Implicit Trust And Loyalty

Do you remember the scene in the original “Back to the Future” where Doc and Marty are remotely accelerating the car directly into their path? Marty steps aside. Doc is offended. It is a trust issue. Perhaps Marty thought, “Hey Doc, I like you and all, but you are a bit eccentric. I don’t want to lose my life.”

There are many instances in the Bible where loyalty to God is equated with obeying his rules (“commandments”) and principles. Gideon’s famous war experience features a different type of trust and loyalty – one where listening to God’s direction would seem almost suicidal.

Picture if you would the battlefield. The opposition has a force of at least 120,000 strong. One article said there may have been as many as 135,000. In comparison, Gideon’s army was about a fourth of that at 32,000. Although he was greatly outnumbered, God told him “that’s too many.” The reason God provided Gideon was that his army might brag that they themselves delivered the victory. (Judges 7:2) So God told Gideon to tell his army “whoever is afraid may go home.” Here was probably the first test of Gideon’s trust and loyalty. Think about it – if you were commanding a military force and you were to tell them “whoever is afraid of being outnumbered 4 to 1 can leave,” wouldn’t you be afraid the whole army would leave? I’ve got to admit, if I had been put in that position, I think I would have been very reluctant to comply and very worried with the outcome. And just to the highlight issue again, we are not talking about obedience to sexual morals or treating others unfairly. The whole point was trusting that God would deliver Gideon and his army even if it was just Gideon himself.

Gideon obeys and 10,000 of his 32,000 leave – so nearly one-third. Gideon now has 22,000 left, who, merely by their staying are declaring they are strong of heart and share Gideon’s trust in God. Gideon may have heaved a sigh relief that he still had anyone at all. But next God says, “that is still too many.” So without telling him why, God tells Gideon to take the men to a water source and watch how they drink. Seems odd, but ok. Afterwards God told him that those who lapped water like a dog (as opposed to those who were on bended knee and used their hands to scoop water) should be dismissed. (Some have speculated that it may have been that those lapping water dropped their guard whereas those on bended knee kept their guard up. So how many lapped like a dog? The majority – 21,700! Yup, that left a mere 300 warriors. The odds were now about 400 to 1. What in the world could God possibly be thinking!? Might Gideon have reasoned (like Marty’s temporary lapse) in his heart, “I love you Jehovah, and trust you, but are you sure?” There is no mention in the Bible that Gideon was even one bit hesitant.

As it turned out, the initial engagement with the enemy was probably what we today would call “shock and awe.” Gideon’s forces did not initially even confront the army face to face, yet their enemies took to flight and even slaughtered each other. Finally, in the confusion, Gideon’s men did engage the army and conquered them.

We today face life challenges that are probably less spectacular than Gideon’s. But that doesn’t make them any less a stressful personal challenge. What encouragement does God offer us? Proverbs urges us to rely on God and not to lean on our own understanding. Our “understanding” might be that the hard physical evidence in front of us looks like we need to take matters into our own hands. This was exactly the situation with Gideon. Yet he didn’t allow the fact that he was grossly outnumbered to break his confidence in God. Additionally, Jesus told us that implicit trust in God is called for when we sense that we lack the essentials for living.

So the circumstances can take many forms but the issues of loyalty and trust are the same in every case. For us, this isn’t trusting some eccentric human scientist, it is trusting the Creator of the universe who is the only one known for his word being 100 percent trustworthy.

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Who Are You?!

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A number of translations render a portion of Isaiah 51:12 as Jehovah asking his people, “Who are you?” Reading the context, we soon realize that the tone was more of “Have you forgotten who you are?” It was God’s way of getting his people to remember and reflect that they are considered a special property of his. He cares for them very deeply.

One problem that nation faced back then (and throughout Bible history) was their tendency to trust in their own military might and the military alliances they formed with other nations. Repeatedly, it was these alliances that roused God’s jealousy and anger, disappointment and disgust. It was no wonder that Jehovah would ask “Who are you?” as if he were puzzled. They looked nothing like the (figurative) wife that was supposed to be his.

