On the Way to Wonder

After the fireworks of July 4^th comes the hard work of creating a democracy that continues on July 5^th.  Our epic hero, God, has created a young emerging nation despite the efforts of our epic villain, Satan, to defeat it.  Joshua leads the Israelites into the Promised Land and assigns portions to each tribe.  Joshua passes, though, and a new generation grows up who has not experienced the mighty works of its ancestors.

         The history of the Israelites under the leadership of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Joshua is called the time of the Patriarchs.  Between them and King David and King Solomon is a period called the Judges.  The tribes are conquering their territory and “becoming.”  Two major problems face this young nation.  Comparisonitis: the established tribes around them have kings for leaders, not some unseen God who identifies himself as “I AM.”  Second, the other tribes worship idols that are concrete statues and have fun rituals like temple prostitutes.  Can the laws given on Mt. Sinai forge a nation loyal to “I AM”?  Can any law create relationship?  True relationship requires true freedom.

         Judges 2:6-3:6, our reading for today, tells how the people would be faithful for awhile, become lazy in caring for their relationship with God, slip into idolatry, get themselves in trouble until they would cry out to “I AM” for rescue.  God would raise up a judge to lead the people for a period but if left to themselves they would forget God once the problem passed.  I suspect we are similar.  We pray hard when we have problems and would like miraculous rescues from God but when times are good, we are more likely to be slack on our spiritual disciplines. 

         God left the raiders and enemies to harass the Israelites so they would learn to do battle with evil as they had “not had previous battle experience.”  I have heard it said, don’t pray for patience because you will then get trials that teach you patience!  Perhaps the saying is, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”  God was training his nation to depend on him as they defeated their enemies and to worship him alone.

         As we think about the cycles we go through in our spiritual walk, we might ask ourselves what phase we are in.  Are you in a dry phase when God feels distant?  Perhaps you are learning to go deeper in prayer.  Are you feeling frustrated in your relationship with God?  How might that be resolved from your side ie not what God needs to do to make you happy but what you might need to do to ease the tension – more prayer, more reading, journaling, time with music, or perhaps call a friend to talk it over with.  C. S. Lewis in his book, Screwtape Letters described human beings as beings ruled by the law of undulation, always going up and down.  He offers that it is like a child learning to walk and says, the parent is never happier than when that child takes those tottering steps not sensing the parents presence.  I like that picture.  The parent, God, is so proud and the child, me, is learning.  We will see how this works for the Israelites this week.  Blessings.

As we come to July 4^th celebrations and hear about all the tensions in our world today, the story of Joshua assuming leadership in the shadow of Moses’ memory, leading the Israelites across the Jordan River, and then leading them into battle at Jericho reminds us that things like troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and all the uncertainty on the news is not new news.  The search for peace seems to be a universal quest.  We are comforted by John 16:33 where Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”

         The hymn “Peace, Perfect Peace” was written by an English Anglican minister, Edward Bickersteth, Jr while vacationing in 1875.  He was deeply touched hearing a sermon on Isaiah 26:3.  “Thou wilt keep him in peace, peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.”  Isaiah repeated the word “peace” twice so Bickersteth emphasized this repeat by coining “peace, perfect peace.”   That afternoon he visited a dying relative and read the lyrics he had jotted down which take the form of five questions with five answers.

• Peace, perfect peace — in this dark world of sin?  The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.
• Peace, perfect peace — by thronging duties pressed?  To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.
• Peace, perfect peace—with sorrows surging round?  On Jesus’ bosom naught but calm is found.
• Peace, perfect peace—with loved ones far away?  In Jesus’ keeping, we are safe, and they.
• Peace, perfect peace—our future all unknown?  Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.

As you celebrate this weekend and ponder the realities of our world, may you find perfect peace in trust that God is with you.

Joshua 5:13-6:27.  The Israelites cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land but the first challenge is Jericho.  The Battle of Jericho presents two facts that are not so comfortable.  Achieving our dream does not mean that challenges and trials will not come.  We get married but in fact, we do not live happy ever after.  We discover the spouse is not perfect – nor are we.  We get that perfect job but our coworker has rough edges and there are deadlines to meet.  We buy that beautiful house of our dreams but we have to pay the mortgage.  In this world, crossing into our dream experience is often a rude awakening.  It will only be perfect as we cross into heaven and we live totally under God’s rules.  We believe life then will finally become “happy ever after.”  For now we face two realities.  God does not tolerate idolatry and God forgives.

