The Root of the Righteous
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Chapter seven:
By A. W. Tozer
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| A. W. Tozer |
By A. W. Tozer
An odd little passage in the book of Ecclesiastes
speaks of “an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished” (4:13).
It is not hard to understand why an old king,
especially if he were a foolish one, would feel that he was beyond admonition.
After he had for years given orders he might easily build a self-confident
psychology that simply could not entertain the notion that he should take
advice from others. His word had long been law, and to him right had become
synonymous with his will, and wrong had come to mean anything that ran contrary
to his wishes. Soon the idea that there was anyone wise enough or good enough
to reprove him would not so much as enter his mind. He had to be a foolish king
to let himself get caught in that kind of web, and an old king to give the web
time to get so strong that he could not break it and to give him time to get
used to it so that he was no longer aware of its existence.
Regardless of the moral process by which he arrived at
his hardened state, the bell had already tolled for him. In every particular he
was a lost man. His wizened old body still held together to provide a kind of
movable tomb to house a soul already dead. Hope had long ago departed. God had
left him to his fatal conceit. And soon he would die physically too, and he
would die as a fool dieth.
A state of heart that rejected admonition was
characteristic of Israel at various periods in her history, and these periods
were invariably followed by judgment. When Christ came to the Jews He found
them chuck full of that arrogant self-confidence that would not accept reproof.
“We be Abraham’s seed,” they said coldly when He talked to them about their
sins and their need of salvation. The common people heard Him and repented, but
the Jewish priests had ruled the roost too long to be willing to surrender
their privileged position. Like the old king, they had gotten accustomed to
being right all the time. To reprove them was to insult them. They were beyond
reproof.
Churches and Christian organizations have shown a
tendency to fall into the same error that destroyed Israel: inability to
receive admonition. After a time of growth and successful labor comes the
deadly psychology of self-congratulation. Success itself becomes the cause of
later failure. The leaders come to accept themselves as the very chosen of God.
They are special objects of the divine favor; their success is proof enough
that this is so. They must therefore be right, and anyone who tries to call
them to account is instantly written off as an unauthorized meddler who should
be ashamed to dare to reprove his betters.
If anyone imagines that we are merely playing with
words let him approach at random any religious leader and call attention to the
weaknesses and sins in his organization. Such a one will be sure to get the
quick brush off, and if he dares to persist he will be confronted with reports
and statistics to prove that he is dead wrong and completely out of order. “We
be the seed of Abraham” will be the burden of the defense. And who would dare
find fault with Abraham’s seed?
Those who have already entered the state where they
can no longer receive admonition are not likely to profit by this warning.
After a man has gone over the precipice there is not much you can do for him;
but we can place markers along the way to prevent the next traveler from going
over. Here are a few:
1. Don’t defend
your church or your organization against criticism. If the criticism is false
it can do no harm. If it is true you need to hear it and do something about it.
2. Be concerned
not with what you have accomplished but over what you might have accomplished
if you had followed the Lord completely. It is better to say (and feel), “We
are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”
3. When
reproved, pay no attention to the source. Do not ask whether it is a friend or
an enemy that reproves you. An enemy is often of greater value to you than a
friend because he is not influenced by sympathy.
4. Keep your
heart open to the correction of the Lord and be ready to receive His chastisement
regardless of who holds the whip. The great saints all learned to take a
licking gracefully— and that may be one reason why they were great saints.
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