The Wise Procedure
Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)
Eternity-Inspiration for Saturday 6th December 1997
The Wise Procedure
(Ecclesiastes 8:1-6 NIV) Who is like the wise man? Who knows the
explanation of things? Wisdom brightens a man's face and changes its
hard appearance. {2} Obey the king's command, I say, because you took
an oath before God. {3} Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's
presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he
pleases. {4} Since a king's word is supreme, who can say to him, "What
are you doing?" {5} Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. {6} For
there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's
misery weighs heavily upon him.
The offices of prophet, priest and king were in continual tension in
Israel. The royal perspective generally was "things are fine as they
are, please do not rock the boat, be an obedient subject". The
prophetic perspective was generally "Things are not fine, you are
corrupt O king, you are abusing power and worshipping idols and you
must repent now." The royal perspective pretends that justice will be
available "in time if the proper procedure is followed". The
prophetic perspective says "Bunk!".
Solomon is basically saying: "Cool down, follow procedure,
everything has its time, don't question the king, don't bring up
subjects I don't like, I am in charge around here.". At first glance
these seem like words of sensible moderation and indeed many are
fooled by them. They are no more than words of oppression and
hopelessness. As Martin Luther once said "To preach the gospel at
every point except where it is needed most to be heard is not to
preach the gospel at all." To say to a prophet - preach only the
bits I like and which do not ask me to change is in effect to deny
the gospel. Truth needs to confront the King.
Thus to approve the status quo is to mute the voice of God. If
this is truly the best of all possible worlds then what hope have
we? How can we construct a future if this is the best there is?
Without the ability to critique the king we cannot create the vision
for a better state and without that vision we cannot breed hope and
without hope we perish.
There is a case for cooling down and following procedure and not
letting our misery make us rash. I think in minor matters this is
good. Intemperance is no virtue. However this is a limited case. We
do not have to blindly accept the royal perspective on life. We do
not have to be mice in the mill. John the Baptist, Jesus and Paul
were stormy and all got labelled as "trouble-makers" and came into
crashing conflict with the Herods, Pilates and Caesars of their
day. James and John were called "sons of thunder" and Peter told the
Sanhedrin that he had to obey God not man. They defied procedure and
being sensible and the "royal perspective" on life because they
served a great King of Kings. They were not mice in the mill - they
were apostles. As Christians we need to be able to see past the
stifling rhetoric of our leaders and the grey enveloping cloud of
bureaucratic language and cut through the issues of life with the
sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.
Prayer:
Lord give us the courage and perception to see into the world around
us and to say what we see in the light of Your Word. Amen.
---------------------------------------------------------------
This devotional may be freely distributed for ministry purposes
Questions and comments may be sent to:
[email protected]
(not to the list please)
John Edmiston ([email protected])
Editor - Eternity Online Magazine http://www.eternitymag.com/
A Biblical Corner of The Internet
Eternity Inspiration - Free daily devotionals
http://www.eternitymag.com/etinsp.htm
Tell your friends to subscribe!