Articles
When Men Said to God: "That Won't Work"
It is not only unbelievers who challenge God’s word, sometimes the faithful do as well. This is because God’s commands and declarations are sometimes so counterintuitive that our immediate response is, “There’s no way that will work.” But when this has occurred in Bible history, how many times have men been right and God wrong? You guessed it: “0.” Here are three examples. Can you think of others?
Ananias – Acts 9:10-19. Ananias was a disciple of the Lord in Damascus, the city toward which Saul of Tarsus was traveling in order to arrest Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial and punishment (Ac 9:1-9). Unbeknownst to Ananias, Saul’s plans had been altered due to the Lord’s appearance to him and the subsequent blindness which debilitated this this arrogant, insolent persecutor (1 Tim 1:13).
News of Saul’s mission had reached Damascus ahead of his arrival, and all Ananias associated with the name “Saul of Tarsus” was terror and peril (Ac 9:13-14). So, it must have come as quite a shock to the devout Ananias when the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying” (9:11). In spite of this, and further revelation that Saul had already seen a vision of Ananias coming and restoring his sight (9:12), Ananias balks at this instruction thinking that the Lord is sending him on a suicide mission. Such reluctance is understandable if we leave God out of the equation and think in purely human terms. But there’s the rub, isn’t it? God’s commands take into account factors that we do not understand. He has purposes of which we (usually) are not aware; He has power that we do not fully understand; He has perspective that reaches far beyond either our cognizance or lifespan or both.
In the case of Saul/Paul, Jesus reveals to Ananias that “he is a chose vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel …” (Ac 9:15ff). With the situation now clearer, “Ananias went his way” and healed and baptized Saul (9:17-19). Thus begins the ministry of the great apostle Paul, of which the Lord said, “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (9:16).
Samuel – 1 Sam 16:1-13. King Saul had fallen into disfavor with God having spared the Amalekite king, Agag, and disobediently brought back the best of the animals to sacrifice to God (1 Sam 15; at least this is the stated reason for sparing the animals; Samuel called it “swoop[ing] down on the spoils” – 15:19). Consequently, God determines to replace King Saul with David, and the great prophet Samuel is sent on this mission: “Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons” (1 Sam 16:1).
Samuel is immediately alarmed by this commission: “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me” (16:2). This shows how far King Saul has fallen in Samuel’s estimation, and he is undoubtedly correct. This is why God hides the real purpose of the journey behind a veil of a sacrificial meal (16:2b-3). This is not subterfuge or deception, for such presupposes sinister cover-up for evil. Bob Waldron identifies this sacrifice as a peace offering, commenting further: “During this period, following the destruction of Shiloh, there was no central location where the sacrifices were offered. There is no special emphasis on this sacrifice. God commanded it to provide an occasion for Samuel to be able to anoint the new king without jeopardizing his life” (Truth Commentary: 1 & 2 Samuel 353).
Upon more specific instruction on this royal anointing, “Samuel did what the Lord said, and went to Bethlehem …” (16:4). Thus in obscurity begins David’s journey to the throne of Israel, a journey fraught with danger, intrigue, disappointment and heartache.
Moses – Ex 3-4. The commissions given to Ananias and Samuel pale in comparison to that given to Moses. It is hard to imagine what an utter impossibility this must have seemed to Moses: “Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people … out of Egypt” (Ex 3:9-10). Moses has been a fugitive from Egypt for 40 years; the Israelites were the Egyptians’ chief slave labor; Egypt was a sophisticated, powerful nation that wouldn’t likely capitulate to some has-been, royal rebel demanding Israel’s release. Again, Moses evaluates God’s command on the basis of human judgment and predictability and says, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (3:11). This is the first of several objections Moses hurls at God, desperately trying to extricate himself from this obviously (to him) fruitless, suicidal plan (cf. 3:13; 4:1, 10, 13).
Once again, under the weight of God’s persuasive hand, “Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and the returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand” (4:20).
Note that in all three of these cases God’s servants were tasked with not merely the impossible but what was likely to bring death. In their fear human logic was brought to bear upon the will of God, and they all concluded that God’s plan would not work. And they were all wrong because God’s thoughts and ways are higher than those of men (Is 55:8-9).
So, what’s the lesson for us? Obviously, God is not issuing direct commissions today, but if He was, do we fancy ourselves more willing to obey than Ananias, Samuel and Moses? Those are some real heavyweights. Do we think that we would jump up with Isaiah, and say, “Here am I! Send me” (Is 6:8)? Our obedience to God is not challenged when His commands/instructions agree with our lifestyle, natural character traits and political/social atmosphere. It is only when the will of God conflicts with these things that we find out whether our faith has depth and substance.
It is easy to cut corners and convince ourselves that God wouldn’t want us to be stressed. But God on occasion asks some hard things from men, and He always gives the resources, instruction, protection and encouragement needed to succeed. And so He will with us if we determine to “let Him have His way with thee.”
