western world.

 

This was also a point of confusion of one famous Praise and Worship Minister, who suddenly at the height of his career, lost faith and turned atheist, saying that he could not reconcile this wrathful GOD of the Old Testament, to the loving and merciful Jesus Christ in the New. 

 

But according to Jewish religious scholars, one should not be confused.  They believe that this behavior change could only be attributed to one thing—GOD, like us who are made in His image—was also learning how to deal with people.  When GOD created man, He expected total obedience, but man sinned and disobeyed.  Naturally, GOD inflicted punishment in the form of banishing them from the Garden of Eden; cursing the ground for them so that all of humanity’s days, we all have to toil hard just to earn a meager means of sustenance (even for those blessed enough to work in white collar jobs, we all have to almost surrender our humanity to contend with the rat race of promotion and climb the ladder of advancement); increasing a woman’s pain in childbirth so that even the bravest man becomes a helpless boy in front of his wife’s delivery room; and cursing even our first elder brother to a life of wandering, both a bane and boon to many of us, because at the deepest part of our hearts, we know that we are nomads, not meant to root in one place, but to ever move, ever learn, and ever experience something new and challenging.

 

Jewish scholars say that the Old Testament GOD realized that the being He created in His image, when He infused it with free will, was also able to think and feel, and like Him, has an inalienable right to think, live and express freely, to choose freely, to not be forced to work or be abused or enslaved for another, and to decide for himself whether he should acknowledge the One who created him or not.  And this speaks to the core of the matter, the heart of man. 

 

The GOD of the Old Testament was still learning that even though man is equipped with everything he can possibly use to survive, but that the heart to worship and serve GOD is something that is unique to the human being, something that cannot be compelled but should be willingly done and given, much like the lyrics of one worship song that says everything we have belongs to GOD, but the only thing that we have that we can offer Him is the heart to worship and praise Him for who He is and for all He’s done. 

 

And this is what Jewish scholars say, was what Jesus addressed in the New Testament, when He said that we are to “love the Lord our GOD, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And to love other people as we love ourselves.” (Mark 12:29-31)  In our relationship with GOD and with other people, love should be at the root of it, because absent that, we are only robots (plastic or synthetic, maybe, the favorite word of those who have been betrayed by back-stabbing friends) who can think and do tasks but never connect, because our souls could never reach out and render the emotion and the affection necessary for such a relationship to exist and thrive in the first place.

 

And so Israel, and the modern Jews, realized through time what the costs and consequences of their obedience to GOD were.  They were hated by many, persecuted until the modern times, and yet, still blessed by multitudes when people desire to make pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and “pray for its peace, and gain prosperity in loving them so.” (Psalm 122:6)

 

Some Jewish scholars say that in the process, GOD learned too, what are the costs and consequences for the people to obey Him.  Because man could never fully worship and serve GOD with all of his being by being given tablets of laws and ordinances, and yet He loves us too much to just let us go on our way, He has to send Jesus Christ, His Son, to die on the cross for our sins, and to make us be reconciled with Him. (John 3:16)

 

Rather than this part of Old Testament scripture dividing us and getting us confused as to the nature of GOD, maybe we should look at GOD as our true Father, who, like all the fathers around the world and throughout history, are also learning everyday how to deal with their children: from rendering sleepless nights on newborns and infants, to dealing with the energy of toddlers, responding to the bottomless curiosity of children, remaining tough yet gentle amidst the stubbornness and rebellion of teenagers, and staying steadfast and true in the face of the fierce independence of young adults, all the while getting amazed in wonder at the transformations and growth of a once-microscopic organic cell to develop into a mature and fully actualized human being, with its own mind, its own character, personality, behavior, talents and gifts.

 

And in our spiritual, mental and emotional lives too, this mirrors the costs and consequences that we have to give and take when we decide or not, to obey Him.  We may be hated, persecuted or mocked, when we choose to believe in faith, that whatever difficulties may happen, He will be there to preserve and deliver us, and be envied of, when we do not panic or get paranoid like the rest of the world in the face of the pandemic and its consequent economic and financial meltdowns.  But the consequence of such is that we can remain steadfast and strong, unmoved, able to think clearly and logically, persevere and endure, and so be able to develop our characters and ready ourselves to receive even greater things ahead. 

 

May we weigh every action we take, every word we speak, and every thought we entertain well, so that we may do what is right and necessary, for us to thrive and get ready to be blessed with more in the future.  May we learn to always keep in mind the costs and consequences of our convictions, and decide to live according to GOD’s great plan and purpose for us.