Recipe for a Lasting Peace

Recipe for a Lasting Peace

Amos 5:21-24

Micah 6:6-8

            O how we love rules!  We love them for two contradictory reasons.  We love them because living within rules is easy.  When we have a situation that requires making a decision, all we have to do is remember the appropriate rule, apply it, and we’ll be sure we are doing the right thing.  No need to think through the problem.  No need to worry about the appropriateness of our action.  We’ve followed the rule.  End of discussion.

            On the other hand we love rules because they give us something to work against.  If we don’t like the rule (obeying speed limits, paying taxes, stopping at stop signs) we can break it with impunity and feel like we’re above all regulations.  We’re getting away with something.

            We love rules because they make tough decisions easier.  We love rules because breaking them makes us feel defiant, in charge.  In both cases, we choose to deal with rules in the wrong way for the wrong reason.

            Dwight D. Eisenhower was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  He rose through the ranks to become the commanding general of the United States Army in Europe during World War II.  His success in that assignment propelled him to the presidency of the United States.  As a military man he knew the necessity for rules.  As both a general and a president he faced difficult decisions.  Sometimes the right decision went against the accepted rules or the most commonly used strategy. 

            I imagine there were times when Eisenhower agonized over decisions, trying to determine what was the right course of action.  What strategy would win the battle with the loss of the fewest soldiers.  What path would most benefit the country he had been chosen to lead.  There must have been sleepless nights and worrisome days as he tried to determine which course of action would be best.

            As a commander he understood the use of force.  He knew how effective force could be in winning the day.  I suspect he also knew when force would lose the day, when other approaches would be more effective.  Perhaps it was this knowledge which led him to say, “Though force can protect in an emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead [human beings] to the dawn of eternal peace.”  With these words he echoed two of the Hebrew prophets. 

            Amos quoted God when he said, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.”  The political and religious leaders of Israel were sure that if they followed the rules, if they performed their religious rituals correctly, they would be on God’s good side.  All they had to do was offer the appropriate sacrifices at the appropriate times and all would be well.  But God saw their hearts.  He knew this was only surface obedience.  They were neglecting what God really wanted from them; the deeper obedience of treating people the way God wanted people to be treated.  Instead of following the rules of worship, God wanted them to “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

            Micah addressed the same problem.  He determined that God would not be pleased with “thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil.”  God would not even be pleased with the offer of a firstborn child.  Micah asked, “what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

            We will never please God until we find the deeper meaning behind the rules, until we achieve lasting peace through justice, fairness, consideration, and cooperation.