God was Never Rule-Based

I'm reading through Numbers 18 today. God in the Old Testament has a number of extremely specific laws and guidelines. I can see why cults form on  the basis of a couple verses that mainstream Christianity doesn’t obey… The forceful way God says it makes it sounds like this is a law that is very close to His heart.

I think the OT and its very specific laws give us a couple options relating to God:

 

1. God was very specific and rule-based but isn’t anymore. However, this doesn’t fit with the Bible’s assertion that God is the same yesterday today and forever.
   
2. God was very specific and rule-based and still is but the rules are different. This mindset is common and leads us to think that God is specifically looking for obedience. It leads to churches that are technically correct but people’s hearts are far from God and mercy towards one another is absent.
   
3. God was never rule-based but the Israelites angered Him to the point of greatly specifying all rules. I could buy into this one. The only problem is that, while you could possibly see this in the story, the Bible never comes out and says this. Additionally, the Bible is very clear as to what are God’s original intentions (for example, going directly into the promised land) and what parts of Israel’s story happened because of their disobedience (the 40 years in the desert). Taken as a whole, the Bible describes the law as a necessary part of God’s plan.
4. Lastly, that the God was never rule-based but He used rules to teach His people until they could truly understand worship in spirit and truth. I think this is an important place to get to. 

I believe this last option is clear in scriptures for the following reasons:

God had friends that didn’t follow or obey the law and He didn’t try to force the law on them (Adam, Enoch, Job). The absolute vagueness of many of the laws of the New Testament. “as often as you do this” about communion; most of the laws are internal, fulfilling Jeremiah 33:31 about writing the law on their hearts. Jesus’s principle complaints weren’t about people not following the law; rather, they were about not following the principle of the law. The pharisees did very well at obeying the law but they weren’t friends of God and Jesus often opposed them.

I am not sure why, but it seems rule-following is deeply ingrained in religious folk, much more than the standard population. It may be because it’s easy to judge who is doing right and who is doing wrong, or it may be something completely different.

As an aside, I find our lives in Mozambique are much more on the rule-breaking side than the rule-following. Our lives in the US are 100% kosher to your standard church. Here, we only go to church once a week (and have a small group), we spend more time in individual time with God than corporately, because we’re not as animated in worship people think we are less spiritual, the way we pray appears that it doesn’t have power, and our obsession with unity in the body of Christ makes it appear that we are rebellious. But it’s interesting to be on the fringe here, I think it gives me more compassion for those whose lives aren’t by-the-book, both here and in the US.

 

Obedience at the Wrong Time isn't Obedience

It’s a free day here in Beira - Armed Forces Day. Usually on free days I take the time to learn something new. Today I read the rest of the Power of Habit and in Numbers 14.

Numbers 14:39-45 is a stark example of how obedience at the wrong time isn’t obedience. After the Israelites sinned against God and didn’t want to go to the promised land, God told them to wander the desert for 40 years. After God told them that, they decided to obey - marching into the promised land, but without Moses and without the Ark. There are always two battlefronts to every fight; the physical battle and the battle of the heart. If you don’t win the battle for the heart, you won’t win the physical battle.

God offered to be with the Israelites when they were conquering the promised land. He promised the Israelites a good land and a land of milk and honey - whoever, the people of Israel were shocked that there were giants in the land. God’s promises to us don’t come without a fight. However, God always tells us that he will be there with us and we can fight the giants together.

The Israelites saw the giants as greater than God and started wailing and complaining. They lost the heart battle and God said they could try again in 40 years. After they heard the alternative, they decided they were sorry but you can tell their heart didn’t change - it was still in the wrong place or they would have refused to fight without the ark or without Moses.

In what ways do God and I want to conquer the same thing but I’m not doing things in His way or His timing?

What kind of battles do I fight without the ark of the covenant or my spiritual leaders?

In what ways has God disciplined me and I responded the same way the Israelites did - without the correct change in heart but with a surface-level change in attitude only?