By: T.C. Lo (盧天賜)
Date: October 10, 2013
In my earthly journey as a pilgrim, I always struggle with a thing called “reluctance” wondering whether I please God or not if I do His will only reluctantly. Does reluctance of this kind signifies the lack of faith? Do I have to do God’s will always with great joy or else I become legalistic? Let us look at a story recorded in Acts 9:1-31.
Upon receiving the instruction to visit Saul of Tarsus (Paul’s former name) from the resurrected Christ (v.10-v.12), Ananias answered to the Lord and the Lord’s reply to him in this manner:
- Ac 9:13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.
- Ac 9:14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
- Ac 9:15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.
Ananias complied. But it is not hard to realize that he complied only reluctantly. When you read carefully into the lines and read between the lines, you could have hardly missed such sentiment. Jesus’ reply further confirms my observation. When Jesus said, “Go!” in effect, what the Lord really meant was, “Alright, Ananias, I know what is in your mind, but for my sake, just go and do it anyway.”
Not long ago, I was reading a Bible story which is not noticeable by the majority of Bible readers. It was recorded in Jeremiah 35:14-16.
God asks the prophet to visit a small group of people called the Recabites (利甲族的人), invite them to the temple, and in a side room offer them some wine to drink. Jeremiah makes the arrangements and brings them to the temple. After he seats them in the side room, he brings out a tray of glasses filled with wine, just as God had instructed him. But strangely, as he enters the room he becomes aware of discomfort among his guests. “I’m sorry,” says the leader of the group. “Didn’t you know that we don’t drink wine and that we haven’t done so for generations? One of our ancestors (約拿達 Jonadab), a very devout man, commanded us never to drink wine or to live in buildings. So to this day, we and our children and our grandchildren will never drink wine, and we live only in tents.
Is it fascinating? If by sheer power of the will even “pagan” is able to comply with a tough set of rules for living, then what does it say of the Christian who supposedly is supernaturally endowed but lives a duplicitous life?
God blessed the Recabites and their descendants because of their willful obedience out of their reluctance as evident in the following two verses:
- Jer 35:18 Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Recabites, “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: `You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.
- Jer 35:19 ‘Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: `Jonadab son of Recab will never fail to have a man to serve me.’ “
Making a contrast, God punish His own children due to their willful disobedience.
- Jer 35:16 The descendants of Jonadab son of Recab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.
- Jer 35:17 “‘Therefore, this is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: `Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’ “
In C.S. Lewis’s conversion testimony, he said one night, he knelt and prayed to admit that God is God and is worthy of his worship. He later said, “Perhaps, that night, I was the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.” He did not then see what is later the most shining and obvious thing: the Divine humility that will accept a convert even on such term.
You may feel reluctant to serve God, or to offer your financial resources to God’s Kingdom, or to love those you dislike or even hate, do it anyway. As you practice obedience, you will amazingly discover that your reluctance gradually goes away and you will become joyful in doing God’s will—I think this is called “Transformation”— and be blessed.
