Tough Decisions

The image you see to the left is of a monument in Paris erected in 1902.  It is called, "The Poet," and represents a man in sober meditation battling with a powerful internal struggle.  I thought it was an appropriate image for today's devotion.

If there is anything that I have learned as a Pastor, it is that my calling requires me to make difficult decisions on a regular basis.  Uncle Ben in Spider Man summed it up well when he said, "With great power comes great responsibility."  I have been entrusted with a very high calling, and with it comes a great deal of responsibility.  Likewise, as Christians, we are all called to make difficult, ethical decisions on a daily basis.

Of all the decisions that I make, the most difficult ones come in terms of interpreting Scripture.  On a weekly basis, I have to take the evidence and leading of the Holy Spirit, and come to conclusions on difficult passages of Scripture.  I then present these conclusions in what we call "sermons."  This has been a very fearful experience for me, but a grand one nonetheless.

As I was hashing these thoughts around in my mind this morning, I was reminded of the many individuals in Scripture who also had to make difficult decisions.  I was specifically reminded of Abraham in Genesis 22.  I took a Hebrew Exegetical class last semester and spent the entire time studying and working through this chapter.  The message concerns Abraham's response to God's command to sacrifice His son Isaac.  The text reads, "God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!  Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you'" (22:1-2).

Of the many things I learned about Genesis 22, I can never shake the seemingly illogical command from God to sacrifice a child, or a son for that matter.  This type of "irrationality" is seen throughout the many pages of Scripture.  In reality, however, while a Godly command may seem "irrational" or "illogical" to us, it makes perfect sense in God's mind.  He always has a reason and a purpose for anything that He requires, even if we do not understand it (Deut. 29:29).  The fact of the matter is that Abraham ignored the physical and sought after the spiritual.  That is, he decided that he would obey God's command regardless the physical repercussion of losing his child.

This is the message that God has taught me;  In any command, I ought to simply obey Him, even when it is tough.  His Word is filled with tons of commands and many of them are arguably difficult to swallow.  Many have argued that the Bible was written for a different people, in a different time, and in a different culture and therefore bears little to no weight on common day problems.  While this is at least partially true (that the Bible was written for specific people, at specific times, an in specific cultures), it does not mean that we, as God's creation, have outgrown His commands or that we should compromise His Word.  We happen to be a part of the "specific people" that God's Word was meant to affect.  The Bible is not a perishable item; it never expires.  Isaiah 40:8 says, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever."  Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Today, I encourage you to stay faithful to God's commands.  It is very easy to manipulate and compromise God's standard in our lives, but like Abraham, we should follow God with every fiber in our being, even when it seems irrational.