On the Way to Wonder

³⁹ Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect.

  Hebrews 11:39-40

         Chapter 11 of Hebrews that reviews the heroes and heroines of the Old Testament, our ancestors, ends with the truth that while all the people we looked at and all the ones whose lives are between the lines died before receiving their promised future from God.  Abraham had one son and was promised children like the stars in the sky and that his descendants would bless many nations.  Moses did not go into the Promised Land. History has it that Isaiah was sawed in half.  Daniel was rescued from the lions but did not return to Jerusalem.  Peter we believe was crucified upside down.  And today people die of cancer and die untimely deaths in accidents but still believe in the promises of an unseen God to deliver a future they will not live to see in this world.  But they will see eternity.  God will provide something better.

         Likewise “they would not, without us, be made perfect.”  Christ had not died yet for our Old Testament people so heaven was not open to them.  At the end of time we will all gather and be made perfect.  How God will work that out is yet to be experienced.

         So the question unspoken is what do we put our faith in?  Like children waiting for Christmas, are we looking for our stockings of life to be filled with goodies?  Perhaps we have a wish list that we believe God can bring about.  But perhaps we are disenchanted today because we have not gotten in the past all we wanted for Christmas and we feel a bit cynical about this god-thing.  I find comfort in the analogy of a handshake.  In the mystery of the handshake between God and his creation, it is a comfort that he is stronger and does not let go of me when I am doubting and troubled and struggling, hopefully not being sawn in half.  Chapter 11 reminds us that faith carries us through the present because we know the unseen God is with us, can incarnate and touch the events of our lifes, will return and justice will happen.

         Lord, may we be grateful for the gifts we receive from you and friends.  May we live the hard times with compassion and forgiveness in our hearts.  And may we stay awake and see your hand in our world bringing about a better future.

³² And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.  (Hebrews 11:34-36)

         Yesterday we looked at the first four men who were famous prophets/military leaders before Israel started having kings.  Next the writer mentions Samuel and David.  Samuel was the last prophet.  We know him from the famous story of his mother, Hannah, who was the barren first wife ridiculed by the second wife.  Hannah conceived in answer to a desparate prayer to God.  She was so grateful she returned Samuel to the Temple once he was weaned to grow up there.  As a young child God spoke to Samuel.  Samuel anointed the first king, Saul, and later the very famous and beloved king David.  Both Samuel and David were very human.  Samuel did not control his own sons.  Perhaps he was too busy at work!  David was an adulterer and a murderer.  The redeeming character trait of all the men mentioned was that they trusted an unseen God for an unseen future.  Verse 34 says they “won strength out of weakness.”

         I am not sure how you “win” strength but I certainly know what it means to feel weak and incapable of doing the task at hand.  Let us ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts right now and help us cry out for God in our weakness.  Let’s pray for medical people who deal with people when they are weak and scared.  May they have compassion, be gentle, and instill hope during the Christmas season when no one wants to be weak and helpless.

³² And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—

Hebrews 11:32

         We are reflecting on Hebrews 11 as a recording of heroes and heroines in the Old Testament.  They are the ancestors of New Testament heroes we might be more familiar with.  The writer explains that these people trusted a God that could not be see and who promised a future that had to be lived into.  Sounds like our very own dilemma as we come to next week and Advent 1.  On December 3 we will light that first Advent candle that is often called the Hope candle or the Prophecy candle.

         So what do Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah have in common?   They were all judges.  It is not what we think of as if they held court but they were more like military leaders.  Gideon led 300 men chosen because of how they knelt at a pool to drink water (Judges 6:1-8:32).  Barak was the commander under Deborah (Judges 4:1-5:31).  The women, Deborah and Jael, saved the day but Barak was the commander and God did not forget him.  Samson we know for his strength and long hair and his affair with Delilah (Judges 16:1-31).  Jephthah (Judges 11:1-12:7) is little known.  He was the son of Gilead by a prostitute and disowned by his brothers.  But eventually he led the people to victory.  So this is not such an illustrious group of men.  They were ordinary men who trusted God and played their part in the history of Israel.

