I read the words of Deuteronomy 3 and they break my heart. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for Moses. After investing his life into these people, risking everything and spending 40 years in the wild with them God does not allow him to enter into the inheritance offered to his people since Abraham. Moses, the great liberator in one way must stay unliberated. He can never enter the promised land. Listen to the complete despair in his words:
"At that time I pleaded with the LORD : "what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan...But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. "That is enough, Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." (Deut. 3.23-28)
The background to this of course is the story of Numbers 20: "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." 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.
And the background to this was Exodus 17: But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel" (Exod. 17.3-6).
Thats the story in reverse. But even when you read it the right way around it still leaves you wondering doesn't it? Why is God so harsh with Moses? Why does he treat him so "unfairly". There are two things I notice: 1) Moses does not listen to God in detail and assumes that the way God did things before was the way he was doing them again. But that assumption was devastatingly wrong. The first time God said "strike the rock", the second time he said "speak to the rock", but Moses struck it. He assumed that God wanted him to do the same old thing, but God was teaching Moses a new thing. We do that sometimes: restrict God to working in ways that he has already done in our lives instead of opening ourselves up for new and fresh work of the Spirit.
2) Deut. 1 showed God's blessing on people who are willing to focus on him in the midst of communities who are focused on anything but him. Israel's fault in this narrative is that she continually forgets who it is who is caring for her and they lose faith in YHWH quickly. He saves them from Egypt and the next chapter they grumble! In Deut. 3 we see that Israel's sins have begun to wear off on its leader. Moses focuses on himself instead of pointing away from himself-- and pays for it. Notice he says "must we bring you water out of this rock?"-- it was never Moses who provided anything for Israel but YHWH and only him...how often we forget who puts bread in our stomachs and water in our mouths. How foolish we can be for believing, even for a second, that we deserve the credit for anything we can muster from our lives-- in his grace he helps us succeed at what makes us happy but we must remember: it is the Lord that giveth and the Lord that taketh away.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Deuteronomy 2: War...What is it Good For?
Deuteronomy continues recounting the tale of Israel's birth (the beginning of course is the calling of Abraham in Gen. 12), and there are many birth-pains in the process of this birth. This is the story of one of them. Wilderness wanderings for forty years as punishment for not trusting God for forty days (when they decided to fear and worry about appropriatley inheriting the Land), and then wars and rumours of wars. It is a story of God giving the people of Heshbon over to the Israelites through war and battle. Israel takes "all his towns and completely destroyed them--men, women and children. We left no survivors" (Deut. 2.340). I am senstive to this (probably now more than ever)--because i hate war. I hate it with a passion. It terrifies me because of the hurt and pain and suffering it causes. Lord why did you use war to accomplish your will?
It pains me to see God doing such a thing. I know it was necessary, because God was birthing a plan to save humanity that involved chosing and guiding and securing one nation for all the nations and to start that plan he had to protect them adn nurture them; establish them in the land so the plan could move to its next stage, but i wish there was a way to transcend the cultural necessity of war. Ultimately we see God transcend it in Christ but that is later. For now God sanctions the killing of women and children and thats what we have to deal with. But I did notice something interesting about the story. Did you pick it up? Before Israel goes in an kills all these people this is what the text says: "I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying Let us pass through your country...but he refused to let us pass through" (2.26-30) Maybe thats what God does: offers humanity peaceful solutions but religious-political worlviews clash and we do not take that option. Maybe God always tries to make visible that more potent option between war and peace: living together side by side in peace. "We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left..." (2.27).
Of course in light of the New Age proclamation of Jesus with the coming of the Kingdom of God, things have changed. God no longer looks over/ takes care of a theocricy (a literal nation where God is the ruling political King) but a kingdom, made up of all nations, defined by Christ and the Spirit. And that Lord--Jesus-- calls his people to be peace-makers in the world.
Lord please help us live at peace and be peace-makers with the world around us and forgive us for the wars we have caused.
It pains me to see God doing such a thing. I know it was necessary, because God was birthing a plan to save humanity that involved chosing and guiding and securing one nation for all the nations and to start that plan he had to protect them adn nurture them; establish them in the land so the plan could move to its next stage, but i wish there was a way to transcend the cultural necessity of war. Ultimately we see God transcend it in Christ but that is later. For now God sanctions the killing of women and children and thats what we have to deal with. But I did notice something interesting about the story. Did you pick it up? Before Israel goes in an kills all these people this is what the text says: "I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying Let us pass through your country...but he refused to let us pass through" (2.26-30) Maybe thats what God does: offers humanity peaceful solutions but religious-political worlviews clash and we do not take that option. Maybe God always tries to make visible that more potent option between war and peace: living together side by side in peace. "We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left..." (2.27).
Of course in light of the New Age proclamation of Jesus with the coming of the Kingdom of God, things have changed. God no longer looks over/ takes care of a theocricy (a literal nation where God is the ruling political King) but a kingdom, made up of all nations, defined by Christ and the Spirit. And that Lord--Jesus-- calls his people to be peace-makers in the world.
