Abner sent messengers to David at Hebron, saying, "To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and I will give you my support to bring all Israel over to you."
He said, "Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you: you shall never appear in my presence unless you bring Saul's daughter Michal when you come to see me." Then David sent messengers to Saul's son Ishbaal, saying, "Give me my wife Michal, to whom I became engaged at the price of one hundred foreskins of the Philistines."
Ishbaal sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish. But her husband went with her, weeping as he walked behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, "Go back home!" So he went back.
Abner sent word to the elders of Israel, saying, "For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you. Now then bring it about; for the Lord has promised David: Through my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from all their enemies." Abner also spoke directly to the Benjaminites; then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin were ready to do.
When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. Abner said to David, "Let me go and rally all Israel to my lord the king, in order that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires." So David dismissed Abner, and he went away in peace.
2 Samuel 3:12-21 – NRSV
Abner is doing the right thing. He is seeing to it that Israel makes peace with David, so that Israel and Judah may be united under one king. A king that the Lord has promised. A king that God will use to save his people from their enemies.
Yet Abner isn’t really doing this for the right reasons, is he? In the confrontation with Ishbaal he decides to give the kingdom to David just to prove that he could do it. Now Abner, “owner” of this land tells David that he will give him his land and his support. Finally, Abner tells Israel’s elders that he’s doing this because the Lord has already endorsed the kingship of David.
If that’s really the reason, then why did it take him so long to act on the fact? Abner does this because he suspects he has a better chance now to maintain his power by shifting to David’s side. Abner’s plan is really not righteous obedience to the will of God, but a sophisticated way to move and maintain power.
David has an interesting condition to the offer of diplomacy. Before he will negotiate with Abner, David demands the return of his first wife, Michal. Michal, the daughter of Saul. Michal who loved David. Saul demanded 100 Philistine foreskins as her bride price, but David paid 200 to Saul instead. After David’s escape from Saul, Saul remarried her to Paltiel. Now David wants her back. Yet this demand for Michal’s return is more than regaining a relationship that was dearly and dangerously purchased. It is a power move to reclaim a familial connection with the house of Saul and the tribe of Benjamin.
So Michal must leave a man who loves her, and Paltiel must suffer a pathetically broken heart. What is sad is that David never says, “Send to me Michal, whom I love.” Once again, one of our characters appears to be doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Yet a careful reader of the law (Deut 24:1-4) would doubt that David is obeying the law by remarrying a woman who has been married to another man. Wrong move, wrong reason.
We run into this a lot, don’t we? People who do the right thing for the wrong reason. People who do the wrong things for the wrong reasons. Sometimes even people with the right reasons end up doing the wrong thing.
We want something more. We want to do the right things for the right reasons. For us, it is not enough, for example, to worship God (the right thing); we want to worship God in Spirit and truth (the right reason). This is what we want, but it’s not easy to do all of time, is it?
In reality, our decisions tend to be a mixed bag: some right and wrong acts, some right and wrong reasons. Our challenge, though, is to honestly evaluate our thinking and action so as to become pure in heart. May God help us to make it so.
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Ron
Showing posts with label act. Show all posts
Showing posts with label act. Show all posts
Friday, April 24, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Do the right thing ...
After this David inquired of the Lord, "Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?"
The Lord said to him, "Go up."
David said, "To which shall I go up?"
He said, "To Hebron."
So David went up there, along with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David brought up the men who were with him, every one with his household; and they settled in the towns of Hebron. Then the people of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
When they told David, "It was the people of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul," David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, "May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord, and buried him! Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you! And I too will reward you because you have done this thing. Therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."
2 Sa 2:1-7 - NRSV
When it came to the big moves in his life, David had learned not to completely trust his own judgment. He inquired of the Lord. So the priest would pull out the Urrim and Thummim, and he would do whatever it was that he did to obtain answers from the divine. Once David had the answer, he enacted it. You do what is right, with no other justification required. Action, without hesitation.
When David arrives in Hebron, he learns that the people of Jabesh-gilead have done a very brave and righteous thing. After the Philistines killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, they returned to cut Saul’s head off, put his armor in their temple and mount his body, and his sons’ bodies, on the wall of Beth Shan. This was both shameful and horrible to the Israelites. When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard about this, they were convicted. As a community they decided to right this wrong.
So, in a courageous raid, the men of Jabesh-gilead marched all night to Beth Shan, stole the decomposing bodies from the wall and brought them back to Jabesh. They burned the bodies, gathered the bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Where is a respectful place? Where does the king sit as judge? Under the well-known tree in a community.
Many people would not risk the danger to rescue people who are still alive. The citizens of Jabesh knew this well. Years earlier, Nahash the Ammonite had besieged Jabesh offering them their choice of death, or making a treaty which required their right eye to be gouged out - most often the dominant eye of an archer or the one who carried the sling. Nobody would come to rescue them, even though they were alive, well, and willing to fight alongside their rescuers. No one, except Saul. Saul gathered up an army within seven days, raced across Israel, defeated Nahash, and freed Jabesh.
Saul didn’t do it because it seemed reasonable. You do what is right, with no other justification required.
The people of Jabesh didn’t need an excuse to go rescue the bodies of Saul and his sons. You do what is right, with no other justification required.
This last week, many of our neighbors in Oklahoma and Texas suffered from horrible range fires that swept across huge expanses of land at unbelievable speed. They lost grass, hay, fences, horses, cattle, barns, and houses, too. It is a gift from God that some of them were able to get themselves out of the fire alive. After the fire, they are now working hard to restore their farms and ranches to some form of normalcy. So to pray for them would be a good thing. But real righteousness is coupling action with prayer.
Independently, Burl and Doug came to me. Burl wanted to haul our excess clothing for children from our clothes closet to Sunset, TX to clothe children there who didn’t have any left. He took some groceries, too, to help tide their families over for a bit. Doug gathered up a semi-trailer load of hay and took it to Blanchard, OK, where horses and cattle were literally starving. The hay that he took will help tide them over until these ranchers’ hay can get up high enough to swath and bale. Neither one did this for the public to find out. And we’re not going to brag about it outside our community.
You do what is right, no justification required. Action coupled with prayer, without hesitation.
Blessings,
Ron
The Lord said to him, "Go up."
David said, "To which shall I go up?"
He said, "To Hebron."
So David went up there, along with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David brought up the men who were with him, every one with his household; and they settled in the towns of Hebron. Then the people of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
When they told David, "It was the people of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul," David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, "May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord, and buried him! Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you! And I too will reward you because you have done this thing. Therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."
2 Sa 2:1-7 - NRSV
When it came to the big moves in his life, David had learned not to completely trust his own judgment. He inquired of the Lord. So the priest would pull out the Urrim and Thummim, and he would do whatever it was that he did to obtain answers from the divine. Once David had the answer, he enacted it. You do what is right, with no other justification required. Action, without hesitation.
When David arrives in Hebron, he learns that the people of Jabesh-gilead have done a very brave and righteous thing. After the Philistines killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa, they returned to cut Saul’s head off, put his armor in their temple and mount his body, and his sons’ bodies, on the wall of Beth Shan. This was both shameful and horrible to the Israelites. When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard about this, they were convicted. As a community they decided to right this wrong.
So, in a courageous raid, the men of Jabesh-gilead marched all night to Beth Shan, stole the decomposing bodies from the wall and brought them back to Jabesh. They burned the bodies, gathered the bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Where is a respectful place? Where does the king sit as judge? Under the well-known tree in a community.
Many people would not risk the danger to rescue people who are still alive. The citizens of Jabesh knew this well. Years earlier, Nahash the Ammonite had besieged Jabesh offering them their choice of death, or making a treaty which required their right eye to be gouged out - most often the dominant eye of an archer or the one who carried the sling. Nobody would come to rescue them, even though they were alive, well, and willing to fight alongside their rescuers. No one, except Saul. Saul gathered up an army within seven days, raced across Israel, defeated Nahash, and freed Jabesh.
Saul didn’t do it because it seemed reasonable. You do what is right, with no other justification required.
The people of Jabesh didn’t need an excuse to go rescue the bodies of Saul and his sons. You do what is right, with no other justification required.
This last week, many of our neighbors in Oklahoma and Texas suffered from horrible range fires that swept across huge expanses of land at unbelievable speed. They lost grass, hay, fences, horses, cattle, barns, and houses, too. It is a gift from God that some of them were able to get themselves out of the fire alive. After the fire, they are now working hard to restore their farms and ranches to some form of normalcy. So to pray for them would be a good thing. But real righteousness is coupling action with prayer.
Independently, Burl and Doug came to me. Burl wanted to haul our excess clothing for children from our clothes closet to Sunset, TX to clothe children there who didn’t have any left. He took some groceries, too, to help tide their families over for a bit. Doug gathered up a semi-trailer load of hay and took it to Blanchard, OK, where horses and cattle were literally starving. The hay that he took will help tide them over until these ranchers’ hay can get up high enough to swath and bale. Neither one did this for the public to find out. And we’re not going to brag about it outside our community.
You do what is right, no justification required. Action coupled with prayer, without hesitation.
Blessings,
Ron
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
With a great hope ...
Hear the word of God from the book of Samuel …
The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling …
Saul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that is at Migron …
Saul faces circumstances which are indeed overwhelming: his enemy has vastly superior technology (they have chariots; he has none), and they outnumber him exceedingly (there are 10 enemy horsemen to every one of his men). What is he to do? How is he to respond? The writers of Samuel rarely bother to tell us what is going on inside someone’s head, but they give an account that is so vivid that you can deduce much from a character’s actions. We have two clues. First, Saul moves his troops to a place inaccessible to chariots, and then sits down under a pomegranate tree. He is not moving, not doing anything. Second, look at his people! They are hiding in any hole that they can find. They have crossed past despair into abject fear.
What does this tell us about Saul? How a people behave tells us something about their leadership. To quote Julius Campbell from Remember the Titans, “Attitude reflects leadership.” If the people are in despair, it’s very possible that leadership is as well. And when Saul stops doing anything, that is the sign that he, too, has lost hope.
Fortunately, that is not the end of the story:
One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side." But he did not tell his father … In the pass, by which Jonathan tried to go over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on one side and a rocky crag on the other; the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. One crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.
Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will act for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few." His armor-bearer said to him, "Do all that your mind inclines to. I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine." Then Jonathan said, "Now we will cross over to those men and will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, 'Wait until we come to you,' then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up; for the Lord has given them into our hand. That will be the sign for us."
From a worldly point of view, it is hard to blame Saul and the people for their despair. But they have forgotten the divine perspective! Jonathan has not. He lives with a great hope: “It may be that the Lord will act for us.” Jonathan has hope that God will take care of him, but he acts with the realization that both he and God are persons with free will. Just because he wants God to act in a certain way doesn’t mean that God will. Yet, underneath his great hope is an unshakable one: “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many, or by few.” Nothing can stop God from making hope into history! Notice one other thing: because Jonathan refuses despair but chooses hope, his armor-bearer follows his lead: “I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine.” Jonathan’s hope makes hope credible for others. What is that hope? God is the saving God. Nothing can stop him from taking care of his people. Just as this is Jonathan’s hope, it should be ours as well.
How does the story end? There are twists and turns, yet the hope and action of Jonathan and his armor bearer reveal the power of God acting for a mighty victory that day. God’s people triumph overwhelmingly. Still, someone had to hope. Some human being had to do something, even if that something seemed insignificant at the time. Jonathan was that hopeful someone.
Ultimately, hope is revealed in godly action just as despair is revealed in faithless inaction.
May God help us act today in hope of his mighty saving power.
Ron
1 Samuel 13:5-7; 15; 14:1-10 – NRSV
The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling …
Saul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. Saul was staying in the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that is at Migron …
Saul faces circumstances which are indeed overwhelming: his enemy has vastly superior technology (they have chariots; he has none), and they outnumber him exceedingly (there are 10 enemy horsemen to every one of his men). What is he to do? How is he to respond? The writers of Samuel rarely bother to tell us what is going on inside someone’s head, but they give an account that is so vivid that you can deduce much from a character’s actions. We have two clues. First, Saul moves his troops to a place inaccessible to chariots, and then sits down under a pomegranate tree. He is not moving, not doing anything. Second, look at his people! They are hiding in any hole that they can find. They have crossed past despair into abject fear.
What does this tell us about Saul? How a people behave tells us something about their leadership. To quote Julius Campbell from Remember the Titans, “Attitude reflects leadership.” If the people are in despair, it’s very possible that leadership is as well. And when Saul stops doing anything, that is the sign that he, too, has lost hope.
Fortunately, that is not the end of the story:
One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the Philistine garrison on the other side." But he did not tell his father … In the pass, by which Jonathan tried to go over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on one side and a rocky crag on the other; the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. One crag rose on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba.
Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will act for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few." His armor-bearer said to him, "Do all that your mind inclines to. I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine." Then Jonathan said, "Now we will cross over to those men and will show ourselves to them. If they say to us, 'Wait until we come to you,' then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up; for the Lord has given them into our hand. That will be the sign for us."
From a worldly point of view, it is hard to blame Saul and the people for their despair. But they have forgotten the divine perspective! Jonathan has not. He lives with a great hope: “It may be that the Lord will act for us.” Jonathan has hope that God will take care of him, but he acts with the realization that both he and God are persons with free will. Just because he wants God to act in a certain way doesn’t mean that God will. Yet, underneath his great hope is an unshakable one: “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many, or by few.” Nothing can stop God from making hope into history! Notice one other thing: because Jonathan refuses despair but chooses hope, his armor-bearer follows his lead: “I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine.” Jonathan’s hope makes hope credible for others. What is that hope? God is the saving God. Nothing can stop him from taking care of his people. Just as this is Jonathan’s hope, it should be ours as well.
How does the story end? There are twists and turns, yet the hope and action of Jonathan and his armor bearer reveal the power of God acting for a mighty victory that day. God’s people triumph overwhelmingly. Still, someone had to hope. Some human being had to do something, even if that something seemed insignificant at the time. Jonathan was that hopeful someone.
Ultimately, hope is revealed in godly action just as despair is revealed in faithless inaction.
May God help us act today in hope of his mighty saving power.
Ron
1 Samuel 13:5-7; 15; 14:1-10 – NRSV
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I will be your God ...
Moses comes to lead Israel from Egypt, but Pharaoh has another plan: to make secure his slave labor base. Pharaoh tightens his grip on Israel, makes their work harder, and they groan at Moses for the burdens their attempts at liberation have brought. Moses cries out to God on their behalf, and God replies:
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land."
God also spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name 'The Lord' I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
Say therefore to the Israelites, 'I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.'"
Exodus 6:1-9 – NRSV
How does the Lord respond to the complaints of this troubled people? He answers in the same two ways that he will throughout the years to come: these are the people who have worshiped me, and these are the works that I have done.
“I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” If you are going to have a faith like they have, if you are going to know the blessings that they know, if you are going to experience the saving power of their God, then you must believe and follow their God.
That God is not removed and uninterested in history, or even worse, capriciously involved in it. Instead this God moves with a mighty purpose: to call a people who will live in relationship with him, blessed by him and blessing him. In this case, God looks forward to the defining event that he will refer back to many times in the centuries to come: “I am the God who frees Israel.”
This God is the liberator God. This God is the God of Justice. This God is the saving God. He goes by many names, none of which is adequate, for he will always be beyond our understanding. He has befriended many, but each uniquely. He has acted many times, though not necessarily in ways we can understand in the moment, for he is a mysterious God. Although C. S. Lewis has reminded us that he is not a “tame God”, we can be sure of this: his steadfast love for us never ceases.
May we never cease to call out to the God who is beyond all names. May we never cease to befriend this God who has so many friends. May we never cease to worship our God, who has acted in so many surprising ways to save us. May we never cease to trust him, even when we have yet to understand the ways that he is acting, day by day, in our personal history.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land."
