The captain of my ship

How many times have I said this in the past, and I’m sure you did, too. There is nothing more liberating than being able to make one’s own decision without the order, command, interference, or suggestion of others. Maybe fine with the last one --others may have good ideas to consider. But all, if not most, always want to make the final decision on our actions. Logic and reason might influence to a great extent, but we always want to have the last say.

Circumstances or other factors such as institutions or traditions are good influences, too, to a greater extent. What country were we born or live in, the religious beliefs we have, customs and traditions, and general family upbringing influence our choices and decisions to a certain extent. But since time immemorial, man always had this selfish urge to make one’s decision. We consider everything, of course, but we make the decisions. For the family and me, and whoever we lead in life.

But what if God says something on which we don’t particularly agree. I am speaking for God- and Bible-believing human beings, of course, as I’ve known a few who don’t --the atheists and agnostics among us, though fewer in a religious country like ours. Most of us are Christians of diverse but quite similar beliefs. Our common ground is the Bible, which many, including me, believe to be God’s word and his means of communicating with man. Jesus declared to us (in Matthew 5:18) that not even the smallest little mark in the Scriptures --the equivalent of a dot on an “i” or a cross on a “t” --will ever perish.

But to what extent we believe in or rely on God’s word would have to be a personal preference or conviction. Abraham so believed God that when the latter told him in Genesis 12:1, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house to the land which I will show you;” he promptly did. I may not have such a faith and if ever there’s a command from God for me to migrate to another place or country, I would have to do a lot of prayers and soul-searching and meditation, to really get confirmation from God if this is really what he wants me to do. Abraham simply obeyed.

This is not just a test of obedience, but really a self-soul-searching on who God really is in our lives. Man’s original sin is not disobeying God but not knowing him as God in our lives. Even in this 21st century AD world, God wants to be the captain of our ship, but we don’t want to be because we want to be the one who steers, the one who decides. “It’s my life,” or so we say. When God tells me to do something I don’t particularly like or agree, do I obey? Will I obey? Or will I say, “This is my life! … I’ll do whatever I want.” Regardless of what others, … even God, … say.

Abraham obeyed because he “knew” God. He knows God loves him. Thus, he obeyed him.