In God in the Dock, C.S. Lewis’ wrote that he didn’t come to Christianity for its comfort. Instead, he said that a bottle of Port could give him all the happiness and comfort he needed.
I have been thinking of this sentiment in our modern environment. We have lost the sense that the Christian faith is not a religion of comfort and ease but warfare is inherent to our religious convictions. We fight for things because they are needful and because they are worthy of being rescued. When the people of God leave the presence of God in exchange for comfort, they inherit all sorts of bad jujus. In the Bible, it is always a bad thing to leave the good thing.
When Elimelech left Bethlehem in the Book of Ruth,a he left not just a piece of land. He wasn’t attempting to find a better marketplace in Moab. Moab was a place of deep darkness and idolatry. This wasn’t merely an attempt to take the UHAUL down to a better place; instead, Elimelech left God’s presence and God’s people because things were hard. And when things get hard, evangelical Christians decide either a) let’s leave town, or b) let’s find a gentler God.
Now, I am not calling Elimelech a silly man. His very name means “God is King.” He failed to live up to his status as one who serves Israel’s true King. Surely, Naomi was not a foolish wife, either. But sometimes, our human natures choose the easier thing, especially as we look around the world and see so much pain and suffering. It wasn’t that Elimelech said, “Wow, we are being disobedient; how can we fight this problem in Bethlehem?!” The problem was that Elimelech said, “We are being disobedient; how can we run from this?” Like Jonah, he discovered there was no place he could go where his sins wouldn’t follow.
We have too often sought happiness and comfort because we want the faith to be smooth sailing, a paradise of pleasure from baptism to the bank to the beach house. Now, I say these things as an apologist for good times: I park my philosophy on the feasting driveway. We should party like there’s no tomorrow because truly there will be a day when there will be no tomorrow. We should love and eat and hug and take our vacation and whatever else we may need. Still, we should not take the easy road of laziness, endless entertainment, or abandon ship just because of another Florida Tropical storm. Solomon says that God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
I believe the Elimelech road was the easy road. As a result, God gave the Elimelech family lots and lots of trouble and a long road towards redemption. Whenever we idolize certain things above the good stuff, and when that particular idol comes back demanding allegiance, we often say, “Well, that’s just how the stock market works. It gives and takes away.” But the biblical response should be, “God is teaching me something, and I need to do some serious self-analysis of my life and habits lest I take the devilish bribe.”
The easy way out of town will most likely give you some comfort and happiness. It will offer you a temporary high, a youthful zeal that you haven’t had since the summer of 79′ or 1999, but these things run on California gas, $4.25 per gallon. And you know that you can’t afford it long-term because it will drain you, body and soul.
Now, the Elimelech story does have a happy ending, which means that you are not doomed to failure forever if you act like Edmund in the Chronicles of Narnia. The glory of the Bible is that God is the God of the 79th chance. Elimelech does die, so there’s that, but from his lineage did come a child, Obed, whose line eventually took us all the way down to Jesus.
Now, you shouldn’t conclude that we should choose the easy and comfortable because you will die on your trip out of town, and Jesus will still rescue you in the end. No, the story of the Bible is that when we see our lives constantly in conflict with the world, we act accordingly. We confess, sing, and love accordingly. We will pray together that God will confront our love of ease and comfort and push us to greater commitment to the good.
What we affirm is that the good is necessary and worthy of being rescued. In times of difficulties, we don’t go to Moab. The choice should be to stay in the presence of God. We remain in the war, whether we are warring against false theologies or ideologies, or whether we are fighting for the good of our neighbor, or whether we are practicing deeds of mercy to the widow and the prodigal.
So, enjoy your Port,
but don’t substitute comfort for the Gospel because the Gospel comforts the
afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.
- Some have objected that Elimelech’s departure was not sinful since it mirrors the departure of others in the Bible. A more potent objection goes like this: “Abraham left the land of promise during the time of famine and Jacob did so as well. Why can’t we say Elimelech is just copying the actions of the patriarchs? Isn’t Elimelech just recapitulating the actions of Abraham and Jacob? There seems to be no divine disapproval of the actions of Abraham and Jacob.” But this argument fails to deal with key differences between the situation of the patriarchs and the situation of Elimelech. While the land was promised to Abraham, the land had not yet been conquered when Abraham and Jacob left because of famine. Abraham does not dwell in the land as a permanent resident. He knew he was just a sojourner. And it is the same with Jacob. Both men knew it would be centuries and generations before their descendants came into full possession of the land. The sins of the Canaanites had to fill up to the full measure, and then they would be driven out of the land. Their land would belong to Israel for as long as she was faithful. But that has not yet happened in the time of Abraham and Jacob. They left before the conquest of the land and before God has set his name there. So, for the patriarchs to leave the land does not carry the same significance as when Elimelech leaves the land. But there is something else to note with regard to Abraham. In Genesis 12-13, it is true that Abraham leaves the land because of famine. But he is not blessed until he begins to turn back to the land. Then he leaves Egypt with spoil. It is as if Abraham’s departure from the land was a kind of exile. But when he turns back towards the land, it is an exodus complete with plunder from the Egyptians. (back)
