Other memorable attitudes

In my last essay, ‘In everything give thanks’ I wrote about the transforming power of thankfulness in ourselves and in our lives. Today I will look at some other attitudes which are commended by God in certain situations described in the Bible. These concern our attitudes to current events.

There is in my country at present a scandal concerning the police. Accusations of misconduct against a Deputy Commissioner (the number two role in the force) have apparently been found to have merit, and in the course of the investigation, further misconduct was uncovered. Furthermore, other senior officers including an Assistant Commissioner and the Commissioner himself have now found themselves under investigation along the lines of ‘who knew what, and when?’, a track which is all too familiar in tales of the downfall of persons in authority. Sadly, some such tales have unfolded in the Church.

This current scandal with the police is not the first time senior officers have been found involved in crime and abuse in New Zealand. Nonetheless, the current Commissioner maintains this is not reflective of police culture generally in our country (by the grace of God, let it be so).

Of interest, the investigation into these recent matters commended several officers who pushed back against what has been termed a coverup, despite that those overseeing the coverup were much senior to themselves and held positions of power over the careers and success of the ones raising concerns. It was noted in the report this would have required considerable courage and strength of conviction on the part of those ‘pushing back’.

And now the report is in, the enquiries ongoing, the abuses and coverups condemned, and the good conduct of those who opposed them is commended.

But how forbidding must the power and positions of those corrupt, senior officers have seemed to those who opposed them? When complaints rise up the chain of command, and it transpires that complicity with the offences and the offenders stretches all the way to the very top? And those persons have the respect and ear of the very leaders of the country – ministers, and the Prime Minister.

And how often do such cases end in the exposure of wrongdoing, and with justice? How many such matters will never be heard of in the course of our natural lives, or of those involved? Though ultimately our Lord tells us, ‘nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.’ (Luke 8:17)

I was reminded of these things recently while reading the book of Ezekiel in the Bible. Chapters 8 and 9 of that book exemplify the story of a prophet as much as any in the Bible: the nation in sin and rebellion, the impending judgement of God completely terrible. I recommend to read those chapters though they are far from cheerful reading; there is no greater earthly doom pronounced in the Bible I would think, though other examples may equal it.

On the eve of the destruction as foretold is a curious episode. The following is from the vision seen by Ezekiel.

‘And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side; And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary.’ (Ezekiel 9:4-6)

The rights or wrongs of such an horror as ordered by God are not the subject of this essay. Except to say that, whether by the hands of men, or by force of nature which we know is under the command of God (Jesus even stilled the storm with a word) vast numbers of people of every age, gender and ethnicity do still fall prey to dreadful disasters up until the present day, in various episodes and in different parts of the world. So whatever our understanding of God, or our ‘world view’ for those less specifically minded – it must contend with the reality of such events.

But before the terrible judgements described above, it was found that even ‘the ancients of Israel’ were consumed by idolatry, and had ‘filled the city with violence’, ‘bloody crimes’ and ‘perversion’. The very elders and leaders of the land were at the head of its extreme corruption. How must it have seemed to those who were against such things? How could the violence and corruption be opposed or defeated, when it filled even the highest ‘corridors of power’?

‘Then he said unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.’ (Ezekiel 9:9)

The above statement seems to me at the heart of these matters, both in Ezekiel, and elsewhere in the Bible, and to the present day in my own country. The question is: what do people think, and how do we act when it seems evil has triumphed, or for those who are evil, when it seems they can get away with anything? That all power is theirs? Or there is no power to oppose? When it seems that ‘God seeth not’?

Do we say, there is no justice today or tomorrow – we must look after ourselves and do whatever we must? Or even, we should make the most of it? That this is our chance to get whatever we want, and do whatever we like?

Does not God take note in such times of those who would say, when evil has its fleeting triumph, how can there be a God if such things are allowed? Or more particularly, as described in the vision of Ezekiel, of those who say the opposite: certainly there is a God, and all shall be held to account, from the least offence to the greatest.

What did those corrupt police officers think when it seemed they were above the law – that they were the law – and who then could oppose them? That they might as well do whatever their lusts and evil desires prompted them to do? That there was none to hold them to account? But they forgot one – the Lord, in whom they had failed to believe. (For the deeds reported are not the works of faith.)

Yet for others, the seeming futility of standing up for good did not dissuade them from doing so. They raised concerns; they pushed back.

And to those who believe in our just and righteous God, there is no futility ever in standing up for good, only patience, until the righteousness and power and judgements of God are revealed, and prevail to the ends of the earth and through all of history, amongst all people, and in the smallest to the greatest of matters.

‘Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!’ (Luke 17:1)

‘But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement.’ (Matthew 12:36)

My learning from Ezekiel is this: the day of reckoning comes.

Thanks be to God when it comes also in our own world, and in our time.

In that light, even the sighs and cries of those who would not partake in evil, as reported in Ezekiel, were remembered by God, and treasured. Those sentiments must have seemed futile; in truth they were of great value, and only God knows for how long the terrible fate of Jerusalem was held at bay by the ‘salt’ of godly thoughts and prayers. For while such treasures remained to be gathered into the eternal archives of God, his patience persisted.

The book of Malachi tells a similar story.

‘Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?

Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.’ (Malachi 3:13-17)

But what did those treasured souls do, that such a monument was written, and such promises made concerning them? Merely, they spoke to one another; and their words were of those who believe. Those who never doubted in the darkness that light would surely come. For they trusted in the one who is Light.

Such words and deeds, it transpires, are of great value. And when evil prevails for a season, what else can be done, but to speak of it, and to have no part in it? But while the works of wickedness may appear great, those simple acts are greater by far, so far as the heavens are above the earth. The deeds of darkness are consumed forever in an instant; the works of faith held in remembrance by God forever. For ‘this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.’ (John 6:29)

Let our hearts, and our words, and our thoughts be guided by faith in the One who only is completely faithful, our God who is just, and before whom no offence is unanswered. And Jesus himself answers for our offences, if we will receive it.

Let us be his jewels that he gathers, specks of his light in the darkness, sparkling as he made us to do, in our words, in our deeds each day, shining forth the attitude of hearts which adore him, and do not doubt. For the day of reckoning comes, and darkness shall be no more.

Praise to our Lord for ever and ever, amen.