Saturday, July 07, 2007

Shortcuts

Something I've been thinking about ever since coming across this basic idea in a Tabletalk devotional from May, 2007.

Proverbs 3:1-4
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandents, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Genesis 34 tells the depressing tale of Jacob's household returning from Paddan-Aram and resettling in Canaan. What seems a chance story detail in 33:18 - Jacob opting to settle in Shechem instead of continuing southward to Bethel, Hebron, or Beersheba - turns out to be the beginning of a disastrous series of events. He purchases enough land from Hamor, Shechem's king, to pitch his tents, and is no sooner settled than his daughter Dinah goes "out to see the women of the land" (34:1). King Hamor's son seizes her and rapes her. Yet afterward, his soul is drawn to her, and he urges his father to arrange a marriage.

Hamor approaches Jacob and his sons with a most attractive offer (vv. 8-12). In addition to agreeing beforehand to any bride price they would care to name, Hamor opens the land of Canaan to them. He encourages them to acquire land, build houses, and engage in commerce. In short, he offers them the very Promised Land they have sought since their grandfather and great-grandfather Abraham sojourned there - yet on the ungodly terms (verse nine) of intermarrying their sons and daughters with the inhabitants of the land.

God's intention, of course, is that the land they are being offered on such easy terms be theirs, but it is to be theirs by divine grace and not by their negotiations.

In Matthew 4:8-9, Jesus is tempted in the very same way. Taking him to a high mountain where he can see all the kingdoms of the world in their glory, the devil makes a similarly attractive offer. Everything that Jesus seeks - the kingship and allegiance of all the peoples of the world - may be his. With an end run around the path of suffering - and of utter dependance on the Father - Jesus may be the Prince of Peace to all the world immediately. All he has to do, really, is acknowledge Satan as the giver of this extraordinary gift. A slightly different route to the same godly end, that's all.

All of us His people are thankful, of course, that Jesus overcomes, utterly rejecting the devil's modest proposal. Through him, we too are made more than conquerors (Romans 8:37), given divine grace to say no to the devil's many tempting shortcuts.

Yet the challenge is ever before us. We're to wait for the Lord for the fulfillment of His good promises, rather than to rush in with whatever means are laid conveniently at our disposal. This is not indolence or apathy, but (as with the passage above) tying God's steadfast love and faithfulness around our necks, writing His teaching on our hearts, that we will find favor and good success in His sight and in the sight of man. It is acting rightly when seeking His good gifts.

Examples and applications abound everywhere in life. The ways in which we advance our careers, for instance: every seeking of success at someone else's expense is a compromise we cannot make. Or how about the ways in which we the Church carry out evangelism and missions? In what ways are we tempted to modify the message in order to broaden the gospel's appeal? And I believe every parent can agree that obedience and good behavior are godly goals for our children. Yet how easily we trade total reliance on the Holy Spirit's work in their hearts, for emphasis on external compliance.

King Hamor offered the sons of Jacob a direct and easy path to everything they wanted - everything, in fact, they knew God intended for them - at a surprisingly affordable price. Yet inking the deal would have proved disastrous. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, that we may seek God's good ends by His appointed, godly means.

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