Smoothing the Difficult Things of God

Doy Moyer

There are teachings in the Bible that are not the easiest things to accept. Depending upon our own situation, some things may be more difficult than others. The temptation is that, when faced with a teaching that is not exactly what we want, we might "smooth" it down just a bit in order to make it more palatable. In other words, we might even "rearrange" some of God's teachings in order to make them fit what we like, rather than being determined to change our lives to fit what the Bible teaches.

The wicked king Ahab was not a friend of true prophets. When desiring to go to war against Ramoth-gilead, with Jehoshaphat as an ally, he called his own prophets to tell him what he wanted to hear (2 Chron. 18). Jehoshaphat knew better, so he asked if there was "yet a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of him?" Ahab was now going to have to face what he didn't want: the truth. "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me but always evil. He is Micaiah, son of Imla" (vs. 7). Sure enough, Micaiah told Ahab what he didn't want to hear, and Ahab had Micaiah locked up for it. It wasn't that Micaiah was mean or ugly about what he said; it's just that he told the truth.

God's people were warned by Isaiah about making an alliance with Egypt. They wanted to "execute a plan, but not" the Lord's (Isa. 30:1). Through Isaiah, God said that these were "rebellious people ... who refuse to listen to the instruction of the Lord." Their attitude was manifest in their desire for the smooth things: "Who say to the seers, 'You must not see visions' ; and to the prophets, 'You must not prophecy to us what is right, speak to us pleasant words (i.e., smooth things), prophesy illusions. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel'" (vv. 9-11). They had their own desires and really didn't care about what God had to say. This is a continual danger today.

We find a similar warning in the New Testament. Timothy was told to "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" (2 Tim. 4:2). The urgency of being committed to preaching the word is seen in the next verses: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths" (vv. 3-4). Again, the temptation is that, when faced with difficult teachings, we may disregard truth in favor of the "smooth things." There will always be teachers who will smooth out the difficult things of God.

So we must examine our hearts. What do we really want to hear? Probably all would say that they want the "truth." Even Ahab said that. But in reality what we might really want is a smidgen of truth mixed with a lot of fluff. "Make us feel good about ourselves." "Build our self-esteem." "Just give us the positive." So the road is paved toward accumulating for ourselves teachers according to our own desires. Better be careful.

Even things that we hear a lot about may not be the easiest to accept. I believe that one of the most difficult statements is in Luke 9:23: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." We hear it; we preach it. But we still must admit that self-denial is, at best, difficult to swallow. We may even think we are practicing it, but then find ourselves swelling up with pride and selfish ambition. I would venture to say that herein lies the problem in most divisions within local congregations (see Phil. 2:3-4). It's not as easy as we think, for selfishness is too often rearing its ugly head.

Concerning an issue such as marriage and divorce, the disciples understood what Jesus had to say about it as being difficult: "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry" (Matt. 19:10). What Jesus said was strict enough that it caused the disciples to recognize that it was not the easiest teaching in the world. Our goal then, in dealing with an issue like this, is to arrive at truth, no matter how difficult it may be, rather than attempting to speak things that people selfishly want to hear because it accommodates their situation. This is true of any issue.

Worldliness, modesty, and a host of other issues can be rather difficult to hear for us. We don't want to hear about the things we must "give up" in order to faithfully serve the Lord. We don't like to hear those things that would cause us to make changes, however drastic, in our lives. We don't like to hear about the sins of which we may be guilty. So the ever-present temptation is, once again, to smooth out the difficult things and adapt God's word to our lives, rather than desiring to adapt our lives to fit the teachings of God's word. Even saying these things are difficult for me; I'm as guilty as anyone.

Attitude toward truth is really what's at issue here. Most of us say we want truth; now only each individual can look deeply enough into his or her heart to know if he or she really loves it. Just remember that God knows our hearts as well, and no matter how much we say it, if we don't love the truth deep down, delusions may be allowed into our lives so that we accept lies (2 Thess. 2:10-12). That's a scary thought that motivates us to really examine ourselves.

Paul thanked God for the attitude of the Thessalonians, for "when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe" (1 Thess. 2:13). May God help us all to attain to the same attitude. When teachings are difficult, let's not try to smooth them out so that they lose their force; rather, let's admit the obvious and seek to adjust our lives accordingly.

Doy's