Download 13 Colonel Bogey March Listen to the theme while you read if you wish. It's one of my favorite marches.
1 Samuel 15:22–23 (NKJV)
22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
There are some, a very few, movies that rise to the status of timeless art. Invariably these movies do not center on mindless but spectacular car chases, explosions, computer animated robots or other such. What seals them to greatness is the accuracy with which they explore the human condition. Such is the case with Alec Guiness, William Holden and Sessue Hayakawa (who was magnificent in this regard) in the movie "Bridge Over the River Kwai."
The problem that confronted Col. Nicholson (Guiness), as senior officer among the allied, mostly British, soldiers being used for slave labor to build the bridge, was the dehumanizing, morale sapping treatment of his troops. He rightly judged that the abusive and exploitive treatment by the Japanese would ultimately decimate them by reducing them psychologically to animals and physically weaken them in the face of rampant disease. But Col. Nicholson also had another agenda... he wanted to prove to these enemies that the British soldier was the finest in the world. Col. Saito (Hayakawa) was his nemesis. The story progresses as a battle of wills between the two. Saito is under intense pressure to get the bridge built. Nicholson holds the key to accomplishing that task in the time alloted, he controls the "willing participation" of his troops. Nicholson uses this tool brilliantly and Saito discovers that the seemingly indomitable will of Nicholson gains his grudging respect. Nicholson gains the edge and "proves" that his soldiers can build the bridge better and faster if it is done his way. Saito finally gives in and the bridge is built.
In the closing scenes however, with the thrill of building the bridge only recently celebrated, Nicholson stands near a detonator that allied guerillas have placed to blow up the bridge and the realization hits him... for whatever noble intentions he might have had, the net result was that he had significantly "aided and abetted the enemy." "What have I done?" he asks as he realizes with soul wrenching clarity that he has forgotten his first duty... to do what has to be done to win the war. All else is folly and at root treason. Striving to prove the superiority of the British culture, Nicholson had in fact, fallen into the trap of cultural arrogance and shamed himself and his flag.
What a powerful story this is. Saito goes through a similar thing. That's for another post some day.
The human condition to which we Christians, as did Saul so many years ago, are also prone to exhibit is that we let "good intentions" cloud our judgment, sometimes to such a degree that what we actually demonstrate is disobedience.
Saul had been given a mission. "Go and utterly destroy..." Saul, using what he considered "command latitude" interpreted the results of his victory over the Amalekites in terms of immediate circumstances. His troops were unwilling to destroy all the loot... the herds of fine animals... and all "that was good." They brought the Amalekite king, Agag, to Saul and he preserved his life. His reasoning was, by military standards, sound. The troops might very well mutiny if they were denied their spoils. Agag could be used for ransom or for diplomatic negotiations with the remaining Amalekite cities. He did "virtually" what God had commanded. When Samuel comes to confront him, he says "I have performed the commandment of the Lord!" in response to which Samuel gives his famous reply - "What then is the bleating of sheep I hear...?"
I can imagine Saul's horror as the words Samuel spoke (quoted above) penetrated his consciousness. He had lost sight of the main objective... obedience to God... the failure of which was the highest treason man can commit. It did not matter what the circumstances were. It did not ultimately matter what cost it might require. It was not like history had not taught a similar lesson with the sin of Achen (Josh. 7:10). Whatever his "good intentions" were, he, at root, was substituting his wisdom for God's. He had asserted his right to choose how to do the mission, accomplish the goal, if circumstances were such that what God commands appears unreasonable.
One of Satan's most common and ancient tactics is to confuse our thinking with conflicting "good things" which we then feel obliged to undertake to attain, using our own wisdom and discretion. We never stop fighting the battle of submission to God's commands. He has told us what is right and good. Anything He commands, is by definition, right and good. Serving God through serving Jesus Christ, is just as subject to God's ends and God's ways today as it was 4000 years ago. We mustn't forget that He not only deals the cards, He calls the game and tells us how to play it.
There's a lesson to be remembered there.
What you wrote reminds me of Bobby Beale from AEP told me (and other BSF's) that a woman who is too busy to pray is busier than GOD intends.
"One of Satan's most common and ancient tactics is to confuse our thinking with conflicting "good things" which we then feel obliged to undertake to attain, using our own wisdom and discretion."
cheers!
Posted by: Barbara Smith | May 03, 2013 at 01:00 PM