Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?
Here I am! Send me! There is a normative way of obedience, but there are many ways to hearing our creator.
In this day and age, in many western societies, rebellion, anarchy, disobedience, and the ilk are widely celebrated. Disobedience to authority is seen as empowering. Parents are losing control of their own kids, some who try disciplining their children may face a risk of being sued, call the social service or the police on them. Disciplining is not the same as abuse and anyone who tries to conflate the two is plain dishonest. I grew up in Africa and I have spent most of my adult life in Asia. In both African and Asian societies, respect for elders is non-negotiable most especially one’s parents. It is that important that we weren’t even allowed to talk back to our parents or anyone older than us. They talk and you listen. A sign of honor.
The scripture commands us to Honor our Parents so all may go well with you. — Ephesians 6:1, Exodus 20:12
To honor is to assign value. Regardless of the character of the people who brought us into the world. They have value because of their part in our creation. We can honor their roles even if we cannot always honor their behavior. When we couple the idea of honor with that of respect, we have a formula for the treatment of our parents. Because of their assigned value as our mother and father, we give them particular attention and special esteem. Honor and respect are demonstrated by obedience.
Which of these two statements do you tend to agree with?
Regardless of what the qualities & faults of one’s parents are, one must always love and respect them.
One does not have the duty to respect & love parents who have not earned it by their behavior and attitudes.
People with high esteem for their parents find it easier to listen to/obey God.
And he took the scroll of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that Yehovah has spoken we will do, and we will listen.” — Exodus 24:7
We will do and we will hear is one of the most important mind-bending life-changing phrases in the bible. It characterizes one’s whole faith.
It consists of two Hebrew words: na'aseh venishma, literally, "We will do, and we will hear".
What does 'we will do, and we will hear' mean and why does it matter?
There are two famous interpretations, one ancient, the other modern.
The first Interpretation,
It describes the enthusiasm and wholeheartedness with which the people of God accepted the covenant with God at Mount Sinai. When they said to Moses, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will hear", they were saying, in effect: Whatever God asks of us, we will do - saying this before they had even heard any of the commandments.
The words "We will hear", imply that they had not yet heard neither the Ten Commandments nor the other detailed laws that followed. So keen were they to signal and express their approval and acceptance of God that they agreed to His demands before knowing what the demands were.
The second interpretation
For instance, is not the plain sense of the text but nonetheless important as it has been given often in modern Jewish thought. In this view 'na'aseh venishma' means, "We will do, and we will understand."
From this, we derive the conclusion that we can only understand our Faith by doing it. by performing the commands, and living a faithful obedient life.
Your works, your actions, your deeds manifest your faith.
Jesus said, "you can tell what they are by what they do. No one picks grapes or figs from thornbushes" Matthew 7:16. This thought throws a deeper light to also what James meant by "Faith without works is dead" James 2:14-26
In the beginning, is the deed, and only then comes the grasp, the insight, the comprehension! We will do and eventually through extended practice and prolonged exposure, we will understand.
The majority of modern-day western thought processes tend to put things in the opposite. We seek to understand what we are committing ourselves to before making the commitment or decision. Though that's fine when what is at stake is signing a simple contract, buying a new smartphone, or purchasing a subscription, but not when making a deep existential commitment.
The Truth is,
The best way to understand leadership is to take on leadership responsibilities. The best way to understand marriage is to get married. The best way to understand whether a certain career path is right for you is to try it for an extended period.
The best way to understand God's call is by following Him. You cannot vividly hear someone you're not paying attention to. You're not going to hear Him if you're far away from Him. You need to get closer, draw near and He will draw near to you.
Something to ponder: Those who hover on the edge of commitment and are reluctant to decide until all the facts are in will eventually find that life has passed them by.
The way to fully understand a way of life is to take the risk of living it. That's why this interpretation of 'Na'aseh Venishma' is very profound: We will do and eventually through extended practice and prolonged exposure, we will understand.
The third point is,
I would suggest a quite different interpretation since the Israelites are described by the word of God as ratifying the covenant three times: Once before they heard the commandments and twice after they heard the commandments.
There is a fascinating difference between the way the bible describes the first two of these responses and the third:
The people all responded together, "We will do [na'aseh] everything the LORD has said." — Ex. 19:8
When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do [na'aseh]." — Ex. 24:3
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do and hear [na'aseh ve-nishma] everything the LORD has said." — Ex. 24:7
The first two responses, which refer only to action (na'aseh), are given unanimously. The people respond "together". They do so "with one voice". The third, which refers not only to doing but also to hearing (nishma), involves no unanimity. "Hearing" here means many things:
Listening,
Paying attention,
Understanding,
Absorbing,
Internalizing,
Responding and obeying.
It refers, in other words, to the spiritual, inward dimension of our faith.
Important consequence and lesson.
Believers are supposed to be "a community of doing" rather than of 'hearing'.
There is an authoritative code of God's word [commandments] believers are supposed to live by. By contrast, though there are undoubtedly principles of our faith, when it comes to spirituality, there is no single normative faith approach.
There are norms about how to act as a believer. But there are few about how to think and feel as a believer.
Over the centuries, the body of believers has had its priests and prophets, its Apostles and Evangelists, its rationalists, its philosophers, and poets. The Bible speaks in a multiplicity of voices. Isaiah was not Ezekiel; the book of Proverbs comes from a different mindset than the books of Amos and Hosea. The bible contains law and narrative, history and mysterious visions, rituals, and prayer.
Experiencing God and Hearing His Voice
We experience God in diverse ways. Some find him in creation, others find him in interpersonal emotion, in the experience of loving and being loved, some find God in the prophetic call: "Let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream" (Amos 5:24). Others find Him in Study, "rejoicing in the words of Your Instructions … for they are our life and the length of our days; on them we will meditate day and night."
Yet others find Him in prayer, discovering that God is close to all who call on him in truth.
There are those who find God in joy, dancing, and singing as did King David when he brought the Holy Ark into Jerusalem. Others - or the same people at different points in their life - find Him in the depths, in tears and remorse and a broken heart. Einstein found God in the "fearful symmetry" and ordered complexity of the universe. Paul found Him on the Damascus road.
There is a normative way of obedience, but there are many ways to hear the holy voice, encountering the sacred presence, feeling at one and the same time how small we are yet how great the universe we inhabit, how insignificant we must seem when set against the vastness of space and the myriads of stars, yet how momentously significant we are, knowing that God has set His image and likeness upon us and placed us here, in this place, at this time, with these gifts, in these circumstances, with a task to perform if we are able to discern it.
We can find God on the heights and in the depths, in loneliness and togetherness, in love and fear, in gratitude and need, in dazzling light and amid deep darkness.
We can find God by seeking Him, but sometimes He finds us when we least expect it.
That is the difference between na'aseh [We will Do] and nishma [ We will Hear]. We do the Godly deeds "together". We respond to His commands "with one voice". But we hear God's presence in many ways, for though God is One, we are all different, and we encounter Him each in our own way.