Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Yesterday, in the course of doing my work, I was stopped by an Oregon City policeman. At that particular intersection, I know I began to navigate my left turn with the approval of a blinking yellow arrow. But I guess I blew it—I must have been preoccupied with surrounding traffic and failed to notice that the light had changed to red. I thought I was fine, but the officer insisted that I was not fine—that it was red. Although he is not the one making the rules, he is the one delegated to enforce them. So it was clearly in my best interests, by the fact of his superior authority, to agree with his judgment and submit. Thankfully, he had some compassion along with his legalism, and recognized me as a poor little senile old man that probably should not be driving—and didn’t give me a citation. He only gave me a warning, “I want you to pay closer attention.” “Yes, sir!”

What if I had submitted to stupid, had insisted on my innocence, and argued my case? What if I had become angry at being told I was wrong, and we got into a child-like yelling contest? “I did not!” “You did too?” “I did not?” “You did too!” “Did not!” “Did too!” “No—I did not!” “Yes—you did!” Good grief! Had it gone down that way, I’m still smart enough to know it would not have gone well for me—I would not have come out the winner.

The FOCUS VERSE is a well-known one. Since I have a simple mind, I love simple ideas that illustrate important truths. This is a classic example. “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” Of course not. It is physically impossible for two people to walk together if they are not on the same path going the same direction and in close enough proximity to allow for mutual interaction. You know where I’m going with this—so let’s go there together by asking this question: Can a man walk with God without agreeing with Him? No. AGREEMENT is key—and AUTHORITY determines who must do the agreeing. And since He is the SOVEREIGN MAKER/OWNER of everything, we should have no difficulty figuring out how it works—at least how it doesn’t work. In these general terms, it’s really not very complicated—even if many make it so. The point is that with a submissive HEART AFTER GOD on the human side that seeks first His close company and will, one’s course is actually guided by the divine side (Psalm 37:23; Proverbs 3:5-6).

To help drive the point home, let me ask this: What are the chances of there even being the possibility of this relationship if the divine side says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), but the human side says, “Not me!”? What if the divine side says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37), and the human side says, “Why?” What if the divine side says, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4), and the human side says, “I don’t think so—that Bible stuff really isn’t very relevant.” What if the divine side says, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), and the human side says, “That’s crazy!” Under these arrangements, there is simply no way the human side could ever come out the winner.