Steering Off Course
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20 NASB
Suppress the truth – Perhaps when you read this phrase you imagine people who deliberately oppose the things of God. Atheists. Pagans. Perpetrators of immorality. All those “bad” people who raise a fist toward heaven. But maybe Paul’s commentary is much closer to home than we would like to believe.
The verb Paul chooses is katéchō. “This more emphatic form [of échō ] means 1. ‘to hold fast or back,’ 2. ‘to occupy spatially,’ 3. ‘to occupy legally,’ ‘to possess.’ A nautical sense is ‘to steer toward’ or ‘land at.’”[1] The term is often used positively of the Sprit’s connection with the believer or the believer’s commitment to the truth. But Paul has something else in mind. He’s writing about those who steer us away from godliness. We get that, but maybe what we don’t see so clearly is our own complicity in this process. Consider Heschel’s remark: “To avoid prayer constantly is to force a gap between man and God which can widen into an abyss.”[2] Have you considered the consequence of ignoring prayer? Do you suppose that going about life without constant consultation with the Creator actually suppresses the truth? Doesn’t a prayer-less life imply that God is of no consequence?
Maybe we are really intellectual believers but practical atheists.
We who dwell in the twentieth century are experiencing the collapse of faith in the rival who was to replace Him: man. Poets applaud the absurd, novelists explore the decadent, and men prostrate themselves before the deities of lust and power. Our obsession is with human flesh. The ghoul who devours it is the latest film craze; the science of feeding it, firming it up, and preparing it for fornication, the most popular theme in literature. Daily we are bombarded by lurid reports on the mass-killer, the rapist, and the corrupt bureaucrat. The fantasies of even little children are now peopled with perverts and the radiated dead. Who will speak of those who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly?[3]
Dresner’s comment challenges our choices of entertainment, fashion, fame and personal goals. Maybe Paul is asking about inner motives as well as outward behaviors. It would be an enormous tragedy to discover that we have suppressed the truth by simply misdirecting the course of our lives with the smallest of detours. The absence of prayer is a silent reminder that we have abdicated God’s world.
Topical Index: katéchō, suppress, prayer, purpose, Romans 1:18-20
[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 289). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[2] Abraham Heschel, I Asked for Wonder, p. 51.
[3] Samuel H. Dresner, “Introduction” to Abraham Heschel’s, I Asked for Wonder, p. 15.
Thank you for this very much needed reminder, Skip.
Skip, you pointed out that there are only two sides, which is what I have decided, too. Humanism champions the myth that there is a third ‘way’ – another way to oppose heaven – a way called ‘my’ way. We no longer have to believe that we have to challenge heaven directly, like Pharoah or Nimrod: we can, by means of self worship, merely ignore it. But, surely, to accede to that myth is to put ourselves directly under the control of the current opposition to heaven by the “principalities and powers” of evil.
Witness the outcome of the nations to date that have embraced humanism: France imploded first (and has never arguably recovered), but Russia, Cuba, China, North Korea and others were hot on their heels. Does it look like the lands of those who bought into ‘my way’ (atheism) are doing well, or does it look like a greater hand used their gullibility to plant evil in their lands?
In the seventies, unlikely missionaries of the real truth about humanism came flying out of the darkness with a message. Sakharov and Solzhenitsyn warned us that we were following their country (Russia) to perdition, but we booed them off the stage. We thought it would never ‘happen’ to us, but what part of our culture is left that is still operating in the fear of heaven? They fell hard and fast, but isn’t our fall nastier and more comprehensive because we are falling from a greater light? Doesn’t that greater denial make the ensuing darkness only that much more complete?
A lifestyle so abhorrent to the image of YHWH lived for so long and so socially accepted becomes normal. A pit so many of us fall, or maybe, willingly jump in. Is it simply easier to live this way rather than walk boldly in basic obedience? Apparently. Rather than “Lead us not in to temptation, . . .” how easy is it for us to ask ourselves to lead our steps in to those easy “me” paths.
Thanks for jostling this in to clearer focus.
Great post – Lord, help us to pray
Oh man, this was a bit of a kick in the rear this morning. 🙂 I get moving so (too) quickly, and often that means I don’t even think about talking to G-d throughout the day. Other times I spend most of the day uttering breath prayers (mostly, “thank you, G-d” or “help G-d!”). This is a really good reminder that without prayer we lose touch with truth and the Maker of all things. I may not actively avoid prayer, but I don’t often actively seek to make it a focus and focal point of my days – a challenge to stay fixed on what matters so that all the other things that crowd our existence don’t have a chance to get a greater hold. Thanks for this powerful word!