God also spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name 'The Lord' I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens. I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
Say therefore to the Israelites, 'I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.'"
Exodus 6:1-9 – NRSV
How does the Lord respond to the complaints of this troubled people? He answers in the same two ways that he will throughout the years to come: these are the people who have worshiped me, and these are the works that I have done.
“I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” If you are going to have a faith like they have, if you are going to know the blessings that they know, if you are going to experience the saving power of their God, then you must believe and follow their God.
That God is not removed and uninterested in history, or even worse, capriciously involved in it. Instead this God moves with a mighty purpose: to call a people who will live in relationship with him, blessed by him and blessing him. In this case, God looks forward to the defining event that he will refer back to many times in the centuries to come: “I am the God who frees Israel.”
This God is the liberator God. This God is the God of Justice. This God is the saving God. He goes by many names, none of which is adequate, for he will always be beyond our understanding. He has befriended many, but each uniquely. He has acted many times, though not necessarily in ways we can understand in the moment, for he is a mysterious God. Although C. S. Lewis has reminded us that he is not a “tame God”, we can be sure of this: his steadfast love for us never ceases.
May we never cease to call out to the God who is beyond all names. May we never cease to befriend this God who has so many friends. May we never cease to worship our God, who has acted in so many surprising ways to save us. May we never cease to trust him, even when we have yet to understand the ways that he is acting, day by day, in our personal history.
Grace, and peace,
Ron
Monday, February 2, 2009
The humidity of fleeces ...
Hear the word of God:
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,
the priest of Midian;
he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
flame of fire out of a bush;
he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.
Then Moses said,
"I must turn aside and look at this great sight,
and see why the bush is not burned up."
When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see,
God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!"
And he said, "Here I am."
Then he said, "Come no closer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Then the Lord said, "I have observed the misery of
my people who are in Egypt;
I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters.
Indeed, I know their sufferings,
and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians,
and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land,
a land flowing with milk and honey,
to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites,
the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
The cry of the Israelites has now come to me;
I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.
So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people,
the Israelites, out of Egypt."
But Moses said to God,
"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh,
and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign
for you that it is I who sent you:
when you have brought the people out of Egypt,
you shall worship God on this mountain."
Exodus 3:1-12 – NRSV
This story is famous as God’s calling of Moses as the leader of the Israelites. Unlike most callings (even most biblical callings), God speaks directly to Moses. Is it any wonder in this case? After all, Moses barely believes the calling, even when God confronts him with it personally. For Moses, even the personal invitation is not enough, he wants evidence of success before he even starts: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh … ?”
Should we be surprised that this mysterious God, revealing himself in this mysterious way, gives an answer that is a little disconcerting? “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” You will know that you were supposed to do this thing when you have done this thing. So was this reply more about God, or more about Moses? I think it shows God’s insight into the heart of Moses. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” “The proof is in the pudding.” Moses is going to believe a little and doubt a lot until he returns to the foot of this mount to worship with a people.
Are we any different? Most of us can’t say that we have seen a burning bush. Although some of us may have been called to serve God in some interesting ways, few can claim such a clear call as Moses can. Nor should we expect our calling to be so clear, because Moses is the exception. So we feel called, yet struggle with doubt. Did God call? Did God really call me to do this? Did God really call me to do this here? Did God really call me to do this here now? You get the drift.
When our life’s experience and preparation line up with our passions and expectations for a different world, we can know what we hope to do. When opportunity opens in front of this hope, then we can feel called to act. But if we’re waiting for proof, it’s not going to come until the job is done. Gideon could check the humidity of fleeces every day for an eternity, but until he believed enough to act, it didn’t really matter.
At this place, our experience and preparation have met our passion and expectation for God’s kingdom. God has filled our little world with opportunity for these things to work together as our calling. Let’s act today on that calling. Let’s realize that this is going to take some time (Moses didn’t have Israel at Sinai in a couple of months, after all). Let’s realize that some people will reject our vision of a better world, because they have free will, after all. But let’s act!