Lord please help us live at peace and be peace-makers with the world around us and forgive us for the wars we have caused.
Deuteronomy 1: Surrounded But Not Destroyed
So I wanted to begin with Deuteronomy. It is the summation of one of the most central stories of the Hebrew Scriptures (OT). It is the beautiful picture of Moses standing in the desert with Israel at the end of his life, old, crippled and ready to die. He stand before Israel and delivers this great summary of all they have been through.
This beginning chapter gave me an awesome image: God as father carrying his son (Israel) through the desert, sea out of slavery into freedom. As i read those words (Deut. 1.31) i thought of how i would do anything to free Sienna from danger. Here was God doing everything in his power to lead Israel out from under the yoke of slavery into freedom. He "went ahead of you on your journey, in fore by night and in a cloud by day" (1.32)-- YHWH was there leading his people. This is why some say that the story of Scripture is the story of God's presence. He led them through all of that: fought the Egyptians through signs and wonders, led Israel through the sea and their response was grumbling: "In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord you God" (1.32). So, God's response to them was the same--they didn't trust him, so he wouldn't trust them: "Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land...except Caleb...because he followed the Lord wholeheartdely" (1.36). Thats a difficult thing to do some times isn't it. Follow God into the darkness where you are not certain weather you will return alive or even sane! But Caleb (and Joshua; 1.28) did. Inspite of all those around him grumbling, and losing faith he remained steadfast.
That is a hard thing to do. To not reflect the attitudes of those closest to you, of those who surround you, those you trust and love--when those attitudes are not focused on the Lord. I am struggling with thos things right now in my life. Surrounded by people on all sides that are committed to tearing down instead of bulding up and i find myself getting lost in it all--joining the crowd instead of going against the grain. But God calls us to be like Caleb, surrounded by attitudes that destory and being committed to bringing life instead.
This beginning chapter gave me an awesome image: God as father carrying his son (Israel) through the desert, sea out of slavery into freedom. As i read those words (Deut. 1.31) i thought of how i would do anything to free Sienna from danger. Here was God doing everything in his power to lead Israel out from under the yoke of slavery into freedom. He "went ahead of you on your journey, in fore by night and in a cloud by day" (1.32)-- YHWH was there leading his people. This is why some say that the story of Scripture is the story of God's presence. He led them through all of that: fought the Egyptians through signs and wonders, led Israel through the sea and their response was grumbling: "In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord you God" (1.32). So, God's response to them was the same--they didn't trust him, so he wouldn't trust them: "Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land...except Caleb...because he followed the Lord wholeheartdely" (1.36). Thats a difficult thing to do some times isn't it. Follow God into the darkness where you are not certain weather you will return alive or even sane! But Caleb (and Joshua; 1.28) did. Inspite of all those around him grumbling, and losing faith he remained steadfast.
That is a hard thing to do. To not reflect the attitudes of those closest to you, of those who surround you, those you trust and love--when those attitudes are not focused on the Lord. I am struggling with thos things right now in my life. Surrounded by people on all sides that are committed to tearing down instead of bulding up and i find myself getting lost in it all--joining the crowd instead of going against the grain. But God calls us to be like Caleb, surrounded by attitudes that destory and being committed to bringing life instead.
An Invitation into a Devotional Life
While my daughter (Sienna) stared up at me the other day from her swinging chair i had a thought: how do i connect her relational-life with God to mine? It didn't take long for me to answer the question: we both need a devotional life. We both must learn to relate to the Lord intimately and authentically through reflection/ meditation on Scripture. Our needs are the same: connect with God in spirit and truth. There is no more important way to do that than through ones relationship with God through prayer and meditation on Scripture. Iin Gary Chapmans book The Five Love Languages he says that there are five basic ways human beings experience/ receive love: acts of service, physical touch, gifts, quality time, and words of encouragement. I have been asking myself of late: what is God's love language? Without a doubt that language is quality time. And of course of all the languages of love we have to offer God, or anyone else for that matter, the most important is quality time: time is hard enough, quality time is even harder. But it is necessary. It is out of this difficult challenge that this blog grows.
So, i invite you to get a cup of coffee, or tea or whatever and join Sienna and I each day (or every other day) as we read Scripture/pray and reflect together. I will post the Scripture we read and then some thoughts on the text (sometimes brief and spiritual, other times more focused on connnecting the text to the larger Biblical narrative/ worldview) and invite you to offer your thoughts in response. This has the amazing potential to change our lives...becuae it offers us accountability and focus as we try to navigate through this often times intimidating thing called Scripture.
So, i invite you to get a cup of coffee, or tea or whatever and join Sienna and I each day (or every other day) as we read Scripture/pray and reflect together. I will post the Scripture we read and then some thoughts on the text (sometimes brief and spiritual, other times more focused on connnecting the text to the larger Biblical narrative/ worldview) and invite you to offer your thoughts in response. This has the amazing potential to change our lives...becuae it offers us accountability and focus as we try to navigate through this often times intimidating thing called Scripture.
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