Changing the Rules

“Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied [him]? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil [is] good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where [is] the God of judgment?” (Mal 2:17 AV)

There is an interesting digression here that is of worthy note.  At first, I would have assumed the progression to be the other way around.  The first attitude is for the wicked to think their values are right and the LORD’s values are wrong.  That is exactly what we see today.  Accepting transgenderism is seen as morally right, while condemning it as wicked is seen as morally wrong.  The second attitude is to think that God doesn’t care about right or wrong.  It matters not to Him.  Again, I would think the second would be first and the first would be second.  I would think that God not having an absolute for which He is passionate would open the door for the wicked to define their own.  But that is not the progression listed above.  And there is an excellent reason for this.

See if this scenario rings a bell.  This usually happens with siblings.  You sit down with family to play a new board game.  As you set up the board, you look at the pieces and the board and think that the rules are self-evident.  So, someone rolls the dice to start the game.  As you play along, you notice that the rules you thought were the right rules begin to conflict.  Or, the rules by which you play the game make it boring or unfair.  Then you begin to fight about it.  Some rules are changed as you go.  After finishing one match, you change the rules again.  This happens time and again until someone decides to read the rule book.  Who cares?  You found a way that works for you, and your way is more fun.  The first step is to ignore the book.  Just make up rules that seem more to your liking.  Even if the rule book clearly states a unique style of gameplay, who cares?  Your way makes more sense to you.  If siblings don’t want to play, they can go do something else.  Then you have that one sibling that presses earnestly for the rules in the rulebook.  I am married to one of those kinds of people!   Who cares if your rules work better for the situation at hand, she will press very hard to conform to the rulebook.  Not only that, but we will begin the game without consulting the rulebook and have a grand time in our own little world, and she has to jump right in the middle of it, stop gameplay, and force everyone to follow the rules.  Annoying!  Is Milton-Bradley going to show up at the door and arrest us for unethical gameplay?  The rule book is a suggestion, not a law!  First, we replace our own rules with the ones that exist.  Then we discover they probably don’t care!

This is not the case with God.  God does care.  He will judge.  He must judge.  He is offended when we change the rules to suit ourselves.  Yet we go one step further.  We reason that our rules are more ethical and just than God’s rules.  Since we see no immediate consequences for changing the rules, we surmise that even though His was is the law, our way works for us and He couldn’t care less.  In this progression, we change God’s law to accommodate our own desires.  In assuming He doesn’t care, we prove that His way is the right way.  If it were not the right way, not caring would be self-evident and not necessary to state.  When we go about and live contrary to the word of God, thinking God doesn’t care, we are testifying to the perfection of His law yet choosing to reject it, anyway.  How depraved of mankind to assume that God’s way is the holy way yet He does not care, and therefore, we have permission to live as we please.  The answer is to repent of our wickedness, turn to Jesus Christ, and walk with God in obedience and faith.  That is the only choice for wicked mankind!