         Often we think of leaders as those getting the glory and leading a project.  Each of these men was flawed even as we are.  Perhaps we deal with doubt and need fleeces like Gideon.  Maybe we don’t want to lead but follow like Barak.  Maybe we have a worldly past like Sampson.  Maybe we carry a social label, “illegitimate”, like Jephthah.  God uses people like them and like us with our idiosyncrasies.  Lord, help us look to you and know you are able to accomplish your will through us – not because of us. Your strength is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

         Tomorrow is “Christ the King Sunday”, the last Sunday of Pentecost, and the last Sunday of the liturgical year.  We started with Advent last Christmas anticipating the arrival of Christ, looked at his life through the eyes of Matthew, grieved at his death and rejoiced at his resurrection.  During Pentecost we looked at the multiple ways that the reality of worshipping a living God who can incarnate into our reality and who understands us and walks with us, changes our lives and our hopes for the future.  Tomorrow we give him the glory.  The Psalm for the day is Psalm 95.  Handle was inspired by this Psalm.  Below are parts of the Psalm put to music.  Please enjoy the music as you read the words and prepare your hearts for tomorrow.

¹ O come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
³ For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
    and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

⁶ O come, let us worship and bow down,
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
⁷ For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.

³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹ By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

  Hebrews 11:30-31

         Rahab, the prostitute, Hebrews 11, was part of our focus of reflection this week.  Actually Sarah was the first woman mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy.  Rahab was the second.  Rahab of Jerico hid the spies sent by Joshua to scout out the Promised Land.  In exchange for risking her life for them, the spies told her to gather her family in her house in the wall of Jericho and hang a red chord from her window to mark the place.  Her faith saved her family.  Not only that but as we read Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew 1, we read that Rahab married Salmon who was the father of Boaz who married Ruth the Moabitis, faithful daughter-in-law of Naomi.  Ruth’s story is a book of the Bible!  Rahab was Ruth’s mother-in-law.  Both Rahab and Ruth had stories to pass on to future generations of an unseen God bringing about a hope filled future when God was trusted to be faithful.

         Today as we shop Black Friday sales and ponder the gifts we want to pass on to family and friends, our greatest gift might be sharing the story of God’s faithfulness in our lives.  Grandparents have a gift of testimony about survival and perseverence.  Blessings as you share!

         Today is Thanksgiving.  It is not a religious holiday but a cultural holiday remembering back to the first feast when the Pilgrims arrived and gathered to feast with indigeneous people. But it was not until 1777 that the first official holiday was declared. Gifted with hindsight, we debate just what that first Thanksgiving meal was like.  We do know new people to the Americas fled countries where they did not feel welcome.  They found a new life that resulted in the death of many.  This week we looked at Moses who fled Egypt, a country where the Israelites had been enslaved, and Rahab, the “indigeneous” person, who sided with Joshua, the foreigner, who led people that conquered land.   How do we survive those dismal times when life is so hard, decisions so complicated, and we face starting all over? How do I step into widowhood? One solution is to call a time out for Thanksgiving, go to the house of worship for our faith, and look at the blessings amidst the trials.  I chose Psalm 103 for us to read today.  It affirms God’s blessings in the midst of tough times.  Let us focus on the positive today and God’s presence journeying with us.

Psalm 103 by King David

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love     and mercy,
⁵ who satisfies you with good as long as you live
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger for ever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as the heavens are high above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far he removes our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father has compassion for his children,
    so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for mortals, their days are like grass;

          they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷ But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
    on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments.

¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
    and his kingdom rules over all.
²⁰ Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding,
    obedient to his spoken word.
²¹ Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers that do his will.
²² Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.  ²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. ³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹ By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

Hebrews 11:24-31

         Enter our first heroine, Rahab the prostitute.  Our writer of Hebrews summarizes the flight of the Hebrews from Egypt by sharing a list of choices made even as Cain and Abel did at the beginning of the chapter.  Moses chose to stand with the Hebrew nation of his birth and not the Egyptian nation of his adoption.  He fled as a murderer but God did not abandon him but sent him back. “Passover” is not an unknown ritual now but in Moses’ time the first Passover was an act of obedience to an unseen God in faith that their first-born sons would be spared by the angel of death.  Pharaoh did not believe and his son died.  The Israelites walked through the Red Sea and were saved.  The Egyptian soldiers were drowned.  Rahab the prostitute, who lived in Jericho, hid Joshua’s spies from her king.  Rahab’s family was spared when “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho.”  Jericho fell.

