Ruling

             God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28)

Our very being still assign us to “rule” in our life circumstances, whatever they may be. If animals are in trouble anywhere, for example, people generally feel they should do something about it -- or at least that someone should. And we still experience ourselves as creative will, as someone who accomplishes things, constantly desiring to generate value, or what is good, from ourselves and from our environment. We are perhaps all too ready, given our distorted vision and will, to take charge of the earth. (Dallas Willard The Divine Conspiracy, p 30)

One of the things that The Divine Conspiracy has been showing me is that I’m normal. I’m the way people are designed to be. Oh, I’m a distortion in the details, but when I complain to God (and everyone else) that I feel out of control, and that I can’t get a grip, that’s not because I’m evil. It’s a recognition that I am supposed to be ruling, not spinning out of control. When I feel the need to accomplish, to do, to make, to create, it’s a recognition that I’m supposed to be doing those things. That doesn’t mean I go about them correctly. It doesn’t mean that my ego doesn’t get in the way. It doesn’t mean that I’m trying to usurp God’s throne – I might be, but I might also just be responding to the echoes of what I was created to be.

Which is little more than a variation on the cute wisdom of “Don’t should on yourself.” It’s “Don’t shouldn’t on yourself.” There are times when we should should, or should shouldn’t – but I’ve tended (or been encouraged) to believe that if I try to get control, to fix, to rule, to do – or feel the need to do any of those things, that somehow, it’s automatically something for which I should be punished. How dare I extend my rule even over myself? But what Prof. Willard suggests is that Genesis 1:28 tells us that we are supposed to rule over the animals. He goes further to suggest that we are intended to be creative.

Granted, I think sometimes I get more wound up about the need to do these things than I do about the actual doing of them. That’s where the shoulding and shouldn’ting comes in. I seem to think I need to gain approval each step of the way. The ego isn’t as dead as I’d like it to be.

Now, as to the distorted side of all of this. I watched a video series some time ago about dealing with poverty. One of the big ideas the series presented was that we tend to rush into “helping.” A church heard about poor people in East Africa, and shipped tons of clothing to help them – and destroyed the textile industry in East Africa. Another group heard about hunger in south Asia, and sent lots and lots of eggs, which put farmers out of business. I’ve been guilty, too – I arranged to send clothing to victims of Hurricane Katrina – when clothing wasn’t really what was needed. We want to HELP. Do something! Anything!

Sometimes, our helping meets our need to help more than it needs their need to be helped. This is a report I’m hearing about people raising Monarchs. They’re trying to help, but what some may be doing is spreading a disease that is helping to destroy the Monarch population. Good rulership isn’t about helping. It’s about acting in the best interest of the ruled. Good helping requires wisdom.

Lots more thinking, and some changes of habits are needed here.