Marching Orders

I knew the dictionary definition of prostitution.

I just wasn’t prepared for the delusion that came with it.

“And then, I bought him for the drugs he could give my friend,” she said.

I had questions: “Bought him? With money?”

Giggles. “No.”

I said gently, “It sounds like he bought you.”

“Oh no. I definitely bought him.”

The girl suffered under the delusion that she was calling the shots. She had given the marching orders. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

She is a slave to sin, but she thinks she is its master. All of us suffer under this delusion unless we submit to Jesus’s marching orders and He sets us free.

Paul reminded the Corinthians, “though we are in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.” In other words, we are not taking our marching orders from our physical desires and urges. 

In 1 Samuel, Hannah wrestled with real-life problems. Polygamy, childlessness, and bitter rivalry with the other wife provoked her and soured her daily life. Each time she went to worship the Lord, her rival provoked her grievously. 

Instead of turning to fleshly consolations like pleasure, food, self-pity, escapism, or retaliation, Hannah humbled herself and went to the Lord, admitting her need and her inability to fix her own problems. 

The Lord understands provocation. In the Old Testament, out of the 55 times the word “provoked” is used, meaning troubled, grieved, enraged, angered, made indignant, 51 of the times are used of the Lord.

We can all understand how a rival wife provoked Hannah, but when we read of the Lord being provoked, we may wonder, “Well, why?”

The Psalmist records the answer: “Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep His testimonies, but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow. For they provoked Him to anger with their high places; they moved Him to jealousy with their idols.”

They were taking their marching orders from their flesh instead of from the Most High God. 

Hannah humbled herself and sought the Lord for His marching orders and focused solely on Him instead of letting her provoking rival become a provoking idol. 

We all have real-life problems: financial difficulty, health troubles, besetting sin, prodigal children, or unfaithful spouses provoke us whenever we go to worship the Lord. These loom so large in our mind’s eye when we approach the throne to worship Jesus that we cannot get a clear view of Him.

We are exactly like the prostitute who thinks she is giving the marching orders, instead of realizing that she is abused, mistreated, and being taken advantage of. When our flesh dictates even our moments of worship, we are sorely provoked and so is the Lord.

Like Hannah, we need to humble ourselves and admit our inability to change the situation. We need to ask for His help and submit to His marching orders. 

Then, instead of provoking Him with our idols, we will be calling on the only One who can rescue, and we can praise Him with Hannah’s words: “My heart exults in the Lord.”