How Exacting is God?

Consider the differences in national economic systems. Differences are not based on the color of skin, native language, gender or diets. The difference is in its currency. On a trip to Alaska that Connie and I took, we also spent a night in Whitehorse, Canada. That night, we made a startling discovery. We could eat in only one restaurant. All but one required Canadian currency. Only one of many accepted the American dollar. We interpreted that as being quite exacting.

Connie has a form of Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS). These are a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature or become healthy blood cells. While they all have that in common, each type of MDS has a different operating system. This means one treatment will not work on every form of MDS. The best treatment they have found is a bone marrow transplant, which they don’t do at Connie’s age and under her circumstances. This disease is so exacting the medical world’s only treatment has its own limitations.

Some churches are very pluralistic, which means they accept every mindset and practice. But God has a dramatically different operating system. To us, Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the Tree of Life seemed like no big deal. However, in God’s operating system, it drove Adam and Eve out of His kingdom. God clearly declares, my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9, NLT2). To make it clearer, His prophet wrote, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter (Isaiah 5:20, ESV)! If we desire to live in God’s heaven, it is most vital that we live according to His operating system that He reveals in His Word.

We see just how exacting Jesus was when we read of His confrontation with an intensely devoted religious ruler (John 3:1-3) and an immoral woman (John 4:7-26). Based on His operating system, contrary to ours, mental belief in God and carefully following the rules does not change one’s spiritual status. He saw both of their hearts equally estranged from God. This was also true with spiritual leaders in Ezekiel’s time (Ezekiel 8:6-12). In his case, the priests were practicing detestable things in the secret closets of their minds while going through religious rituals. The prophet Isaiah faced the same difficulty. The people were going through all the honorable, religious motions, but their heart’s two-faced condition as they worshipped made God sick! The only thing that really matters in God’s operating system is the attitude of our heart, which only God can see. I wonder at times if inadvertently I have falsely presumed that my acts of worship, my attitudes and beliefs, are based on God’s value system when in fact they are based upon my operating system. I have been drawn to reflect on Aaron’s oldest sons. They presumptuously tried to replicate God’s presence and were instantly killed for doing so (Lev. 10:1-2). Could this be a problem today, when, with our will-driven worship, we try to duplicate what only God can do among us? Do we privately or publicly attempt to create an appearance or feeling of God’s presence to satisfy our longing for His authentic presence?

God is far more exacting than what we imagine. He simply uses His value system, not ours. My prayer is as David’s, put me on trial, LORD, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart (Psalm 26:2, NLT2). If we humbly actualize that prayer, I believe He will delightfully guide and empower us to align with His operating system, and our freedom, joy, and satisfaction will be full.

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