A Word about Marching Orders

 

Today I want to share a word about marching orders, as I comment on Hebrews 11:8-10. This passage reads:

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 

When military units get their marching orders, their commanders will call together their staffs and initiate a process called the Military Decision Making Process, or MDMP for short. This is a detailed, painstaking, frustrating, and often torturous process by which these staff officers will develop various Courses of Action, or COAs for short, for their commanders to choose from in order to accomplish the assigned mission. The standard outcome of MDMP is the production of three separate Courses of Action which can be compared and evaluated, and, ideally, have one chosen as the COA for the unit to follow.

What about an individual? What happens when, instead of getting marching orders from an army general, a person gets marching orders from God? I think that, often, the same kind of process can take place, albeit much more informally. If a person is feeling led by God to do something,  then that person may weigh various options before making a commitment. In fact, the Bible gives us examples of three different options we might consider when given our marching orders from God.

Course of Action One:

The first course of action we might take is to renege and simply refuse our marching orders. The prime example of that in the Bible is Jonah, as we see in Jonah 1:1-3.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Jonah had the opportunity to go to the enemy of his people and his God and to preach the Good News to them. We know from other passages in his eponymous book that Jonah hated the Ninevites, and would have loved, literally, to see them burn in Hell. What he didn’t know, however, was that God was about to initiate a great revival among the Ninevites, one that would give his own people, the northern Kingdom of Israel, forty years, the time of an entire generation, to repent of their own sins and return to God.

We have no idea how the history of God’s people would have changed had Jonah whole-heartedly embraced his marching orders. He didn’t, however, and not only did he refuse them, but he also ran away in the opposite direction. By doing so, Jonah showed that he was not only a rebel, but also a coward. If he was going to tell God no, he should have at least had the intestinal fortitude to stand his ground and take his punishment like a man.

In the end, God’s will prevailed. He caused Jonah to make an amphibious landing so that he could preach the Gospel to the Ninevites. Even though he didn’t seem to put much effort into his sermon, a great revival broke out and the Kingdom of Israel was afforded a generation of time to repent. That they didn’t was not a reflection on God’s grace, but it might have been a reflection of the kind of person Jonah was in his own heart.

Course of Action Two:

A second course of action open to us is found in a parable of Jesus. This parable is found in Matthew 21:28-32, and it’s known as the The Parable of the Two Sons:

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.”

Another reaction we can have when given marching orders from God is to have a bad attitude. That’s essentially what happened in this parable. The first son refused, but then obeyed. The end result was good, but the process he took to get there was, let’s say, unfortunate. It would have been better for him had he saluted his dad and cheerfully obeyed him, but at least he obeyed, in the end.

The second son, on the other hand, also showed a bad attitude. He said, “Yes, sir!” But then he proceeded to renege just like Jonah did. In fact, he lied to his father. Alcoholic’s Anonymous has a saying which applies to him: "If what you say and what you do don’t match, then what you say is a lie, and what you do is the truth."

We must remember that God is not interested in lip service; this son’s reaction reminds me of a sign I once saw in a motor pool at Fort Bragg: "The maximum effective range of an excuse is ZERO meters."

We must not underestimate how much God prizes obedience.  As I mentioned recently, Samuel rebuked Saul’s disobedience by telling him that “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft” and Jesus told us, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” 

So, in the end, the first son did what was right, but at what cost? What was the cost to his relationship with his father? What was the cost to his relationship with God? What was the cost in stress and frustration? In fear and shame and doubt? What was the cost to his father’s reputation in the community that his son would refuse his command? 

Acts 1:8 tells us that we will be witnesses for Christ, but, what kind of witnesses we will be depends largely on how we respond to God’s marching orders for our lives. Obviously, the first son’s reaction was better than either his brother’s or Jonah’s, but it was still sub-optimal. 

Course of Action Three:

A third course of action can be found in our focal passage for today and also in Genesis 12:1-4.

"The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran." 

Abraham, who was known as Abram when God gave him his marching orders, shows us a radically different course of action to take when God calls. Abraham was not a young man  when he was called, and he had a large household. He also had deep roots in Harran with much family and many friends there. God, from a human perspective audaciously, told Abram to saddle up and move out, to go to place that He would reveal to him at a later time, which is a remarkable requirement.

I can never remember an instance in my military career when a unit was directed to move without an objective to take, an assembly area to occupy, or a training area to utilize. It is just not done that way. Admittedly the Troop Leading Procedures used by the Army and the Marines do allow commanders to start their troops moving before the final plan of action has been locked down, but they will always specify a route to follow and an assembly area to occupy before starting a movement. Any commander who launches a unit on a “march to nowhere” would soon be looking for a job.

God, however, works by a different set of leadership procedures. He told Abram, “Move out,” and He expected Abram to trust Him. And, as both the Old Testament and the New Testament record, Abram did so. 

Romans 4:3 gives the final assessment of Abraham’s COA: "What does Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.'” 

Our Decision:

So, if given a choice of these three Courses of Action, what would a wise person choose? I think it is obvious. 

The only COA without a flaw is the one taken by Abraham. “It is always right to do the right thing” as one of former commander’s often said, “even when no one’s looking.” 

The right thing, of course, is to obey God with all of our heart and soul and might.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt