Black & White

I started reading Exodus again this week. I like this book, for the most part. I like reading about Moses, I like reading about God's power and it keeps me in line a little bit. I read chapter one yesterday and something stuck out to me.


The chapter starts with a new king taking over Egypt who was threatened by the people of Israel, the Hebrews. He enslaved them, "and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field" (vs 1:14). 

The king then orders the midwives of the Hebrew women to kill any boys that are born and let all the girls live.


"But the midwives feared God 
and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, 
but let the male children live." vs 1:17

When the king asked them about it, they answered:

"The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.
                                       So God dealt well with the midwives."

(I'm going to go ahead and try to forget that the verb 'vigorous' can be used in regards to childbirth.)

So I'm wondering: Does God allow lying?
Is it okay if it saves and protects people? When are we allowed to break the rules in the name of God? Maybe it seems pretty obvious that murdering children for a jealous Egyptian king is wrong, but there are situations in this same vein that get complicated. "Obey the laws of the land" says the Lord, but does that mean we shouldn't be smuggling Bibles into countries who don't allow them there?  Where does cultural relativism fall into place here?

Paul's letters, specifically the book of Romans, makes it clear that we are to obey the leaders that God puts in our lives. We are repeatedly told to pay taxes and respect authority. Why does God reward the midwives for lying? I don't know, but this is what I think.

God doesn't want us to follow a list of rules, right? That's what I hear. But he gave Moses a list of rules, commandments, for people to obey. But he's far more interested in our heart.

God is not a god of legalism, but a God that desires obedient hearts. He doesn't want us to rattle off Scripture for the sake of following commandments, he wants us to know him. The more we know his heart and his son, Jesus, the easier it is to make the right choice in complicated situations. Jesus told us to go spread the gospel across the world. Does that make smuggling Bibles okay? I don't know.

Wesley Towne used the term "civil disobedience" in a sermon on this topic once. We are to filter all our decisions through God's word and never violate it to obey another leader.  That seems straight forward enough, but it can't be done without knowing God.



Just a thought.