God Told Me

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. Deuteronomy18:20

God wants me to be happy. This illicit, adulterous sexual relationship will make me happy. Therefore, God wants me to pursue it. This isn’t an exact quote, but it’s a fair representation of something I once heard from an individual who knew what he was doing was wrong, but who also desperately desired to justify himself. Attempting to rationalize his behavior, he invoked faith, claiming God was on his side. Who can argue with God? It was the trump card he hoped would ease his conscience while convincing me that he wasn’t engaging in self-destructive behavior. The problem, of course, is that the voice he claimed to be following didn’t sound like anything I knew of God. It simply sounded like his appetite.

I can’t be too critical though. I’ve been there. I went through similar mental gymnastics to convince myself that God approved of my drug use. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but it eased my internal conflict if I could fool myself into believing God was on my side. God wants me to be a good physician. To be a good physician I need to sleep. Pills help me sleep. Therefore, God wants me to take pills. Again, though, the problem was that the voice I was listening to didn’t sound anything like God’s voice, but rather, like the voice of my own appetite.

Today’s passage addresses this phenomenon. In the passage, God told his people that he would send prophets who would speak with his authority. God also warned though, of charlatans, who would attempt to take advantage of them, pretending to speak in God’s name. How will we know the difference? God said the people would know because the authentic prophet would speak the truth. If the prophet’s words didn’t align with reality, as defined by God, that prophet was an impostor.

This tenet applies to our own lives. We’re often tempted to justify our sinful, self-destructive behavior by claiming it’s God’s will. Seduced by our own appetite, we easily convince ourselves that what we want is what God wants. Often, this involves a claim that something we know to be wrong is actually right. And that should be the litmus test that warns us that we’re on dangerous ground. God never asks us to sin for him. That little voice telling us that we should indulge in something we know to be self-destructive isn’t God. It’s our appetite, and it’s a terrible guide to right and wrong.