Assuming the Hero

One common and easy mistake when reading Scripture is to imagine oneself as the hero, the prophet, the traveler, or the direct recipient of the Word of the Lord. But such a reading overlooks the silent majority—those to whom God’s Word came secondhand. The silent majority lived in towns and villages they would never leave, and these people were in need of correction, encouragement, warning, and discipling. Most of these people lived average, if not mundane, lives, serving their families and small communities in ways that history has forgotten.

It might come as a surprise, but the Christian faith does not demand a rootless, nomadic lifestyle for most people. Perhaps you’ve read the book of Acts and think true faithfulness must look like shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea and Roman imprisonments. Those exceptional moments in the lives of men like Paul or Peter are intended to spur greater faithfulness amongst Christians who may never experience such dire circumstances.

Consider that while Paul himself was traveling to places like Philippi and Ephesus and Corinth, his actual instructions to those audiences pertained to daily life, to marriage, to sexual purity, to a Christian work ethic. To the Colossians, for example, Paul did not say, “Uproot your home and take a vow of poverty;” rather, he said, “Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time” (Colossians 4:5). In other words, act like a Christian where you are. In the same manner, when various groups came to John the Baptist to ask what repentance looked like in their lives, he gave straightforward instructions pertaining to their occupations and everyday living (see Luke 3:10-14).

Some, of course, will be called to long journeys and imprisonments, but most will not be. For the majority, faithfulness as a Christian will entail holiness in marriage, devotion in raising up children, and being salt and light in whatever small geographical sphere you live in. To say again what I said above, God expects for you to be a Christian where you are.

Perhaps you’ve heard husbands say to their wives, “I’d take a bullet for you.” The willingness to die for a loved one is admirable, but most will never be in that predicament. Again, the exceptional moments are just that, exceptions. But what of a man who would die for his wife but does not give himself up for her every day?

Husbands should behave as Christians toward their wives, sacrificing themselves in Godly leadership. Wives should behave as Christians toward their husbands, being respectful and submissive in their spirits. Parents should treat their children like Christians, discipling them, disciplining them, and pouring into them lots of love. Christian employees should faithfully man whatever post they’ve been given, be it a high ranking military position or a grocery story bagger. Paul says that whatever we do in word or deed should be done in the name of the Lord (Colossians 3:17, 23).

Many Christians assume that the nomadic missionary life is normative, but it is not. Be a Christian where you are.

Another related mistake after reading the Bible is to envision God’s communication primarily in terms of subjective and direct instructions from God himself. The modern charismatic movement has done considerable harm to how we imagine God communicates with us today.

We read in the prophets of how God’s Word came directly to men in visions or dreams. We read the story of Samuel, who heard an audible word from God while he was lying in bed at night. Consider how in the book of Acts when divine utterances were granted to Jesus’ apostles when the hour called for it. It would be easy to think that this is God’s primary way of speaking—but this is also a mistake.

Most people in Scripture never heard directly from God. I’ll say that again. Most people in Scripture never heard directly from God. Prophets were few and far between, and even the prophets themselves were expected to study Scripture in order to better understand God’s will. In other words, not even they were given subjective step by step instructions concerning their every move.

In the book of Daniel, there are moments where Daniel heard directly from the Lord or from an angel, but those moments were the exceptions, even for him. In Daniel chapter nine, the prophet is eager to know how long Judah would be held captive in Babylon. So what did he do? Did he search within himself for an answer, perhaps a feeling? Did he look about Babylon for a strange sign? Did he say to himself, “The next number I hear today is the number of years before we return from captivity”? No. The text reads, “I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years” (Daniel 9:2).

Where did Daniel discover the answer to his question? In Scripture! He got his answer from Jeremiah 25:2. The great prophet of God, Daniel himself, didn’t expect that God would subjectively and easily give him every answer to every question, let alone such an important answer to such an important question!

In like manner, the young Timothy, who himself was a protege of the Apostle Paul, was instructed to study Scripture to know God’s will (2 Timothy 2:15). David, the man after God’s own heart, repeatedly declares in the Psalms his meditations on God’s law. Paul, one of the greatest prophets to ever live, told Timothy with fair urgency to bring to him the books and “above all the parchments,” surely a reference to sacred Scripture (2 Timothy 4:13).

The true recorded prophets received prophecies only rarely, and they were personally devoted to Scripture for hearing God’s Word. But ours is a time when many a modern Christian will loosely declare, “The Lord told me.” But did he really? Or, did somebody search out their own heart for their own thoughts, mistaking them for God’s?

Alarmingly often, I hear people say, “God said to me that he wants X,Y,Z.” I must ask again, did he really? How can you be so sure? What is the difference between an inner voice from God and your own thoughts? How often does that inner voice demand of you what your flesh does not want?

This way of imagining God’s communication with man not only misses what Scripture clearly demonstrates, but it is arrogant and ultimately self-serving.

Why would God preserve the sacred Scriptures, which came by the blood of many martyrs, when he intended to subjectively tell each person what they should be doing at each given moment? How often does God’s personal word to you contradict something he gave in Scripture?

God: “Do not forsake the assembly. Love and serve the church.”

Man: “God knows my heart, and I’m happiest finding God on nature hikes.”

God: “Marriage is between one man and one woman for life.”

Man: “God wouldn’t have made me gay if he really thought homosexuality was a bad thing.”

God: “You will be persecuted and hated by all if you are faithful.”

Man: “God doesn’t want us doing anything that makes people mad.”

Do you see how arrogant and treacherous it can be to assume that God primarily communicates in a subjective manner?

The Word of God highlights the rare and exceptional works done by his prophets to get the message to people like you and me—average, every day people.

So be holy and be sanctified where you are. Seek out the Lord through prayer and drink from the well of Scripture to know his will for your life. I do believe that the Holy Spirit will prick and prod us as we are filled with Him, but such proddings always come on the heels of study, meditation, and a life truly devoted to the Living God.