Right in His Own Eyes
I have to admit, I am
struck by Deuteronomy 12:8: “You shall not do
according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right
in his own eyes.” That’s a pretty harsh critique, but I think
it is a pretty honest one. We as human
beings like to focus on what makes us feel right/ good/ happy/ productive/ etc. Even in our worship. How often have we made the comment “I didn’t
like the hymns” or “I don’t like the way that group worships” or even “I don’t
like that translation of the Bible?” We
think we have God in our box and when we do in our religious times what makes
us, then we feel God is most pleased because we are most pleased.
Moses’ words here are
quite a stern caution against this. “You
shall not do what we are doing here.” Moses
is saying, “We are allowing our judgment to determine what is right.” Moses tells the people that when they are
truly in their inheritance they will be doing what is right in God’s eyes. I think there is something worth dredging out
of that expression. The inheritance
comes not when we feel that we are doing right, but when we are doing what God
has decreed. How it makes us feel is
actually quite irrelevant, truthfully.
Yeah, reread that last sentence; it’s a pretty important one.
Before reacting to
that last sentence, think about this. I
bet in some respects the cross felt oh-so-right to Jesus. But in other respects the cross had to be the
most painful thing He could bear. In
some respects, getting tossed out of town after town because of what he
believed had to feel oh-so-right for Paul.
But in other respects it had to be painful to face rejection time and
time again. Following God is not often a
completely joyous life. Sure, it is
joyous from an eternal divine perspective.
But following God implies rejection and tough choices – and those things
are hard in this world. If we never
encounter rejection, I’m willing to bet we’re not doing anything right.
Quite often when I
hear people talk about how much they enjoyed an experience (Bible Study,
worship service, mission trip, whatever) I question if it really means that the
right spiritual thing is happening.
Usually I ask myself the following question: Did they like it because of
spiritual reasons or because it made them feel good? If the former, then the approval is genuinely
spiritual and the experience was following God’s desire. If the latter, I usually take the comment as
evidence that our humanity has been allowed to get in the way of our
spirituality and our worldly enjoyment has clouded our desire for true
spiritual enjoyment.
I know, I’m painting
in black and white words an area that is at best filled with lots of gray
areas. So please don’t take these words
as black-and-white. This is a generality
that we should remember, but it is a generality that doesn’t always speak the
same level of truth in all cases. I’m
just saying that we should hear Moses’ words and take them to heart. What is right in our eyes should always be at
least secondary in importance as to what is right in God’s eyes. Only when we are truly in God’s inheritance
will what is right in our eyes match what is right in God’s eyes.
Speaking of Right in God’s Eyes…
The next thing that I
am going to address in my blog about this chapter is the fact that Moses
continues to refer to the place of worship as “the place that the Lord will
choose.” It may seem from our
perspective to immediately read that and say “Jerusalem” to ourselves. However, remember that Jerusalem was only the
place of worship once David came into power and especially after Solomon was
allowed to construct the temple. Up
until David came into power we know that the tabernacle served as the place of
worship for the people. We also know
that the tabernacle moved about as the Lord saw fit. In fact, we are told in scripture of three
places that the tabernacle was located: Shechem
(Josh. 24:1), Bethel (Jud. 20:18), and Shiloh (1 Sam. 1:3; 4:3–4). These places were the places to go and
inquire of the Lord, thus these places were where the Lord and His tabernacle
were most likely to be found.
As I think about
this, I wonder if there is a good lesson for us in this portion of the passage
as well. In some respects, it goes back
to the earlier part of this blog. We
like to think that God enjoys that which makes us happy. We also like to think of God as being where we
prefer to see Him. I don’t think that is
right at all. The more we try to put God
into our box the more likely we are to miss the mark.
The Lord is at work
all over this world – and quite often the Lord is at work where we do not see
Him because we aren’t willing to look for Him.
To go back to Moses’ quote, the Lord is at work in places of His
choosing, not places of our choosing.
Our task is not to establish places for God to work or exist. Our task is to seek out where God exists at
work and join Him in that work.
In closing, let me
say that I’ll save the bit on idolatry for tomorrow. It goes well with the rest of chapter
13. God’s peace to you this day.
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