Do Not Choose To Be Slaves

So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking a king from him. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your menservants and maidservants, and the best of your cattle and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”

1 Samuel 8:10-18

We are free to choose. We are therefore free to act.

Yet the consequences that arise from our actions we are not free to evade. Just as we know that when we trip we will fall, we know that when we act we will invite consequence.

We need no great insight to understand that this is the order of things.

We should similarly require no great insight to understand that preserving our freedom hinges on the choices we make. We are free to act, but if we wish to remain free our actions are of paramount importance.

Will we choose to follow another, and submit to their authority? That choice is always before us.

We choose whom we will follow for employment; we submit to another’s authority every time we receive a paycheck.

We choose whom we will follow as regards the community in which we live, in the state and even the country.

We can choose to live in the United States. We can choose to leave the United States. To varying degrees, we can make this same choice regarding the other nations of the world

Will we choose to obey the laws of our community? Will we choose to violate those laws? If we choose to violate the laws, which ones will we violate and what sanctions do we invite by so doing?

We can make all these choices. We can act on all of these choices.

We can accept that job offer, attaching our fortune and to some degree our personal integrity to that of our employer.

We can move to New York, or Los Angeles, or Dallas, or Chicago, accepting the laws, taxes, and other rules attendant on living in that city.

We can, albeit with difficulty, move to the United States (legally). We can, again with difficulty, move out of the United States (again, legally). We can, albeit with difficulty, choose which nation will be our sovereign.

Each of these choices, and the actions which arise from them, carry the particular consequence of binding several future choices and actions.

When we go to work for an employer, we necessarily agree to do what that employer asks of us. We may find that the work we end up doing is not what we thought it would be initially, and we may find that the work we end up doing lacks the stimulation and satisfaction we hoped that it would have. Yet we must do that work if we wish to be paid, and if we do not wish to do that work it is on us to detach from that job gracefully.

When we go to work for an employer, our capacity to say “No” is to some degree restricted.

When we move to a different city, a different state or even a different country, we agree to whatever taxing structures are in place. We agree to adjudicate claims upon our property in accordance with the laws in effect there as a rule. We agree to obey the laws regarding our use of our property. We agree to all these things by virtue of our choosing to live there.

With each of these choices, we restrict our future capacity for saying “No”. With each of these choices, we are, in effect, making choices we do not yet realize.

This is inevitable whenever we choose to follow another, whenever we choose to submit to the authority of another. In following another, we necessarily agree to whatever choices he makes in the future, and to taking whatever path he selects.

If he chooses badly, we will share in his bad consequences. If he takes a wrong path we will suffer for it.

If our employer makes bad business decisions and goes out of business, we are left without employment and thus without a paycheck.

If the mayor or governor for the city or state in which we choose to live makes poor decisions, we may find ourselves facing exhorbitant taxes. We may find our civil liberties constrained.

If the President of the United States makes poor decisions, we could very easily find ourselves in a nation at war.

We can easily address an employer’s bad decisions—we need only seek different employment.

We have a rather more difficult time addressing a mayor’s bad decisions, or a governor’s or a President’s. At best we can perhaps vote against them in the next election cycle, and hopefully vote in new leaders who will rectify the bad decisions. Failing that we might be able to move to a different city or even a different state, albeit with some difficulty. We could even in theory move to a different country, although the challenges of emmigration make such responses problematic.

Such are the potential consequences of choosing to follow another, of choosing to submit to the authority of another. When we give ourselves over to authority, we cannot so easily take ourselves back again.

This is true even when we give ourselves over to God’s authority. When we embrace God, and accept God’s Law, the conscience that awakens in us is not easily put to slumber. Once we accept God’s Law as our arbiter of right and wrong, we cannot easily unlearn that wisdom.

The distinction, of course, is that where God’s Law is pure, Man’s laws are corrupt. God does not lead men astray. Humans all too often lead others astray, into bad habits, bad thoughts, or bad deeds.

The distinction is exactly as Samuel warned the Israelites: once the knee is bent, those in authority will take as they will, do as they please, and impose heavy burdens upon those who bend the knee.

Indeed, everything Samuel warned the Israelites about having a king quickly came to pass—and repeatedly came to pass, until the nation of Israel was at last broken and overthrown.

