David Foster Wallace writes in his short story, All That, “This was the year, at five or six, that I learned the meaning of ‘reverence’, which, as I understand it, is the natural attitude to take toward magical, unverifiable phenomena, the same way that ‘respect’ and ‘obedience’ describe the attitude one takes toward observable physical phenomena, such as gravity or money.”
At the end of his life, Joshua says to the people of Israel, “be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left” (Joshua 24:6). This is in fact an echo of what was said to Joshua at the beginning of his life in leadership.
Being chosen and commissioned after Moses to lead Israel into the conquest of the promised land, God says to him, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.” (1:6-7)
It is true that Joshua would need to be strong and courageous because of the more numerous and stronger enemies in the land; because of their well-built and fortified cities. It is true God would divide rivers and cause the sun to stand still; he would deliver kings and armies into Joshua’s hands. But above all these phenomena and more, the act requiring the greatest strength and courage would be Joshua’s obedience to God’s word: “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.” This he must “be careful” to do, giving it his greatest attention to detail.
In the face of adversaries, threats, and impassable and unassailable obstacles, obedience to God would be discouraged, called into question. Is it realistic? The observable, the tangible, the measurable, the visible, the audible would provoke great respect in Joshua and Israel. But God is to be more than respected; He is to be revered. He is the Holy One, the Deliverer, and the Savior.
Today, as Christians, we respect God, but often lose our reverence of Him. When God becomes associated with what is observable, we respect him so long as he is more observable than our trials or temptations. If we associate him with what is measurable, we respect him so long as we can measurably hold or feel more of Him, i.e. His blessings. But when and where God is only respected on the basis of what we see or feel, our obedience to him is tentative at best; it is conditional upon what is happening around us, that is, on what appears more real or more impressive, or on what feels to makes more sense than God and His Word.
But when and where God is revered, no matter what is happening around us or within us, we know that he still transcends all things, that he is still more Other than all things, that he is still over all things – that "from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:36). This means that the hardest and the strongest and the most courageous thing we can do in this observable life is not to conquer what holds us back but to be careful to obey God and His Word.
The surprising, challenging, often hard-to-accept and hard-to-explain observable earthly movements and developments in our lives are but a small reflection of the unobservable, eternal divine movements and developments in our lives. When all that is around us attempts to conquer or seduce our reverence – our obedience to, our worship of, our love for, our faith in the living, sovereign God – we don’t surrender. We are bold and courageous.
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