Issue 239
There are thousands of opportunities for conflict in any life or career. There are minor skirmishes over parking spaces, desks or equipment; there are power plays about status and position; there are full blown battles over policy, pay or strategy. The list is endless.
Some people may argue that we are defined by the battles we choose to fight. Some temperaments can start a fight in a phone box. Others are hardly ever provoked. Most of us live in between.
Aristotle’s famous comment about anger, all those years ago still applies: “anyone can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person, at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not easy”. Some battles are completely justified. If you sense that you are being called to make a stand against injustice, or for justice, then you have to consider your position very carefully.
Other battles are unwarranted. You may feel angry, but actually, you are in the wrong, or at least not wholly right.
As with humour, timing is vital in conflicts. Choosing the moment is as important as choosing the battle. Many of us find ourselves fighting waste-of-time battles over trivia, or time consuming battles fought at the wrong moment.
At the beginning of the liberation of Israel, a vast crowd of people were let out of captivity by the ruler of Egypt. Each person was weary, tired, oppressed and resentful of their treatment. They each carried a thousand reasons to fight, and together, millions. They were even armed for war.
But God took them on a route which avoided a certain war with Philistia – a longer route:- a road to the sea.
Why would God take an angry army away from a fight? The story tells us that God said, “if they face war, they might change their minds and go back to Egypt”. Here is a fascinating dynamic. They were not ready to fight. This group of people were standing between slavery and war, and God was concerned that they would choose slavery again, if they faced an early fight.
What was missing from these people that prompted God to take them a longer way round to avoid battle?
There may be a number of things; here are some suggestions: first, they knew how to live in slavery, but they did not yet know how to handle freedom. They were experienced in slavery – old habits, being oppressed, feeling the whip and having few rights. Now they were free and had no experience of how to handle it, nor how good it tastes. They were novices at freedom.
So immediately, you can see a principle behind the strategy – don’t put novices into battle before they are ready. This applies to you, if you are a new Christian, new in a job, new in your role, or managing new people. There is a longer route needed to avoid the battle.
Secondly, enjoyment of freedom will lead to wisdom, maturity and strength. , However long you have been a Christian, you need to be set free to work spiritually. You need to perceive, work and live-out the principles of working spiritually. When you experience this freedom, you will be able to handle the battle, knowing that you will never want to go back to the old ways.
How many people give up and settle for a second rate, unexamined, immature faith, rather than ‘fight a good fight’?
Perhaps we need lessons in working free, working spiritually and working well to enable us to enjoy this freedom. It’s a longer way round but it avoids the premature battles and toughens up the soldier.
The history of Israel was and is littered with battles. The workplace is often a place of battle. The road to the sea tells us to let God lead us, even if it is a longer way round, to a place of freedom, maturity, wisdom, skill and not a little trust. This will mean avoiding unnecessary or premature fights, choosing the right moment to stand, and maybe even going through a parted sea on an extraordinary road, but that is another story.
Exodus 13:17-18
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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