It is of utmost importance to know the Bible and God’s principles established there. If we rely solely on "feeling" when we are doing or thinking something wrong, we are in great danger of being misled by our human logic and desires. As strange as it may sound, sometimes sin comes as a very logical idea that aligns with our reasoning and desires. Sin, of course, may not be hidden in the specific action but in its fundamental motive or inception. To not speak only theoretically, let us take as an example the life of Abram and Sarah, who are childless and close to ninety years old.
We might remember the story for which Sarah is often blamed. She tells Abram to take her servant Hagar as a wife so that Hagar can become pregnant and give Abram a child, thereby allowing Sarah herself to acquire a child. Before this actually happens, however, the Lord appears in a vision to His servant Abram and promises that He will be his protector and will give him a very great reward. To this, Abram responds: “Sovereign Lord! What are your gifts to me if I die childless? Eliezer of Damascus will take charge of my house.” Abram also said: “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.” Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be.” (Genesis 15:2-4*, emphasis added)
Abram receives a promise for an heir, for a child, directly from God. His fear and the meaninglessness of his life lie in the fact that he and all his labor will be passed on to a person who has no blood relation to him. But his exact words are: “a slave born in my house will be my heir.” We see later that it is exactly from the servant Hagar that Abram's firstborn son Ishmael is born. He is not a son from his lawful wife Sarah but from a slave. Many of us are inclined to blame Sarah for manipulation, abuse of position, and everything else, but we forget that the one who received the promise was Abram. If he had the patience to receive the promise and his reward in God's way, he wouldn’t have succumbed to pressure or manipulation. In fact, he may have been greatly manipulated by the idea that what his heart desires cannot practically happen. He doesn’t see God intervening, Sarah is still not pregnant, and physically it would be impossible for her to give birth at that age. Then he and she, as a family, take matters into their own hands. They decide to solve things by themselves. But where is the sin in this?
This is an ancient lie that Satan speaks even in the Garden of Eden: “You know better than the Lord what is good for you. Look, the Lord is withholding something beneficial, valuable, pleasing from you, something you would like to possess. Perhaps you can only trust yourself.”
When the Lord does not intervene, and I pray, wait, believe, expect for years for Him to fulfill His promise to me, does He actually want to fulfill it, since up until now He has done nothing? Is God someone whom I can trust? Should I help myself?
These questions have been in the minds of many people before us, even many biblical figures, but we see that the actions of different people in response to these questions are different. On what basis? On the basis of trust in God coming from knowledge of Him.
The young David is secretly anointed as king by the prophet Samuel, but he ascends to the throne years later, during which time he serves faithfully and without complaint to the current king Saul. The king attacks him, pursues him. He fears David, envies him, tries to kill him, but David never takes advantage of his chance to obtain the crown prematurely, even when he has many opportunities to do so. Saul enters a cave alone while trying to find and kill him. David approaches him stealthily and cuts off a corner of the king’s robe while he is distracted to show him that he had the chance to kill him but does not wish to do so. Here are the words of David’s men and himself: "David's men said to him: 'Here is the day the Lord spoke of when he said, "I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish." Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him, for he is the anointed of the Lord.” (1 Samuel 24:5-7*) When tempted to arrange things for himself, to help himself, almost to fulfill God’s promise to himself alone, David remembers God’s commandment. Then he recognizes that this is not the way to obtain what he longs for and prays for. Even when we have the chance to arrange things and help ourselves, we should not do so through compromises with morality, the good of others, or God’s will.
In God’s word, we see other examples of impatience, disobedience, pride, and taking matters into one’s own hands, fueled precisely by this deep human delusion: the Lord is holding back something good from me, and if I just wait and trust Him, I will be shortchanged, I will be a victim.
This also causes Aaron, the brother of Moses, to make a golden calf or idol for the Israelites to worship in the desert while waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain where God calls him to give him the tablets with the Ten Commandments. Aaron succumbs to the pressure of the people because he does not feel secure because of what he thinks about God.
“Moses said to Aaron: ‘What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?’ Aaron answered: ‘Do not be angry, my lord. You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, "Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” (Exodus 32:21-23*)
He looks at the circumstances, sees that his brother Moses delays, and the people are rebelling, standing against himself. What is the lie here again? “I have to take care of it myself, God does not intervene, I have a good idea of how to help myself. Things are out of control, and I need a quick solution. God is Option 'A,' but I and my logic, analysis of the situation, I and my wisdom are Option 'B.'”
At the core of this lie is the fact that we do not know God and ourselves. Our human nature is selfish and impatient, we are driven by the instinct for self-preservation, while God is led by love and desire for the good of all humanity, not only ourselves. If He "delays," let us not try to overtake Him. If He seems to hurry, let us not sabotage His actions. If He leads us on a path we do not understand or even do not want to take, let us remember the examples of disobedience in the Bible because someone believed this lie: “I will handle it myself, I know better than God, and I cannot wait for Him to decide to intervene.”
Weekly Challenge: Is there something we have decided to handle on our own? A loan? Job change? New relationships or leaving family? What is it that you have decided to manage yourself? Perhaps this week is the time to rethink, pray about this decision, and entrust it into God’s hands.
*Bible quotations are according to the text of the Bible, new translation from the original languages © Bulgarian Bible Society 2013.
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