Day 7/26 – The Quest for Autonomy

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
The Quest for Autonomy
Day Two Hundred Seven

“But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”‘ Genesis 3:4-5

When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in a perfect environment; no sin, pollution, opposition, and no prohibitions- with the exception of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis records no other command given to our first parents. This tree with the prohibited food did not give them the ability to know right from wrong. If that were the case, you could not declare them culpable, for how can you charge someone with wrong when they don’t understand right from wrong? The issue of the tree was who gets to determine what is good and evil; what is in my best interest and what is not?

This issue focused man’s struggle with God. Satan said that if they were able to decide what was good and evil for themselves they would be “like God.” You can see why taking of the fruit was such a temptation. Note that Adam and Eve’s thirst for autonomy came before the Fall; it brought about the Fall. God created them with a desire to be autonomous, and then asked that they limit this appetite by allowing God alone to determine what was and was not in their interest. This same struggle remains with us today.

The Serpent’s thesis was that God does not need to be taken seriously; obedience in faith is characterized as hopeless stupidity. This fuels your appetite for autonomy: the need to exercise understanding rather than submit to what God says. The statement, “I want to be like God,” can be the most holy and noble of ambitions, or it can be the most sinful, depending on what you mean by it.

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Psalm 40-42 Acts 27:1-26 (New King James Version)

Psalm 40-42
Faith Persevering in Trial
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
40
I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.
2
He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.
3
He has put a new song in my mouth—
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the Lord.
4
Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust,
And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5
Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works
Which You have done;
And Your thoughts toward us
Cannot be recounted to You in order;
If I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6
Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
7
Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8
I delight to do Your will, O my God,
And Your law is within my heart.”
9
I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness
In the great assembly;
Indeed, I do not restrain my lips,
O Lord, You Yourself know.
10
I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
From the great assembly.
11
Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord;
Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
12
For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.
13
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;
O Lord, make haste to help me!
14
Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion
Who seek to destroy my [a]life;
Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor
Who wish me evil.
15
Let them be confounded because of their shame,
Who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
16
Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;
Let such as love Your salvation say continually,
“The Lord be magnified!”
17
But I am poor and needy;
Yet the Lord thinks upon me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
The Blessing and Suffering of the Godly
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
41
Blessed is he who considers the [b]poor;
The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
2
The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth;
You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
3
The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will [c]sustain him on his sickbed.
4
I said, “Lord, be merciful to me;
Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
5
My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6
And if he comes to see me, he speaks [d]lies;
His heart gathers iniquity to itself;
When he goes out, he tells it.
7
All who hate me whisper together against me;
Against me they [e]devise my hurt.
8
“An[f] evil disease,” they say, “clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.”
9
Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has [g]lifted up his heel against me.
10
But You, O Lord, be merciful to me, and raise me up,
That I may repay them.
11
By this I know that You are well pleased with me,
Because my enemy does not triumph over me.
12
As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
And set me before Your face forever.
13
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
Amen and Amen.
BOOK TWO
Psalms 42–72
Yearning for God in the Midst of Distresses
To the Chief Musician. A [h]Contemplation of the sons of Korah.
42
As the deer [i]pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
2
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and [j]appear before God?
3
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to me,
“Where is your God?”
4
When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go with the multitude;
I went with them to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and praise,
With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast.
5
Why are you [k]cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
[l]For the help of His countenance.
6
[m]O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan,
And from the heights of Hermon,
From [n]the Hill Mizar.
7
Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls;
All Your waves and billows have gone over me.
8
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
And in the night His song shall be with me—
A prayer to the God of my life.
9
I will say to God my Rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10
As with a [o]breaking of my bones,
My enemies [p]reproach me,
While they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
11
Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The [q]help of my countenance and my God.
Footnotes:
• Psalm 40:14 Lit. soul
• Psalm 41:1 helpless or powerless
• Psalm 41:3 restore
• Psalm 41:6 empty words
• Psalm 41:7 plot
• Psalm 41:8 Lit. A thing of Belial
• Psalm 41:9 Acted as a traitor
• Psalm 42:1 Heb. Maschil
• Psalm 42:1 Lit. longs for
• Psalm 42:2 So with MT, Vg.; some Heb. mss., LXX, Syr., Tg. I see the face of God
• Psalm 42:5 Lit. bowed down
• Psalm 42:5 So with MT, Tg.; a few Heb. mss., LXX, Syr., Vg. The help of my countenance, my God
• Psalm 42:6 So with MT, Tg.; a few Heb. mss., LXX, Syr., Vg. put my God at the end of v. 5
• Psalm 42:6 Or Mount
• Psalm 42:10 Lit. shattering
• Psalm 42:10 revile
• Psalm 42:11 Lit. salvation

Acts 27:1-26
The Voyage to Rome Begins
27 And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment. 2 So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. 3 And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care. 4 When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. 5 And when we had sailed over the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. 6 There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board.
7 When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmone. 8 Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
Paul’s Warning Ignored
9 Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because [a]the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, 10 saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.” 11 Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. 12 And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there.
In the Tempest
13 When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete. 14 But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called [b]Euroclydon. 15 So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her [c]drive. 16 And running under the shelter of an island called [d]Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty. 17 When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the [e]Syrtis Sands, they struck sail and so were driven. 18 And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. 19 On the third day we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands. 20 Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.
21 But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. 22 And now I urge you to take [f]heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. 26 However, we must run aground on a certain island.”
Footnotes:
• Acts 27:9 The Day of Atonement, late September or early October
• Acts 27:14 A southeast wind that stirs up broad waves; NU Euraquilon, a northeaster
• Acts 27:15 be driven
• Acts 27:16 NU Cauda
• Acts 27:17 M Syrtes
• Acts 27:22 courage