Blessings on our callings,
Ron
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,
the priest of Midian;
he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
flame of fire out of a bush;
he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.
Then Moses said,
"I must turn aside and look at this great sight,
and see why the bush is not burned up."
When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see,
God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!"
And he said, "Here I am."
Then he said, "Come no closer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Then the Lord said, "I have observed the misery of
my people who are in Egypt;
I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters.
Indeed, I know their sufferings,
and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians,
and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land,
a land flowing with milk and honey,
to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites,
the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
The cry of the Israelites has now come to me;
I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.
So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people,
the Israelites, out of Egypt."
But Moses said to God,
"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh,
and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign
for you that it is I who sent you:
when you have brought the people out of Egypt,
you shall worship God on this mountain."
Exodus 3:1-12 – NRSV
This story is famous as God’s calling of Moses as the leader of the Israelites. Unlike most callings (even most biblical callings), God speaks directly to Moses. Is it any wonder in this case? After all, Moses barely believes the calling, even when God confronts him with it personally. For Moses, even the personal invitation is not enough, he wants evidence of success before he even starts: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh … ?”
Should we be surprised that this mysterious God, revealing himself in this mysterious way, gives an answer that is a little disconcerting? “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” You will know that you were supposed to do this thing when you have done this thing. So was this reply more about God, or more about Moses? I think it shows God’s insight into the heart of Moses. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” “The proof is in the pudding.” Moses is going to believe a little and doubt a lot until he returns to the foot of this mount to worship with a people.
Are we any different? Most of us can’t say that we have seen a burning bush. Although some of us may have been called to serve God in some interesting ways, few can claim such a clear call as Moses can. Nor should we expect our calling to be so clear, because Moses is the exception. So we feel called, yet struggle with doubt. Did God call? Did God really call me to do this? Did God really call me to do this here? Did God really call me to do this here now? You get the drift.
When our life’s experience and preparation line up with our passions and expectations for a different world, we can know what we hope to do. When opportunity opens in front of this hope, then we can feel called to act. But if we’re waiting for proof, it’s not going to come until the job is done. Gideon could check the humidity of fleeces every day for an eternity, but until he believed enough to act, it didn’t really matter.
At this place, our experience and preparation have met our passion and expectation for God’s kingdom. God has filled our little world with opportunity for these things to work together as our calling. Let’s act today on that calling. Let’s realize that this is going to take some time (Moses didn’t have Israel at Sinai in a couple of months, after all). Let’s realize that some people will reject our vision of a better world, because they have free will, after all. But let’s act!
Blessings on our callings,
Ron
Monday, December 29, 2008
There a long time ...
Today, a look a few days back.
December 26
A poem by Kenn Nesbitt
A BB gun.
A model plane.
A basketball.
A ’lectric train.
A bicycle.
A cowboy hat.
A comic book.
A baseball bat.
A deck of cards.
A science kit.
A racing car.
A catcher’s mitt.
So that’s my list
of everything
that Santa Claus
forgot to bring.
Have we ever been so disappointed by some event or chain of events in the past that we have become unable to enjoy the present? Or, as in the poet’s case, unable to enjoy our presents? I don’t think that this is an uncommon human problem. Hear the words of the John’s gospel:
Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids — blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well? The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, "It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." But he answered them, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Take up your mat and walk.' " They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take it up and walk'?" Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
John 5:2-16 – NRSV
Have you ever wondered what sin Jesus warns this man about? After all, wisdom literature and Jesus (wisdom incarnate) both tend to disconnect sin and sickness. They can be related, but not as often as people used to think. So what sin prompts the warning? I think perhaps that the sin of despair kept this man from healing physically, and has the potential to keep this man from healing spiritually. How so?
The legend is, that when the surface of this pool stirs, the first person to enter the water receives healing. And so, typically, many people wait alongside the pool, vigilant for their opportunity. John tells us that this man had been ill for thirty-eight years, and implies that he had lived much of his life by this pool.
Thirty-eight years of failure.
Thirty-eight years of watching someone else succeed.
