We Can Do It Better Than God

We are surrounded by many today that have “good intentions” in their service to the Lord.  They seek out more “efficient” methods of completing the commands of God, but in doing so they neglect to also seek out the Bible authority for their methods.  Mankind, it seems, is stuck on the concept that they know how to accomplish the will of the Lord (evangelizing, benevolence, etc) better than the Lord.  To further clarify, man seems to think that their own methods are much more efficient than the methods set forth in the New Testament by the Lord.  Why didn’t God just ask us how to get things done correctly?

 

It is out of this false sense of self-importance that concepts such as institutionalism spring forth (there are many other false doctrines that can be utilized to express this point as well).  God’s method of benevolence just simply isn’t efficient enough, so let’s create an organization between the church and its members to take care of ALL the needy.  God’s method of evangelizing the world isn’t efficient enough either, so let’s create an institution or organization to take care of that as well.  God’s method of the older teaching the younger isn’t efficient either, so we’ll go ahead and create some manmade method of accomplishing this as well.  As you can see, God really should have asked us before commanding how these things ought to be done because we know better than God.  But, since we have good intentions and the ends justify the means, God will accept it in the end (and perhaps praise us for knowing more than He does about how the world works and how people will respond).

What about King David and Uzzah? In 2 Samuel 6, David decides that the Ark of the Covenant will be transported from Baale Judah on a cart rather than carried by the polls that were designed for this purpose (2 Samuel 6:1-5; Exodus 25:10-15).  Well, this makes sense, doesn’t it? Isn’t it a more “efficient” method of transporting the Ark? The Levites HAD to get tired from carrying around the Ark by those polls, so why wouldn’t a cart be a more efficient method of completing the command of the Lord?

…then the oxen stumbled (2 Samuel 6:6).  Uzzah, with his good intentions (and there is no reason to doubt that Uzzah had good intentions), reaches out to steady the Ark so that it doesn’t fall off of the cart.  God, who by this point realized that using a cart IS a more efficient method of doing His will, accepts Uzzah’s decision to touch the Ark because of his good intentions.

Obviously not! In 2 Samuel 6:7, the Lord becomes angry with Uzzah for touching the Ark and strikes him down. 

Rather than telling God that we know better than He does how to accomplish His will, we should actually DO His will! When you hear, "I don't need to show my authority for doing x, y, and z because they are 'good works,'" beware. If someone is being honest, they will be fine with being asked for their Bible authority for an action...and will even expect it and be happy that people are asking! (1 John 4:1-3) If someone is "offended" because you ask to see the Bible authority for what they are doing, then something is wrong! If they are trying to hide what they actually believe behind tricky words and avoidance of the subject, then there is something wrong (Romans 1:15-17; Colossians 3:17; 2 John 7-11).