Day 3: Are you here to support or oppose?

‘Sold for Rs. 16 crores’ reads the headline, the day after IPL auction 2021. On a completely different note, in the year 1860, in the USA, the newspaper that would report the selling of slaves would have probably read, ‘Sold for 800 USD’. I found out the comparable value of a slave in today’s price. The best slave, who is an artisan – a blacksmith or a carpenter, would cost around Rs. 1.5 crores. Not bad. The cricketer seemed to have outpriced the other artisans!

I hope you are not horrified or dissatisfied by the comparison I am making. The word ‘sold’ surely does not mean the same thing now as it meant then. But, even after knowing the history of slavery, if we are prepared to use the same word, I wonder what it tells us about the nature of humanity. I think we prefer to fix a price for most things, and I think we prefer to buy it and expect complete loyalty. If we are in a habit of fixing a price for humans, I think it’s not too far-fetched to think that we are capable of fixing a price for God. A little charity here, a little time of devotion and prayer there, and we think we can sort of ‘buy’ God’s allegiance to us and expect Him to support our cause, instead of realizing that, in actuality, we are the ones bought with a huge price, and God demands our complete surrender.

Let’s look at the conversation where Joshua unknowingly asks whether the commander of God’s army is there to support or oppose him.

Joshua 5: 13-15 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. [Link to the passage in the Bible]

From the answer the commander of the Lord’s army gave Joshua, we can ask ourselves these questions.

• Are we looking at God as ‘a man with a drawn sword’, whom we can use in the manner we see fit?

• In our prayers to God, are we expecting God’s allegiance to us, or are we ready to surrender to His sovereignty?

• We might say a sincere prayer with faith asking God, ‘Are you for us, or for our enemies?’ Here, enemies as we see it could be failure, sickness, poverty or betrayal. When He answers ‘Neither’, are we still willing to remove our sandals, fall face down on the ground in reverence and ask ‘What does my Lord ask of Thy servant?’

Link to the previous article: Can I see You? Link to the next article: Who do You think You are?