         Rahab, like Moses, had a choice.  She was watching history and the events taking place around her.  She realized that an unseen deity was forging the way for the Israelites, who were standing on her country’s border.  God was stronger.  When the opportunity arose, she hid the spies and aligned herself with the Israelites.  Moses reflected on his life after the murder of the Egyptian.  Rahab reflected on her life and the choices she was making as she observed life around her.  

         God speaks in many ways.  For some of us it is through Scripture or music.  Others find insight through prayer or fellowship.  Again we see that the choices we make about the opportunities to befriend a visitor, might be a decisive event.  May we be looking for God to speak into our lives through the events of our lives today as we anticipate Thanksgiving tomorrow.  Blessings.

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

Hebrews 11:24-31

         Moses had no control over where and to whom he was born and how the geopolitical events happening at that time would define his life.  He was born of slaves in Egypt where the king was killing sons.  His mother hid him in a basket in the Nile and that defined his life.  We are often defined by the actions of others.  I went through that phase of blaming parents, birth order, and lack of talent and so on for my plight in life.  The writer of Hebrews is clear that Moses had plenty to whine about also, and certainly life in the palace was a blessing, but it seems that one of the major facts that led Moses to being a hero and not a victim was a choice he made.

         Moses must have taken a look at his life and decided to identify with his heritage from birth parents.  We do not know what led to this awareness.  We know from Exodus that he murdered an Egyptian.  He came to a crisis and chose to stand with God’s people, not the palace.  He, of course, did not know about Christ and the burning bush experience did not happen till later but Moses did make choices that aligned him with unseen reality, facing into an unknown future that would take place.

         Our choices may not be so dramatic but we do make choices.  Perhaps fortunately, it is hard for us to see down the road to know the consequences of each choice.  Often we think about eating choices and diets.  Around April 15 we ponder our integrity about earnings.  And then there is that speed limit sign we feel is more of a guideline than a law.  Each day we make choices about words we are going to say, snarky remarks we are tempted to blurt out, and compliments we withhold.  Today as we go about “normal life” making “normal choices” may we not be guilty of sins of commission (deliberate sin) and sins of omission (sins of not doing the good we could have).  Lord, help us choose wisely, listening for your voice.

²³ By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. ²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. 

Hebrews 11:23-26

         The writer of Hebrews now points us to a small baby born into our list of heroes and heroines.  Sometimes seemingly small events change the course of our lives.  Perhaps you were pulled over and given a ticket only to resume your journey and discover that interruption prevented you from being in an accident.  The guy you were sure was your prince charming but he rejected you but the man you married was a good match.  The United States in fighting to separate from England wanted to replace the British units of measure.  Thomas Jefferson sent Joseph Dombey to France to learn about the metric system.  The British took hostage Dombey’s ship and he died imprisoned in England.  So today we measure by yards and not meters.

         The descendants of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph avoided a famine by going to Egypt where they grew multiplied and eventually became slaves.  It would be easy to believe God had forgotten his promises and his people.  In God’s time, though, a child was born in slavery, hidden in the Nile, found by the Pharaoh’s daughter and the story has been made famous in film.

         It is so easy to become frustrated when we go through rough times and to think that God has forgotten us.  My husband was adopted from an embarrassing WW2 liaison.  The unwanted child became my husband, father of seven, and became a translator putting an unwritten language into print so people can read and communicate when separated.  We just don’t know the end of our life stories.  Let us pray for patience and trust in the unseen God who is leading us to a yet to be experienced future.  This week we will celebrate Thanksgiving and reaffirm our hope for a better future because we know God is working our rough days into a future that brings him glory.