DETOURS OF IGNORANCE

1 Samuel 15:1-16:23; John 8:1-20; Psalm 110:1-7; Proverbs 15:8-10

“What is more pleasing to the Lord:  your burnt offerings and sacrifices o your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”

“I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me.”

“The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but he delights in the prayers of the upright. The Lord detests the way of the wicked, but he loves those who pursue godliness.”

When we don’t know where Jesus is headed or what He wants of us, He can be hard to follow. If we harbor any doubts about His direction, we may be unprepared to respond to His call at all. But if we’re looking for excuses not to follow Christ, we are already lost. We should be looking for opportunities to serve Christ, not reasons to avoid Him.

That said, one of my greatest personal frustrations remains uncertainty regarding my path. Not that I have any real worries about my final home. I accept that the Lord is saving a room with my name on it in His heavenly mansion. My insecurities rear their ugly heads when I cannot relate my present course to my ultimate destination. I wrestle with the fear that my vocation, perspective or other big choices have led me down the wrong road. More clearly, when what I am doing does not obviously relate to what I know is the eventual goal, I worry my lifestyle has forced a detour off the path God wants me to travel.  Usually, this anxiety is well-grounded, but not always for the reason I think. Sometimes, Christ just wants me to focus more on Him and less on our journey together. 

Jesus could hardly have been plainer. If we want to be sure we are going in the right direction, we need to follow Him. But if we want to know where He is going, we need to know Him. This is why, for thousands of years, God has preferred obedience and submission to sacrifice and offerings. The Spirit recognizes we can only know Him after we submit to and obey Him. If we presume to reverse that order of things, we can be guilty of some pretty dangerous assumptions. Take Judas, for example. Judas was so certain Jesus’ goal was overthrowing the Roman oppressors that he never bothered to submit to or truly obey (and so fully know) the one he called Lord. Thus, he never knew, until it was far too late, that he could never force Christ’s hand by betraying Him. Indeed, a worse course could hardly be imagined.

We all harbor ideas of what the Holy Spirit should be and do. However, we should examine more closely whether we actually know the Spirit well enough to draw such conclusions. The fact is, when we lose our way, it’s often because we are more focused on the path than our Guide. If we knew our Guide better, we probably could better trust Him and worry less about the course ourselves. So, Scripture encourages us to pray and pursue godliness. Scripture knows that when we put knowing Christ first, the rest will take care of itself.