Do we not see this in the world today? Do we not witness the abuse of power and the corruption of government everywhere? National government, state government city government, international government….is there any human institution of government that we have not seen misuse its power even just recently?

The warning Samuel gave the people of Israel most assuredly reverberates today. Our man-made governments are frequently unjust, almost always corrupt, and eternally a burden upon us.

The warning Samuel gave the people of Israel reverberates today in one other regard as well: God is not going to simply relieve us of the burdens man-made governments place on us. Man-made governments are the choice we have made, and the consequence we must endure.

Nor can we deny that government is a choice people make. Through elections, and votes, and the writing of constitutions, people everywhere choose to be governed by men and not just by God. Through elections and votes and the establishment of legislatures, people everywhere choose to be governed by Man’s laws and not solely by God’s Law.

Governments do require our consent in order to govern. Ultimately, this is true whether we are talking about the Constitutional order of government that is supposed to hold sway in these United States or within totalitarian regimes such as those in Russia or China. Governments receive our consent to govern every time we acquiesce to the edicts and demands of government.

Governments require our consent to govern and so governments everywhere are the consequences of our choosing to consent. Whatever good governments do is a consequence of our choice and whatever evil governments do is likewise a consequence of our choice.

Is that choice wrong? Is it a sin to consent to be governed? If government is a consequence and consent is a choice we make then we must consider the possibility that choice is sinful. If obedience to God’s Law stands in opposition to some mandate in Man’s laws, then we are sinning if we choose to follow Man’s laws and disobey God’s Law. We cannot reject God’s Law for any reason and not sin.

Is government always in opposition to God’s Law? Certainly God has commanded that we put no other gods before Him, and thus elevating fidelity to government above fidelity to God is a defiance of God’s Law. Are we guilty of doing that when we consent to be governed? While each of us must answer that question for themselves, I do believe we should consider that to be a very real possibility.

Yet there is no denying that to openly defy government edict is the beginning of rebellion. A call for open defiance of government edict is a call for insurrection. It arguably is a call to walk the path of civil war.

It is difficult to reconcile God’s commandment that we love our neighbor as we love ourselves with a call for civil war, for violence and bloodshed. However, it is equally difficult to evade the possibility that God’s commandment to love Him with all our hearts and all our souls and all our minds may lead us into violent conflict with our neighbors.

We have little choice but to live in this world. We cannot easily separate ourselves from this world, and it would be itself a question whether such separation from the world is itself in keeping with God’s Law. We must live in this world because we have no other.

We must live in this world and therefore we must make choices in this world. We must live in this world with man-made governments and therefore we must make choices regarding man-made governments. We must make choices whether to acquiesce and submit, or defy and oppose.

We will face consequences regardless of our choice, and we should not presume that the good choices will be met with only good consequences. Indeed, where government is concerned it is safe to consider all consequences equally fraught with peril—peril of arrest and incarceration if we defy government and peril of servitude and misery if we acquiesce to government.

Yet we must choose. We must not only choose whether or not to follow God’s Law, but also how we will follow God’s Law. We must choose what the right thing to do is in any situation, and we must choose to do that right thing—or not.

We must choose, and the presence of man-made government does not relieve us of the burden of choosing. On the contrary, the presence of man-made government raises the stakes, as it renders at least some choices a choice between criminality on the one hand and morality on the other.

Still, this much is always true: so long as we have the power to choose, we necessarily are free to choose. Our freedom always lies in our choosing. So long as we retain that power of choice, we will retain at least that much of our freedom.

As we are called to be free, we are called to make choices. As we are called to be free, we are called to choose daily whether to follow God’s Law or Man’s laws.

For myself, I want to be free. No matter the particular choices I make, my choice will always be for freedom. I might not always make the right choices even in that regard—indeed, it is almost certain that I will make at least some wrong choices—but in every choice my mind’s eye is cast towards freedom.

My prayer is that all men will choose to be free. My prayer is that everyone will cast their eyes on freedom, and see that it is good, and make the choices that give and preserve freedom.

When you are faced with the choice between God’s Law and Man’s laws, I pray you will make the choice that leads towards freedom.

Do not choose to be slaves to anyone or anything. Choose freedom, always.