As of writing this, I’m sure many of you know that I’m currently serving in the military as part of my National Service. This rite of passage for many Singaporean guys has put me through many hardships and challenges, especially as a Christian. While writing this in camp, I thought it’ll be a good (and easy) idea to reflect and share one of the many experiences that I’ve had so far.
One day during my Basic Military Training, while I was talking to one of my friends in my section about why I don’t do certain things because of my religion, he suddenly raised a question to me, “Why do you do such things? Is it just because God tells you to? Do you not know the reason behind doing such things?”. For a moment, I was stunned. His sudden challenge really hit me right in the heart. Am I really just blindly following what God tells me to do? Do God’s instructions have “hidden” intentions behind them, intentions that we are supposed to follow, and not just the commandment? Unfortunately, due to the sudden impact of the question and my rush to give an answer, I just quickly replied, “I know!”, before listing a few examples. My friend just laughed and shrugged off my answer. After that incident, I started to think hard about it, even to the point of self-doubt. Was I really doing all in accordance with His Word? Or was I lacking intention and understanding, rendering my acts useless? Many days later, I’ve finally come to a few revelations that have helped give me the answers to his questions, and have strengthened my faith in God.
Let us first understand what the questions are all about. My friend was asking such questions on the basis that God, wanting us Christians to be good and holy people, would through His Word, the ultimate rule book, guide us to have certain principles that make us outstanding people. At first, this seems like an easy question to answer, the answer being the exact, hasty answer I gave, “Yes!”, seen through examples such as the commandment not to drink alcohol (Eph 5:18; Gal 5:19; Prov 23:31) and to be generous (2 Cor 9:7-8). For drinking, God forbids us from doing so because consuming alcohol will lead to drunkeness, which can cause chaos and havoc (Prov 23:32-35), among other things. Just look at the amount of crimes and deaths that have resulted from drinking, such as drunk driving and rioting. There is a clear reason as to why God would prohibit drinking. For generosity, the reason is even more obvious. Everyone loves someone who is helpful, and everyone will view a generous person as a saint, a shining example. These examples seem to adequately answer the question right? The truth is, these examples only serve to create more opportunities to poke holes in the answer. Within these examples, someone could point out, “What if I drink but don’t become drunk? Then I would still be in accordance with His intentions right?”, or worse, “What if, even if I was drunk, but didn’t commit any crimes or cause chaos? Since His intention is just that we shouldn’t become drunk because we will commit crimes and bad stuff, if I don’t do bad stuff, all’s good right?”. These loopholes are endless, and people have been finding such openings for centuries. From so-called “useless” or “harmless” commandments, to holes in the intentions of God such as this example, it seems like giving such examples will never yield a satisfactory, convincing answer. This was what caught me, causing me to doubt my faith for a moment. Are we really just following God’s commandments because He tells us to? Then it’s just like we’re ultimately robots, mindlessly obeying every single command…
And yes, that is the answer! Well, not exactly, but it actually is. We follow His commandments, because we are commanded to. Look at Solomon, the wisest man ever, a man with immense wealth, who had done and experienced everything this world had to offer, as he had recorded in the whole book of Ecclesiastes, and in the end he comes to the ultimate realisation, “Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all” (Eccl 12:13). It is our whole duty to obey His commandments. Who cares about the intentions behind them? We can try to place whatever “intention” God might have had behind every commandment, but in the end, who knows what His intentions are? This was exactly God’s whole point in His challenge to Job (Job 38-41). Who are we to challenge God, to make assumptions about His Words based on our puny minds and little understanding? Only the Creator, the One from the Beginning, would be able to explain His commandments, and so as His created beings, we just have to follow His commandments, for it really is our all. God, being good, will never let His commandments harbour wrong intentions. In the first place, it is God who decides what is good or bad, right or wrong! Just as Solomon has also stated in his proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov 3:5-6), we cannot rely on our own understanding to pry open His commands and try to figure out His intentions, for doing so will only lead to confusion and pride, that one is above God Himself.
Now, this isn’t to say that we can just follow His commandments without considering the intention either. We can’t just give for the sake of giving, that would be violating His stated intention to give without grudge or giving sparingly (2 Cor 9:7). Neither is it favourable to preach or evangelise without wanting to save souls (Phil 1:18). The apostle Paul states that even in pretence, he rejoices in the fact the gospel is preached. It is still important to understand what we are supposed to do, akin to what Paul said about tongue speaking (1 Cor 14:13-19), and should have the intent to follow God’s commandments. We should not let our own “over interpretations” of His intentions behind the commandment guide us or hinder our faith. Even if His commandments do not make sense to us right now, who knows if its meaning may be revealed to us in the future.
There are times however, that in our limitations as humans, we do not see a link between God’s commands and the intended result. For example, the Israelites were told to walk around the wall of Jericho once a day for six days, seven times on the seventh day and to give a great shout when the priests blew their trumpets (Jos 6:3-21). Subsequently the wall would fall. It is difficult to connect walking around and blowing trumpets to a wall collapsing. The key point here is that of faith and obedience that is required of us. We should just obey God’s commandments just as they were written, and carry them out with the intention of wholly obeying God and His commandments. God is divine and omniscient. We do not know everything but He does and we can trust in Him. As long as we follow His commandments wholeheartedly, we will not be let down in the end.
Ask Yourself:
Why did God appear to Job and challenge Him in Job 38-41?
When faced with such challenges or questions by peers or anyone, especially difficult ones, what should we do?
Suggested Answers:
Job questioned God about his punishment despite being righteous and faithful (Job 29-31). God is all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present and the one and only God. We are but one of His many creations and thus some of His purposes are beyond our understanding.
It is necessary to be ready to give an answer to those who ask us biblical questions. However, if we are in doubt, we should study the Bible with regards to the related question/topic and subsequently give a response. We may also check in with any of the Bible class teachers.