Current Events Monday: Do What You Must Do
The Rev. Martin Luther King., Jr. sat shaking at his kitchen table early in the morning of Friday, January 26, 1955. Around two months earlier, Rosa Parks famously refused to move to a segregated section of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. A bus boycott ensued, highlighting sharp racial tensions in the South. Just a day prior, King was arrested and sent to jail for driving thirty miles an hour in a twenty-five-mile zone. After posting bail, he participated in several mass meetings of African-Americans who were concerned about King’s safety. Upon returning home, he received numerous phone calls—some from friends complaining about his leadership and others from white neighbors promising murderous violence.
With his head buried in his hands at the table, King could barely utter this prayer: “I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.” He would later recall that immediately upon praying he felt his fears suddenly subside and the Holy Spirit tell him to do what he knew was right. This was a defining moment for King as well as the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. King steadfastly and decisively moved forward with the cause of freedom from this moment until the rest of his life.*
Decisiveness, or the lack thereof, has long-lasting implications. Theologians have a fancy word for decisive action: deontology. This has to do with our sense of duty and obligation to one another. For many people today, including Christians, our deontology may be a bit off. We vacillate between various opinions and decisions, unsure of ourselves and untrusting of the Lord. Our society seems to have come to a point of discouraging decisiveness. If there is no such thing as truth, then everyone is simply encouraged to live “their truth.” Yet, how can we make good decisions if there is no truth to guide us? Wwe are told that the only good decisions are those which do not offend others. Such indecisiveness leads to a sense of stuck-ness, as if we are going down in quicksand and cannot free ourselves to do what the Lord is calling us to accomplish due to our fear of failure and ridicule.
If you struggle with indecisiveness, it may be helpful for you to acknowledge that you are not alone by any stretch of the imagination. Consider just a few of these stalwart biblical heroes who wrestled constantly with their sense of duty: Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Elijah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul—and the list goes on and on. Yet, for each of these characters, there was also something like what Dr. King experienced in his late-night kitchen episode. There comes a time of recognizing not only our human finitude (“I can’t face it alone”) but also the ability of God’s Spirit to bring us through fiery trials and tribulations for the cause of truth, no matter the cost.
Instead of vacillating, why not today commit your ways to the Lord? Make a decision for him and be done with it. Having one decisive battle is much more effective than going through constant skirmishes with your mind and heart. Take a step forward, trusting that God will send you in the right direction. You may ask, “But what if I take a wrong step?” If you commit your steps to Christ, then you can certainly know that He will correct any of your missteps. It is better to make a decision for Christ than to be stuck in the quicksand of fear.
We can take a great lesson from the ministry of Jesus himself at this point. In Luke 9:51, we are told that Jesus “set his face like flint for Jerusalem,” meaning that our Lord committed himself to go the cross for us no matter what. How wonderful and comforting it is to know that Jesus’ resolutely went to the cross! A great sense of peace comes with the finality of decisive action. Let us seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, resolved to set our faces like flint to the tasks of this day. Our decisions today could lead to the freeing our neighbors from the tyranny of Satan tomorrow.
*Note: This story is contained among many others in a gripping and phenomenally researched biography of King by Taylor Branch called Parting the Waters. I highly recommend this book to those who are curious as to the background of King’s life and his discernment of calling from God.