Thirty-eight years of blaming others for not helping.
Thirty-eight years of dejection, then depression, then despair.
Is the problem that this man can’t make it down to the waters in time, or that he has stopped believing that he could? It sounds as if the memories of failures in the past are so oppressive that he has stopped trying. Oh, he will be at the pool alright. There are always people there. People who might listen to his complaint about his past. Sad songs about a sad life. Do those people ever have to listen to him blame God for this struggle?
Jesus cuts through the complaints and calls the man to the present. “Pick up your mat and walk.” Do something. Do something now. And yes, as a matter of fact it is the Sabbath, but don’t wait until tomorrow, act now! The man lets go of his past, and now his hands are open to pick up his present; he takes up his mat and starts walking.
Time passes, and the man meets Jesus again at the temple. This time Jesus starts the man from a fresh marker in the past, gives him instructions for his present, and points him toward the future: "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." In other words, Jesus says:
I have changed the course of your history.
Don't live in the past; instead do the good that is before you today.
Work toward a better future.
I don’t think that it is difficult for us to see how these three sentences apply to us. Jesus acts powerfully in our lives, too. He has changed the course of our history, and he calls us to an active and noble life in the present that will make for a world (even if it is only our corner of it) that will be different, that will, in the near future, be more like the kingdom of God.
May God grant us the courage to live this way.
Blessings,
Ron
December 26
A poem by Kenn Nesbitt
A BB gun.
A model plane.
A basketball.
A ’lectric train.
A bicycle.
A cowboy hat.
A comic book.
A baseball bat.
A deck of cards.
A science kit.
A racing car.
A catcher’s mitt.
So that’s my list
of everything
that Santa Claus
forgot to bring.
Have we ever been so disappointed by some event or chain of events in the past that we have become unable to enjoy the present? Or, as in the poet’s case, unable to enjoy our presents? I don’t think that this is an uncommon human problem. Hear the words of the John’s gospel:
Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids — blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well? The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, "It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." But he answered them, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Take up your mat and walk.' " They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take it up and walk'?" Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
John 5:2-16 – NRSV
Have you ever wondered what sin Jesus warns this man about? After all, wisdom literature and Jesus (wisdom incarnate) both tend to disconnect sin and sickness. They can be related, but not as often as people used to think. So what sin prompts the warning? I think perhaps that the sin of despair kept this man from healing physically, and has the potential to keep this man from healing spiritually. How so?
The legend is, that when the surface of this pool stirs, the first person to enter the water receives healing. And so, typically, many people wait alongside the pool, vigilant for their opportunity. John tells us that this man had been ill for thirty-eight years, and implies that he had lived much of his life by this pool.
Thirty-eight years of failure.
Thirty-eight years of watching someone else succeed.
Thirty-eight years of blaming others for not helping.
Thirty-eight years of dejection, then depression, then despair.
Is the problem that this man can’t make it down to the waters in time, or that he has stopped believing that he could? It sounds as if the memories of failures in the past are so oppressive that he has stopped trying. Oh, he will be at the pool alright. There are always people there. People who might listen to his complaint about his past. Sad songs about a sad life. Do those people ever have to listen to him blame God for this struggle?
Jesus cuts through the complaints and calls the man to the present. “Pick up your mat and walk.” Do something. Do something now. And yes, as a matter of fact it is the Sabbath, but don’t wait until tomorrow, act now! The man lets go of his past, and now his hands are open to pick up his present; he takes up his mat and starts walking.
Time passes, and the man meets Jesus again at the temple. This time Jesus starts the man from a fresh marker in the past, gives him instructions for his present, and points him toward the future: "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." In other words, Jesus says:
I have changed the course of your history.
Don't live in the past; instead do the good that is before you today.
Work toward a better future.
I don’t think that it is difficult for us to see how these three sentences apply to us. Jesus acts powerfully in our lives, too. He has changed the course of our history, and he calls us to an active and noble life in the present that will make for a world (even if it is only our corner of it) that will be different, that will, in the near future, be more like the kingdom of God.
May God grant us the courage to live this way.
Blessings,
Ron
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