Protecting the Weak and the Vulnerable

The last seven Commandments

Thinking about the Ten Commandments lately (Exodus 20:1-17). Wondering whether every one of them could be seen as providing protection for the weak and the vulnerable.

In our modern culture, the rigid rules of the Bible are considered oppressive. The very word “commandment” triggers images of a God with a harsh desire for control.

But are they really oppressive? Or are they more protective?

That purpose is obvious in some of the commandments. The stronger person murders and steals from the weaker. The one who gives false testimony or who has sex with someone else’s spouse exercises power over the more vulnerable. The Sabbath protects the vulnerable from being overworked by the powerful, and the weak from overdoing.

But what about coveting? Or honoring our parents? Who’s weak or vulnerable in those situations?

Does it really do any harm to covet someone else’s property or spouse? Yes. Harm occurs if the coveter expresses his bitterness, anger, and jealousy toward the one whose property or wife he desires. Even if he doesn’t cause any physical damage, he can wear down the weak and the vulnerable emotionally. And if he doesn’t express it outwardly, it festers inside him, wearing him down.

Either way, coveting hurts the coveter. Her focus becomes wanting what others have instead of being satisfied with, or even thankful for, her own life. It eats away at her. It steals her joy. It damages her relationships with others. It weakens her and makes her vulnerable.

Then there’s the command to honor our parents. I usually think of children as the weak and vulnerable ones in the family. But as I was pondering this whole idea of every commandment being given to protect the weak and the vulnerable, I started looking at it from a different angle.

Who’s weaker than a couple of new parents? They can’t get enough sleep. They’ve been thrust into a world that they’ve never experienced before. They’ve suddenly been given the greatest responsibility they’ve ever known, at an age when they’re still pretty immature themselves.

Their lives are turned upside down as new priorities take over. They’re expected to know what’s best for a total stranger who has limited powers of expression. And to make it even worse, these little humans keep changing month by month and year by year, requiring the parents to keep adapting as they face new challenges.

It doesn’t end when the children grow up and leave home, either. Now those sons and daughters are out in the world, where they can be seriously hurt or make bad choices that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Moms and dads are weak. They’re vulnerable. They need the protection of a law that honors them.

Worshiping God

But what about those first three commandments? The ones that say not to worship any other gods, not to make an idol, and not to misuse God’s name. Is He so weak and vulnerable that He needs protection from His own creation?

I wrote in an earlier post that God somehow feels real pain. Does that make Him vulnerable?

That depends on the exact meaning of the word. Dictionary.com's first definition is “capable of or susceptible to being attacked, damaged, or hurt.” God is being attacked all the time. He can hurt in the sense of feeling real pain. But He cannot be damaged by those attacks or that pain.

The way I’m using the word here is in terms of susceptibility to being damaged. When I think of groups of people who are considered vulnerable, the ones who come to mind are those who are easily victimized. But maybe that’s too limiting. We all have our tender spots. We’re all fallen. We’re all susceptible to being damaged.

Like the last seven, these first three commandments are intended to strengthen and protect us. We are all weak and vulnerable. God is not.

We were created to have perfect fellowship with Him. To lead sinless lives. Lives of continual joy and pleasure and love and peace.

When we worship other gods, when we make idols, when we misuse His name, we don’t do Him any personal harm. He can take it.

But for us, suffering enters the picture. We damage weak and vulnerable people by leading them astray.

We harm our own weak and vulnerable selves. We lose or lessen the joy and pleasure and love and peace that living in His presence brings. We become slaves to the gods we worship.

God’s grace at work

Disobeying God’s commandments brings His wrath and judgment (two more words that modern Americans recoil from). That judgment isn’t meant for the sole purpose of punishment, but to open our eyes to the harm that we’re doing. To draw us closer to Him and into a more fulfilling life.

I recently heard a description of the stages of alcoholism. In the first stage, excessive drinking seems fun and harmless. But as a person progresses through each stage, he hurts a little more as a direct result of his habit. In the final stage, he’s suffering physically, emotionally, socially, and financially. He’s ruined. Or dead.

This is an illustration of God’s grace at work. The first time we indulge in a sin, it seems fun or it brings relief from a difficult situation. It feels good. We might not experience any negative consequences at all. God tries to get our attention and turn us back through gentle means, such as a word of warning or a sense of guilt.

If we continue in that sin, though, we suffer a little more. We weaken friendships. We might get in trouble with the law or lose some of our financial resources. Our health might be affected. With sexual sin, we reduce our ability to form the long-term, intimate, emotionally satisfying relationships that we all crave. We wander away from the comfort and peace that we find in God’s presence. He’s still speaking to us, still trying to draw us to Him, but since the lighter approaches didn’t work, He’s now using pain.

The further we fall, the more we hurt. Just as an alcoholic only goes into rehab after reaching rock bottom, suffering as a result of our sin is God’s gracious means of bringing us to the point where we’ll turn to Him. Satan uses that pain to torment us. He delights in our agony. God uses it to save us. He delights in our redemption.

As my pastor said recently, the one who suffers the most when someone fools around with sin is the sinner herself. But God specializes in redeeming us fools. All of His commandments are given to protect all of us weak and vulnerable people from being hurt and damaged even more.