There are two consistent responses that are natural to man when faced with a challenge – fight, and flight. This is true with our circumstances, our relationships with others, and even our relationship with God. As we think about our identity, and measuring ourselves against Christ, we find that we are not exactly comfortable with our position. We can choose to engage him in battle – though if we do it with honesty we should come to it with a sense of impending failure. Or we can choose to run – an equally humiliating venture without the slightest hope of success.
God’s strength is surely greater than our own. A head on assault on God ends as it did with Job:
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
Who defined the boundaries of the sea as it burst from the womb, and as I clothed it with clouds and thick darkness? For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores. I said, “Thus far and non further will you come. Here your proud waves must stop!”
Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to the night’s wickedness? For the features of the earth take shape as the light approaches, and the dawn is robed in red. The light disturbs the haunts of the wicked, and it stops the arm that is raised in violence.
Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you walked about and explored their depths? Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!
Where does the light come from, and where does the darkness go? Can you take it to its home? Do you know how to get there? But of course you know all of this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!
Job 38:1-21Job 38:1-21
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
38 The Lord Speaks From Out of a Storm 1 From out of a storm, the Lord said to Job: 2 Why do you talk so much when you know so little? 3 Now get ready to face me! Can you answer the questions I ask? 4 How did I lay the foundation for the earth? Were you there? 5 Doubtless you know who decided its length and width. 6 What supports the foundation? Who placed the cornerstone, 7 . while morning stars sang, and angels rejoiced? 8 . When the ocean was born, I set its boundaries 9 and wrapped it in blankets of thickest fog. 10 Then I built a wall around it, locked the gates, 11 and said, “Your powerful waves stop here! They can go no farther.” Did You Ever Tell the Sun To Rise? 12 Did you ever tell the sun to rise? And did it obey? 13 Did it take hold of the earth and shake out the wicked like dust from a rug? 14 Early dawn outlines the hills like stitches on clothing or sketches on clay. 15 But its light is too much for those who are evil, and their power is broken. 16 Job, have you ever walked on the ocean floor? 17 Have you seen the gate to the world of the dead? 18 And how large is the earth? Tell me, if you know! 19 Where is the home of light, and where does darkness live? 20 Can you lead them home? 21 I'm certain you must be able to, since you were already born when I created everything.
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Confronted head-on by God, Job covered his mouth. What could he hope to say in defense, let alone offense? So it seems only natural that we so often choose flight when confronted by God. Hiding, running, trying to escape from his presence – as Adam did, along with Eve. Only, Psalm 139 is clear – there is no escaping from God. Wherever you might hope to hide, he is already there.
I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night – but even in the darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.
Psalm 139:7-12Psalm 139:7-12
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
7 Where could I go to escape from your Spirit or from your sight? 8 If I were to climb up to the highest heavens, you would be there. If I were to dig down to the world of the dead you would also be there. 9 Suppose I had wings like the dawning day and flew across the ocean. 10 Even then your powerful arm would guide and protect me. 11 Or suppose I said, “I'll hide in the dark until night comes to cover me over.” 12 But you see in the dark because daylight and dark are all the same to you.
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I like how God has brought the thoughts of these passages together. Both share so many elements; They both consider light and darkness. Both consider the effect of dawn, its constant approach, along with our inability to reach it. They both consider death. They both look at the extent of the oceans, an earthly feature both majestic and forbidding. They both highlight the dim awareness we have about the immensity of what God has created and our own place within it.
The essential difference in these two passages lies not in the elements of light, water and boundaries, but in the response God offers. To the one in flight, God offers constant presence. He simply cannot be avoided. To the one who fights, God offers incomprehensible reach. In both God’s call is to look at creation and our own wisdom and knowledge. Any place we might run to avoid God, he created. The lines blur between his absolute presence and his absolute power.
God does not want us to endlessly pursue a battle with him. And he doesn’t want us to live all our days scurrying away from him in fear and shame. He wants us to come to the point where we will submit our lives to him, to be used in the way we were created to be used. Both fight and flight are a waste of what God has given us: time, energy and potential.
So which do you struggle with more? Do you fight against God, putting up barriers to his will and purpose in your life? Or do you just run, hoping to avoid God’s presence and activity in your life? Or do you swing back and forth, one moment challenging God to a duel, the next minute dashing off hoping to outrun him?
Take off the running shoes. Put your fists down. Ask God to daily show you who you really are, the way he intended.
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