This is part of my year-long series exploring human-centered alternatives to the spiritual promises in Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Today’s entry, “Do It Now”, promises that believers who quickly obey spiritual promptings about relationships will avoid an “inevitable process” of divine discipline, claiming God’s Spirit works on the disobedient until they achieve purity and that immediate reconciliation prevents worse spiritual consequences.
Here’s what quick spiritual obedience actually delivered:
“Don’t insist on your rights,” his pastor advised urgently. “Focus on what you owe, not what’s owed to you. Confess any anger and reconcile immediately, or God will put you through an inevitable process of spiritual discipline until you learn obedience.”
Kevin had just discovered his business partner stealing $50,000 from their accounting firm. The theft threatened his family’s financial security and the survival of their small business. But his pastor’s guidance seemed clear: settle quickly with adversaries, don’t seek justice, focus on his own spiritual failures rather than his partner’s crimes.
Against every instinct, Kevin approached his partner with forgiveness instead of legal action. He confessed his own anger as sin and offered reconciliation, believing this Christ-like obedience would prevent divine discipline.
Surely God would honor this spiritual response and protect Kevin from further harm.
But the promised protection was a catastrophic delusion.
Kevin’s partner interpreted forgiveness as weakness and continued stealing. When Kevin finally discovered additional embezzlement months later, his partner had fled with even more money. The “inevitable process” Kevin had tried to avoid through spiritual obedience became far worse due to his passive response.
Meanwhile, his friend Lisa faced identical betrayal when her business partner defrauded their graphic design company. But Lisa didn’t seek spiritual guidance about settling quickly with adversaries. She immediately consulted an attorney, documented the fraud, pursued legal remediation through proper channels.
Lisa didn’t worry about divine discipline for insisting on her rights or failing to reconcile spiritually. She treated theft as a legal matter requiring professional intervention, not a spiritual test requiring Christ-like submission.
The outcome vindicated Lisa’s practical approach completely. Legal action recovered most stolen funds and prevented additional theft. Her partner faced appropriate consequences through the justice system. Lisa’s business survived and eventually thrived because she’d acted decisively rather than spiritually.
Kevin’s attempt to avoid God’s “inevitable process” through quick obedience had enabled more harm and delayed necessary action. The spiritual discipline he’d feared was imaginary, while the practical consequences of not addressing fraud were devastatingly real.
When Kevin finally pursued legal action months later, recovery was much harder. His spiritual approach had allowed evidence to disappear and made prosecution nearly impossible.
Where was the divine protection that was supposed to come from Christ-like behavior? Where was God’s honor for spiritual obedience and quick reconciliation?
The divine disciplinary process that was supposed to punish disobedience never materialized. The unalterable spiritual laws were completely absent. Only human consequences for human choices—and Kevin’s spiritual choices had been disasters.
The silence where God’s inevitable process was supposed to unfold revealed the truth: there were no divine laws ensuring spiritual consequences for relationship conflicts. Only practical outcomes from practical decisions.
Reflection Question: When has addressing conflicts through proper channels been more effective than seeking quick spiritual reconciliation?
This story is part of my upcoming book “The Undevoted: Daily Departures from Divine Dependence,” which offers 365 human-centered alternatives to the spiritual certainties in Chambers’ devotional. Each day explores how reason, community, and human resilience can address life’s challenges without requiring divine intervention.
God or Delusion? 