Can you sympathize with that sentiment? Have you ever had a child you loved and brought up that turned out so unexpectedly different from the way you raised them that you asked (either in your head or actually out loud), “Who are you?” and then perhaps continued, “I don’t even know you anymore.” Maybe you didn’t even state that in anger but rather in shock. It may have even been a pleading, “Where is the son (or daughter) I used to know that loved life, that loved me, that was such a caring person?”

That is exactly the tone that God took with his wayward nation in Isaiah’s account. God was honestly flabbergasted that after all he had done for his nation, his wife, they could actually put on the face of a harlot (in trusting in the military might of pagan nations).

Maybe with this account as a backdrop, those who do not understand Jehovah’s Witnesses’ stand on political neutrality can finally begin to grasp the concept. It really is an enduring idea in scriptures that those serving God trust in him, not in the military might of whichever nation they live in.  We are not seditionists, a common (but very false) charge against us. We are a law-abiding people individually and as a group. We are an international brotherhood whose only political loyalty is to God’s Kingdom. There are other scriptural principles involved, but in order to keep this article clear and concise, I won’t cover those here.

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Does God Test Us?

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Do you remember the first time your parents trusted you to be left home alone? I can’t say that I remember the exact incident but I do remember thinking to myself, “Wow, this is weird. I’ve never been left alone before.” Like most parents, they gave me the typical warnings, “Don’t do anything you know we wouldn’t permit, OR ELSE!” Every child knows exactly what the “or else” means, it means punishment of some sort or another. What is at stake here is our parent’s ability to trust us. Leaving us alone for the first time was a test of that trust. It is also a test of how much we love our parents.

Do parents have the right to impose such tests on their children? Being left alone is all part of the social growing process—learning responsibility and accountability. Really, if the child never learns those he (or she) becomes a burden to society. So yes, a parent needs to train their child to act responsibly. What then about God training mankind? His tests on us are pretty much the same—tests of trust, loyalty and love.

The very first test recorded in the Bible was one of trust. Jehovah told the first human pair not to eat from just one tree. If we parents need to train our children how to act responsibly, it certainly is not wrong for God to train mankind using the same simple and straightforward lesson. Another such lesson of loyalty and obedience is recorded at Exodus 16:4. The “test” was whether or not the masses would trust in God enough to not hoard the manna and to not go looking for it on the seventh day. Both in this case and in the case of Adam and Eve, God generously provided and all he wanted in return was trust and obedience. In researching the word “test” as used in the Bible and in reference to what God does toward mankind, this was the only type of test God imposed on us—he blesses us richly and then asks back proof that we love and willingly, uncompromisingly trust and obey him. (See the additional references below.)

There is another type of test we face, but it is not something God brings on us. It is a test of our character that Satan and this godless world we live in put on us. Returning to the parent/child illustration, consider the situation when the child gets old enough to start socializing outside the family circle with minimal (maybe no) adult supervision. The parents’ hope is that the training they gave their child is enough to help him or her make wise decisions. So say the child goes to a party with his peers and finds liquor and other recreational drugs being used. Now, the parent didn’t put that test on their child—the situation and peer pressure did. This type of test is one that a parent would rather spare their child from, but they know that eventually they will need to trust that the child has to start being self-accountable. This is in essence the test that Job underwent—would he keep loyal to God or would he get angry and blame God. In fact, at one point his wife told him to blame (curse) God and die. Likewise, even Jesus went through such testing. Why does God allow this? There is a benefit both to our resilient character and to God to have a tested quality that proves the type of person we are. Yes, just as a parent praises a child that faced up to the challenge in an adult way, just so God commends and rewards us for standing firm for what is right.

