February 4
Stephen MattsonDay 237: Don't Be Like Dan
(If you're reading this, and your name happens to be Daniel, I bet my header got your attention. But I digress.)
If anyone takes time to look at the individual tribes of Israel, the twelve of them, some come to mind easier than others.
The tribe of Levi was the sole producer of Levites (makes sense.) The priests were a subset of the Levites. Judah was the tribe that gave us King David, and later, King Jesus.
Then there are the others that are mentioned, of course, but don't come to mind as easily. The tribe of Dan is one, at least for me.
The tribe of Dan sounds friendly enough. Almost on a first name basis. (Like Chad should be the friendliest country in Africa, right?) But they weren't. The later chapters in Judges prove that point.
The story in this Sunday's sermon goes something like this: The 12 tribes of Israel are given (the Promised) land by God. The allotments are based on tribal size, and are determined by a lottery system. The tribe of Dan is assigned a relatively large parcel in the SW territory.
However, there are already inhabitants in the land. Israel's tribes are to go into their assigned allotments, and displace the current residents. Failure to do so comes with two warnings.
Numbers 33:55 says, "But if you do not drive out the in habitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell."
And the following verse gives the second warning. "And I [God] will do to you as I thought to do to them."
Most of the 12 tribe did okay with this conquering thing, at least at the beginning. Dan the tribe did not. They pretty much couldn't or wouldn't displace anyone. Maybe they thought it would be easier than it proved to be.
So toward the end of Judges we read how the "Danites were without a homeland," and were looking for somewhere to set up shop. But instead of conquering the land assigned to them in the SW, they went looking far away to the NE, on the northern most edge of the northern most tribe's land.
The Danites go and annihilate an unsuspecting people, destroy the town, and then name it after themselves. Dan. Not God's plan.
Somehow, I cannot escape the thought that the tribe of Dan could be us. We church people have a pretty secure understanding of who God wants us to be, and how He wants us to live. Revealed in the Bible. God's general will.
Then we have times in our lives when we look for clear direction, specific to ourselves. God's specific will. But there are times, be it general or specific, when 1) God's will seems unfair, or 2) God's will appears too hard, or 3) It must be that God needs our help.
All of which leads to disagreeing with God, changing our understanding, and making alternate plans. So how does that play out?
We can be like Dan, and do either nothing, or do a half-baked job, and then blame God for it not working out for us.
Or we can look for what we think will make us feel satisfied and fulfilled...even if it negatively affects other people.
Or, we ignore God's sovereignty, and demand other people cooperate with us. And blame them if it doesn't work out.
So, when it comes to God's will, (and no, He isn't asking any of us to destroy some unsuspecting people group), we are easily prone to ignore and/or alter.
Both are evidences of unbelief. We can ignore God by ignoring His written Word ourselves. And then we alter God's will by demanding we and others be in "Christian community," putting the onus on other people for our satisfaction and fulfillment.
Doing God's will does not happen outside of, does not come at the expense of being in God's will. The Danites never figured out how to be in or do God's will. And that's perhaps why they were some of the first to be carried off into Assyrian captivity centuries later. (See Numbers 33:56.)
Our desire to "help God" is always a smokescreen for wanting to alter things. Make them easier, more attainable. Left to ourselves, we favor compromise over obedience. Like Dan.
Don't be like Dan.
