Doing What Is Right in Our Own Eyes: Judges, Arrogance, and the Cost of Forgotten Humility

Reading through the book of Judges can be a difficult experience, especially as we get closer to the end and Israel descends into such a darkness of separation from God.   They were happy to take the statutes that had been passed down to them, but the way they twisted them to suit their own purposes sends chills down my spine every time I read it.

How can this be?  But then I look at the world we are living in, and as a lover of history I look at all the evil we have inflicted on one another through history and my heart grows heavy.  So much of the inhumanity we have inflicted on one another is born out of such twisted understandings of what should be bright shining principles meant to do good.  Even Scripture is so often twisted by people seeking to do what they believe is right, or at least less wrong.  Again, I cry out how can this be?

Well of all places, I think the answer rests in the last sentence of the Book of Judges, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25b ESV)

The ignorance of our arrogance as human beings, while perhaps not the “root of all evil,” certainly plays a big role in our straying from the intention of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  In our arrogance, convinced that only I can be right, and thus all others are wrong, we choose to be ignorant of the truth.  And I don’t mean the wonderful convenience proclaiming, “my truth” versus “your truth.”  By truth, of course I mean that truth which we find not in the cherry picking of this verse or that to vindicate ourselves, but the truth that comes from the lifting up the whole of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in prayerful study.

But discerning the truth of the Gospel, is hard work.  I heard a professor once warn us to be careful of “cock-sure ignorance” that comes from convincing ourselves that certain things are held in Scripture, because “I am sure of it” without taking the time to do the work of actually finding it, reading it, studying it and understanding it.  But of course, it is easier to simply “do what is right in our own eyes” based on what we hold to be true, regardless of the difficult challenge to follow the truth of the whole of the Gospel.

But we are human, and believing we are created in the image of God (though perhaps not convinced that others are) we surely know what is right, and like Adam and Eve, are easily led to believe we can know what is right, perhaps even better than God.

There is an old story told of a University Professor, a true university professor, one qualified to teach on all the subjects to be taught at the school and believing that he had knew all that could be learned, went in search of the meaning of life.   After many years and many miles of traveling to all the greatest centers of learning, and conferring with all the other most learned sages, he was still not satisfied. 

One day passing through a small village, he heard of a wise old hermit who lived deep in the forest and decided he would seek him out.  He found his way to a small hut in a clearing of the forest and approached the old man there.  He announced who he was and his credentials, that he had learned all that there was to learn and yet was here to seek enlightenment about the meaning of life. 

The holy man invited the visitor into his humble dwelling and began to serve him tea.  He filled the pilgrim’s cup and then kept on pouring so that the tea was soon spilling onto the floor.  The professor watched the overflow until he could no longer contain himself.  “Stop! It is full. No more will go in.”   “Like this cup,” said the hermit, “you are full of your own opinions, preconceptions and ideas.  How can I teach you unless you first empty your self?”

So often we fall into the same trap.  In the ignorance of our arrogance, our cock-sure ignorance, or perhaps the intellectual and Spiritual laziness of choosing to do what is right in our own eyes, we fail to search for the whole truth of the Gospel and follow in the way of Christ, seeking to fulfill the intentions of God.  I suppose it is easier to rely on our own understanding, even if it is clouded by our own desire, than to seek the will of God. Certainly, many have suffered for humanity’s desire “to be like God.”

A wise person once told me, “a little humility goes a long way.”  If only we could all learn to be humble.  We are living in difficult times to be sure.  Perhaps we need to re-read the Book of Judges and ask whether or not we are falling into the same trap of wandering from the intention of God because we would rather “do what is right in our own eyes.”   Now more than ever we need to pray for our enemies, our allies, and ourselves, to be granted the humility to empty ourselves enough to leave room for the truth and wisdom that comes not from ourselves, but rather from the Gospel guided by the Holy Spirit.

Your Servant in Christ,

Mitch Miller