Finally, there can be tests that no one in particular initiated. The Bible calls those “time and unforeseen circumstances.” They fall on people indiscriminately. These could be adverse weather, or earthquakes and other natural disasters that destroy homes and lives. The “test” in this case is how we react. Will we find fault with God--for him allowing this to happen? Maybe even blaming him for causing this to happen? Or will we see it as a challenge to remain in God’s love, realizing it is not him doing this? In fact, in some cases (as in the Job’s case) it is possible that it is Satan causing these “natural” disasters.

So, according to God’s Word, the Bible, the tests God puts on people are designed to show us how we can reciprocate his love and are very gentle and kind. The tests that those opposed to God put on us are designed to destroy our confidence and loyalty in God and are harsh and cruel. Finally, “time and unforeseen circumstances” should never be blamed on God. Our loyalty and unbreakable love under all such situations is what God is looking for in us.

Additional References:

Judges 3:1-6. Here, Jehovah God allows certain foreign nations that do not serve him to continue occupying some of the promise land. It was a test on the Israelites to see if with such an influence they would still remain loyal to instructions handed down through Moses and the other representatives of God (Joshua, the loyal kings, the prophets).

Psalms 26:1,2. This is a very interesting passage. Here, the writer actually asks God to test him because he wants to demonstrate how much he really loves God. In a much lesser sense, don’t we do the same with people we are trying to impress? Candidates vying for a job may ask, “Just try me out. See if I don’t prove myself worthwhile.”

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Confused Loyalties

It is so easy to read history and completely miss its lesson on us today. Military strategists are not that naive. They closely examine history to find out what worked and what didn’t. Professional sports coaches and players are the same. However, the history I am considering is that of people and their relationship with God. (Due to the overwhelming evidence, I will dignify the one I am speaking of by calling him by his unique name—Jehovah. Perhaps you have read other renderings like Yahweh; that’s fine. The points are twofold: 1) praise him as Jesus did (Matthew 6:9), and 2) to set him apart from all other (false) gods--1Corinthians 8:5,6) But I digress.

The history lesson I am referring to is found in what some may consider an obscure book in the Bible, Nehemiah. But the lesson is not unique there. It is echoed time and again—the matter of loyalty, specifically confused loyalties. To many that I know, doing what is “right” is circumstantial. That must have been the case with Eliashib, a high priest in Jehovah’s service. That man had a relative named Tobiah that had no respect for Jehovah’s clean worship.  The Insight book sets the dynamics here: “An opponent of Nehemiah. Tobiah was “the servant,” likely some official under the Persian king. (Ne 2:19) Both he and his son Jehohanan married Jewish women, and Tobiah was also related to High Priest Eliashib. This put Tobiah in a position of advantage for undermining Nehemiah’s authority, in that many Jews looked up to and spoke highly of Tobiah”

Focusing on chapter 13 of Nehemiah, we see that Eliashib had taken a section of property dedicated to worship and made it into a dining hall for Tobiah. It must have seemed right to him to show this official such honor but it was definitely confused loyalty. In contrast, Nehemiah set him right by drawing a clear line as to what is acceptable and unacceptable—removing the furnishing of Tobiah from their place.

Today, it is easy to become confused when someone we care for does things that are not in keeping with Bible standards. We might be afraid of hurting that person or losing their friendship. Especially within the Christian congregation when we see a fellow believer acting questionably, especially if they are close friend, we might be reluctant to speak up. But really, if we didn’t, what would be the outcome for them at Armageddon? They would lose their life—and  then we would have lost our friend forever. On top of that is the principle stated at Ezekiel  3:17 & 18, “Son of man, a watchman is what I have made you to the house of Israel, and you must hear from my mouth speech and you must warn them from me. When I say to someone wicked, ‘You will positively die,’ and you do not actually warn him and speak in order to warn the wicked one from his wicked way to preserve him alive, he being wicked, in his error he will die, but his blood I shall ask back from your own hand.”

Yes, if we aren’t bold enough to stand up for what is right and help our friend, even if it means losing their friendship for a while, we also could be in jeopardy of losing our life. But the motivation should always be 1) love of Jehovah first and foremost, and 2) true unselfish love for our friend.