Sunday Sept 18, 2005

Today’s discussion in class was great.  I’ve been thinking about the concepts of “fierceness” in the heart of man that Bud brought up.  I was reminded of a message that I delivered to a congregation in Raleigh about 10 years ago.  I think that the portion near the end of the message that discusses the life and racing of Eric Liddle explains “fierceness” in a Christian (at least from my point of view).  I called it reckless abandonment to the will of God.  I also found that the third definition for fierce in Webster’s Unabridged to be: very eager, ardent, intense; as, a man fierce for his party.  That could work if we assume that is what Eldredge was getting at.  I think Liddle was beyond intense.  He was described as running like a wild animal by one of his chief competitors.  They said the actor that played him had difficulty learning to run with his head thrown back because he couldn’t see where he was going.  Liddle apparently didn’t have any trouble running while looking up at the sky.  I think maybe he had a different finish line in mind.  He died while working as a missionary in China.

Reckless Abandonment (approximately 1995) – I’ve edited the following to shorten it.

A number of years ago I was thinking about the phrase, “reckless abandonment” as it applies to our lives as Christians.  What the phrase means is a careless or heedless yielding of oneself completely to a cause or feeling.  

As a scripture text I was drawn to 2 Samuel chapter 6 and the challenge to King David’s heart as a result of his interaction with the Ark of the Covenant.  David had just won a great victory over the Philistines and God had demonstrated His blessing of Israel in the fight.  David really wanted to go get the Ark and put it back where it belonged.  It doesn’t appear that he sought God about the task of moving the Ark that had been gone about 100 years.  He simply assumed that returning it to the right city would be something God would bless.  David took 30,000 men and went to get the Ark.  They built a new cart and the procession with the Ark followed behind a great celebration of worship.  During the return trip the oxen pulling the cart stumbled and a man named Uzzah reached to steady the Ark.  When he touched the Ark, God struck him dead.  You simply didn’t touch the Ark of God.

David had decided to do something for God and it didn’t go well.  David was angry with God for Uzzah’s death.  It scared David that God could be so demanding and so he left the Ark with a man called Obed-Edom.  The Amplified Bible adds that David was “grieved and offended” even though David really had been slack in following God.  In our pursuit of God, we should be recklessly abandoned to Christ.  This attitude of fervent devotion has sharp focus on the God of the Universe.  David simply decided that God must bless this thing that he would do for Him.  Uzzah knew better than to touch the Ark.  He knew that if you touched the Ark then you would die and David knew it too.  They also knew that the Ark was not to be moved on an oxcart.  God had given detailed instructions on how to move the Ark and no carts were used.  David’s lack of abandonment to the commands of a Holy God was made evident.  He balked at bringing the cart home so he left it with a man named Obed-Edom.  However, when he left the cart with Obed-Edom he left the blessing with him too.

Eventually David’s desire for God overcame his fear and resulted in a reckless abandonment to God’s will.  He was ready to seek God no matter what the cost.  He went to get the Ark the way he was supposed to get the Ark.  The priests carried the Ark and every six steps (the number of man) he would sacrifice a bull and a calf.  David danced with all his might before the Lord.  No risk was too great to keep David from following God with all his heart.  His fear of God’s Holiness and demands were overcome by his desire for God’s Presence and Blessing.  He didn’t care anymore about what happened to him personally because he was completely and recklessly abandoned to the God’s leading.

David’s resolve was tested immediately.  When he returned to bless his household, David’s wife Michal the daughter of Saul told her husband that he was an embarrassment in the way he danced before the Ark and even said he was vulgar.  David didn’t compromise the higher call of God on his life and told Michal that he was going to celebrate before God and be even more undignified in the future.  Apparently Michal never repented of her sin.

David’s reckless abandonment to God cost him a wife who abandoned him to seek her own honor.  God sees our hearts and knows where we are flawed and where we draw back and where the doors are shut to the rooms we want to keep private from even Him.  Only God can search hearts.  There are people on the mission field whose hearts are far from God.  I’ve even heard of missionaries getting saved on the mission field.  That is certainly a frightening situation in my eyes.  The quiet elderly saint may have a heart on fire and move mountains in prayer.

The movie “Chariots of Fire” tells the story of a runner named Eric Liddel.  As much as I can tell from what is said about him, he was recklessly abandoned to the will of God.  In everything he did he seems to have sought God.  His sister was afraid that he would get so interested in running that he wouldn’t go on the mission field.  Eric knew that God had made him fast and that God loved it when he ran.  He and God rejoiced in the run.  Once, during a quarter mile race, a competitor elbowed Liddel so hard he fell and landed in the infield.  The reasonable thing to do would be stay down and lodge a protest.  But Liddel was abandoned to God’s will, God had him in that race, and the race wasn’t over yet.  He got up, ran like there was nothing else on earth to ever do, and won.  He fell gasping for air and completely spent in the race.  Another competitor was watching from the stands and waiting for his chance to race him on another day.   The competitor’s comment was that he was afraid of Liddle because he ran like a wild animal.  The world can’t understand what happens when a heart is wholly given to God.  It is, as it should be, simply frightening.

Whatever you do, no matter if it is something you say or something you do, make sure you are doing it in Jesus name and in dependence on His enabling as you praise God the Father (Colossians 3:17).  Don’t let your life have any part outside fellowship with God.  Abandon each part to the will of God and trust Him.

Move into fellowship with God and don’t question His motives in your life.  You can’t know everything He has in store for you and you are not wise enough to be His counselor.  You will learn to yield to God completely without care or worry.  He will teach you that but it won’t always be easy.  Learn to surrender and cast your cares on Him if you believe He cares for you.  If you are offended by what He does with your life then you are not fully surrendered.  He will continue to work faithfully in your life whether you are aware of it or not.  Life lived on earth outside His presence is a great loss.