The Hitchhiker’s Guide (22)

Listen to instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.  Proverbs 8:33  NASB

Listen – “The strength of the yetzer ha-ra is precisely in convincing us that we do not need these words or instruction because we are above believing in such simple notions as reward and punishment.”^[1]

How’s your spiritual IQ?  Pretty good, right?  You know what’s wrong and what’s right.  You’re basically a “good” person.  You’re not like all those reprobates you see on the nightly news.  You have a higher moral standard than virtually all politicians and celebrities.  That’s why you can so easily identify their failures.  You read your Bible.  You pray.  You help others.  Yes, you might slip up once in a while, but compared to others, well, you’re almost a saint.

And that’s precisely where the yetzer ha’ra gets you!  It’s the beam and the splinter parable.  Have you considered that the reason you can assess all those faults in others is because the idea of those faults also rests in you?  Luzzatto asks us to recognize our own spiritual arrogance.  As soon as we start believing that we are beyond those foibles, that we are spiritually enlightened so that we’re no longer motivated by such crass pressures like escaping Hell or being rewarded for our enlightened status, we’ve fallen into the trap.  Reward and punishment are real.  What we do matters.  Those prayers you said last year, that charitable contribution you made last month, the person you helped yesterday—all well and good, but none of those things give you carry-over credit for what you do today.  As soon as you hear that whisper that you’ve done enough, that you’ve proven your worth, that you’ve arrived, well, that’s the yetzer ha’ra providing you with an excuse not to push further.

But you’ll say, “Wait a minute!  Certainly God can’t expect us to constantly be under the gun of divine judgment.  Doesn’t He choose us regardless of our struggles?  Aren’t we safe under His wings?  Why should I have to live in constant fear that I’m not good enough, that my every choice will determine my ultimate destiny?  That’s not a gospel of love.  That’s nothing but fear!”

Right!  And that’s the point.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It doesn’t say, “The love of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  And, yes, the yetzer ha’ra will try to convince you that “fear” (yārēʾ) is really just respect for majesty.  But the Hebrew word envelope is much bigger.  “. . . biblical usages of yārēʾ are divided into five general categories: 1) the emotion of fear, 2) the intellectual anticipation of evil without emphasis upon the emotional reaction, 3) reverence or awe, 4) righteous behaviour or piety, and 5) formal religious worship.”^[2]  You’re not going to get away with pretending that fearing God means nothing more than worshipping Him.  Biblical life runs on emotional rails.  If you’re not afraid of God, well then, you really don’t appreciate just how tenuous your life really is.  The yetzer ha’ra attempts to block this kind of trepidation because it knows that if you’re really afraid you will think much more clearly before you act.  Automatic “spirituality” isn’t always the right thing to do.

So, today, just for practice, pretend that God really is looking over your shoulder.  Pretend that you have to justify every choice you make to Him before you execute.  Pretend that the weight of divine justice hangs over you right now.  Would that make a difference?

Step 22:  Practice being afraid – for the right reason.

Topical Index: yārâ, fear, reward, punishment, Proverbs 8:33

[1] Ira F. Stone, in Moses Hayyim Luzzatto, Mesillat Yesharim: The Path of the Upright, p. 55.

^[2] Bowling, A. (1999). 907 יָרֵא. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 399). Chicago: Moody Press.