Winter weather has gone through much of the United States in the past week, including areas of the nation that don’t typically see a lot of ice and snow. I went to some social media sites and found comments from people who experienced the kind of weather that kept them at home for about a week. There were some interesting “lessons learned” from the experience:
“We are as well prepared and intelligent as I thought.”
“We do, in fact, have food at home.”
“My wife and I actually like each other enough to be cooped up together.”
“Driving for no reason other than they were bored. Needing to go to Target to get out of the house because day care is closed. Like did we not have Covid Prepare us for any of this?”
If the roads get icy in the SouthEastern US, you can bet there will be a lot more traffic accidents. If the roads get wet from rain in southern California, you can bet there will be more traffic accidents. Why do so many get on roads with bad conditions when they don’t have to?
Can you guess what the number 1 most often broken law is in America? If you guessed speeding you are right. People speed all the time, regardless of the weather. More than 1 in 4 fatal crashes in the US have at least one driver involved who is speeding. The problem actually got worse, percentage wise, during the Covid pandemic. The per-mile death rate rose by 24 percent during this time. It turns out that emptier roads cause people to speed more.
What is so ironic about this is most people admit that speeding is a threat to them. The psychology of this is fascinating. We think the rule is good and necessary. We think people should go the speed limit. But we don’t think the rule necessarily applies to us.
What is going on here?
I think part of the problem is a perceived lack of consequences. If you know you can get away with it, will you break a rule? Many people will. Let’s look at grade school. There are many rules there, right? What are the chances a kid can get away with a little rule breaking now and then? You only have to notice the teacher to student ratio to find out. The US national average ratio in grade school is 15 to 1. In one state it is 23 to 1. There is no way one teacher can effectively monitor all the children in a class at once. There are just too many kids. So you would think that other students helping them out would be celebrated, right? Wrong. Children can very easily get labelled as a “snitch” or “tattletale.”
A lot of rules exist to get us to do things we wouldn’t otherwise do. We are trying to shape a behavior going against what you would want to do, at least in the short term. That is because people are wired to do the things that go along with what is in their short term best interest. We break rules for a lot of reasons:
We don’t t think the long term consequences will apply to us
We don’t agree with the rule
We just don’t think about it
We think we are above the rule
That last one is very interesting. A study at UC Berkeley showed that, when people have power, they can behave the same as those who have suffered a brain injury. They are more impulsive and have a hard time seeing things from the perspective of others. The term that goes along with this is “Leadership Immunity.”
Do we have examples in the bible of people under the influence of leadership immunity? Of course we do.
Exodus 8:24-30
24 And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.
25 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”
26 But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us? 27 We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.”
28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”
29 Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
30 Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord, 31 and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained. 32 But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.
What rules did Pharaoh have to follow? Well, none really. The rules didn’t apply to him. He made his own rules for others to follow. But with Moses coming back to town, rules start getting applied to him, and Pharaoh doesn’t handle it very well. Notice that rule following coincides with power. Pharaoh had all of the power, so no rules applied. Then the plagues came and his power diminished. He started listening to Moses. He agreed to let the Israelites go. Then the plagues stopped and power returned to him, so what does he do? He goes back on his word, because the rules don’t apply anymore.
Why is there such a connection with having power and not following the rules? We see this in our own leaders. It is why the word “politician” is almost synonymous with rule-breaking. But no one is really immune to this. Just look at Moses later when he was in charge of the Israelites.
Numbers 20:2-12
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! 4 Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord said to Moses, 8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
How powerful had Moses become? I would say pretty powerful. He might as well have been the king to his people. And sometimes he acted like it.
Let’s look out for this. It is part of the human condition to be this way, but it doesn’t have to be like this. Humbling yourself is a tenant of Jesus’ ministry for a reason. Imagine what kind of world it would be if having power didn’t mean less responsibility. Imagine what it would be like if doing the right thing was the focus, regardless of your station?
What a great place that would be.
God Bless