Boomer Sooner
By Grant Gaines
It was a day that was more anticipated than Christmas morning for the pioneers living in modern day Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Land Rush was set to begin on March 2, 1889 which would allow the pioneers to legally settle on any portion of land within that territory based on a first come, first serve basis.
Imagine the anticipation and excitement that filled the air on the night of March 1st as families, businessmen, and eager entrepreneurs made final preparations to their wagons for tomorrow’s big “race.” The quicker they could move their belongings, the quicker they could claim their ideal plot of land.
But there was a certain group of people who decided that the rules didn’t apply to them. While everyone else waited for the gun to sound the following morning signaling the beginning of open season for claiming the land, these people snuck across the starting line the evening before and began to settle in the best parts of the territory hours before they had the legal right to do so. These men and women became known as “sooners.”
As soon as the authorities caught wind of this cheating that was going on, the officials essentially gave their law enforcement agents the “007 license to kill” meaning that any person who had jumped the gun would pay with their lives.
The sooners set out to get what was best for them but because they rushed ahead of the rules that created order and peace, they paid the ultimate price for their actions.
A lot of times we as Christians take this “sooner” mentality with us regarding God’s plan for our lives. We get impatient or nervous that God’s not going to pull through like He promised and so we rush into a bad decision. It happens every day. Why else do you think so many people are having sex before marriage and getting a divorce after marriage? Because we don’t wait for God’s perfect timing to bring about His perfect will. We want what we want NOW! This must have certainly been the case for the Israelites in Joshua 6.
The Israelites had just crossed the Jordan River and were ready to take Jericho. The army stood at attention as their fearless and war tested general, Joshua, stood to address his troops who were chomping at the bit to charge into enemy territory and take the land the Lord had promised their ancestors hundreds of years earlier.
The army was about to jump out of their boots with excitement when they finally heard Joshua say the words they had so longed to hear – “march around the city of Jericho fully armed for battle.”
But as Joshua went on, you could almost imagine the army’s surprise and the small glimmer of disappointment in their countenance when Joshua didn’t continue with his marching orders as they had expected. They thought Joshua would go on to lay out a strategy for flanking Jericho or laying a siege against the city’s walls but that wasn’t what Joshua told them. Instead, the General commanded his troops not to attack the city nor to even raise their voice in a war cry until the day he allowed them to do so (Joshua 6:2-10).
Talk about deflating an audience! This is a group of men who had heard about God’s promises regarding this land since they were infants. They had seen with their own two eyes the miraculous power of God when He parted the Jordan River so the entire nation of Israel could cross on dry land even though the river was a mile wide at flood stage (Joshua 3:15). And I’m sure their parents told them the most incredible bedtime stories about what the Lord had done for His people when He delivered them from Egypt as they were being tucked into bed as children. The bottom line is that these men were geared up and ready to go take hold of this land!
But now they had to pull back on the reigns. And while Joshua knew that the army would march around the city for 7 total days, nowhere in Scripture does it record that Joshua relayed this information along to his troops. For all they knew, Joshua might have made them do this “parade” for an entire year before they could finally attack.
Can you imagine how eager the men must have been on day 5 and 6 of marching around Jericho without being able to say a single word? It would have been so easy for them to just ignore Joshua’s commands and go attack the city…to be “sooners” if you will.
But thankfully they didn’t because we know beyond a shadow of a doubt what would have happened to them had they rushed ahead of God’s commands, because that very thing happened to their parents in Numbers 14:40-45.
In Numbers 13-14 the Israelites had just sent in 12 spies to the Promised Land and because of the negative report of 10 of the spies, the entire community fearfully refused to enter the land the good Lord had given them. Because of their disobedience and doubt, Moses reported to the Israelites that the Lord was disappointed with them and was going to punish them by making them wander through the desert for 40 years and never enter the land they were too fearful to enter.
After hearing this dreadful report, the Israelites panicked and rallied their troops to march up against their foes even though the Lord had warned them that He would not bless their efforts because of their doubt. Nevertheless, Numbers 14:14-5 (NIV) records that, “…in [the Israelites] presumption they went up towards the highest point of the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the LORD’s covenant moved from camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them all the way to Hormah.”
The sooners in Numbers 14 rushed ahead of God’s will and were rightfully punished for their disobedience. The Israelites later in Joshua 6 waited patiently for God’s perfect plan to unfold and were rewarded by witnessing the miracle of Jericho’s walls falling through no effort of their own and conquering a city.
We all have the same dilemma in front of us every day. Are we going to wait for the Lord though it may not seem to make any sense or are we going to take the way of the sooners and rush ahead of His plan? One choice walks by faith, the other choice walks by sight. One choice leads to death while the other choice leads to abundant life.
Things may not seem to be going well at work, but that’s no excuse to cut corners to get ahead. Things may not be going well in your marriage, but that’s no reason to jump ship but rather to buckle down on your faithfulness and wait for the Lord to bring about healing. You may not be seeing the results you want to see on your scale, but that doesn’t mean you need to give up on your diet and exercise but rather persevere with discipline and fight.
Each morning when you wake up you will be faced with a simple yet extremely important choice to make: will you wait for the Lord or run ahead of His plan like a sooner.
Which choice are you going to make today?
“Wait for the LORD; be strong take heart and wait for the LORD.”
– Psalms 27:17 (NIV)
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©Grant Gaines 2013