         Joshua and the Israelites must defeat Jericho.  Our epic hero is building a nation to bless all nations and perhaps it is not surprising that God does not tolerate idolatry.  He did not tolerate it in Egypt or with the Golden Calf.  In our age of tolerance and the tendency to believe all religions lead to a god, we may find this story a bit challenging.  We do not like to separate things into right and wrong.  The areas the people of Israel were moving into, though, served baals or deities that used women as temple prostitutes, that offered human and child sacrifices and did not acknowledge “I AM.”  In God’s kingdom idolatry is not tolerated.  “I AM” is God and not our senses. It will be an ongoing theme throughout the Bible and an ongoing battle for people.

         Secondly, we meet Rahab, the prostitute.  She is the second woman listed in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus.  Rahab sees reality, God is on the Israelites side, and pleads for mercy for herself and her family.  Colloquially we would say, Rahab sought forgiveness. Rahab and family are spared.  Rahab marries Boaz’s father and Boaz marries Ruth who becomes the great grandmother of King David!  In the midst of the ugliness of life with all its challenges exists a beautiful example of what happens when we seek mercy from God.  God is just and God is merciful.

         So perhaps we need to ask ourselves today if we have become sloppy and compromised our values, trusting that God is love and will turn a blind eye.  While we believe in God’s presence, we live as if God is preoccupied with “the other guy.”  That sneaky side of our human nature is so easy to ignore and we convince ourselves we will do better tomorrow.  In truth, we lie to ourselves and compromise the faith in a God who guards our lives.  Now is the time to “come clean”.  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  That seems easy but is so hard to come to the point of doing.  Let those walls of self come tumbling down, CRASH. God give you the strength to seek his face today.  He is merciful.  Blessings.

Joshua 3 and 4.  According to Webster’s Dictionary “crossing over” is the name for receiving genetic material from mother and father in the forming baby at conception.  We often speak of death as crossing over the River Jordan.  For Christians, we would believe we are still the same being but somehow through the death experience receive our spiritual, eternal bodies to live in the Promised Land, heaven.  A bit heady but the reading today talks about the crossing over the River Jordan experience for the people of Israel and Joshua.

         We first note that this experience is very similar to Moses leading the people through the Red Sea.  The water parts and the people walk across on dry ground and then the water returns.  The text today has some differences, though. 

• Joshua does not extend a rod like Moses did but rather orders the priests to carry the Ark of the Covenant into the middle of the river.  Our epic story with an epic hero is beginning to show the start of a young nation.  There is now a clan of priests to lead worship.  There is now an Ark of the Covenant symbolizing the presence of God in the midst of his people. A mass of people is taking on structure.
• The Israelites are not fleeing an army but embracing a promise.
• The priests stand in the middle of the now dry river as the people pass and representatives from every clan brings back a rock to stand as a memorial to God’s deliverance.

In spirituals, Jordan is thought of as the reality of receiving liberty either from slavery or from the burdens of this life.  If Jordan represents death then the priests in the middle holding the Ark represent the presence of God in the midst of our journey through death when waves do not touch us.  Isaiah 43:2 promises,

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.”

         The river parts, the Ark is in the middle to remind us of God’s presence with us, but thirdly, the people of Israel built a memorial to tell future generations.  “When your children ask…”  Memorials are important.  We keep scrapbooks, picture albums, mementos and memories of important life events.  What are the important symbols that help you remember God’s presence in the midst of hard times and his promise to be there with you when you cross over?  Perhaps that is why the cross is such a strong symbol for Christians because it reminds us that Christ conquered death and will go with us and receive us as we cross over, so we do not need to fear.  Having symbols in your home to remind you of God’s presence is good.  Also when children ask, “What’s that for?” you can tell them about the value of God’s presence in your life.  Thank you Lord!

Joshua 1.  Do you remember the 1962 DDB (Doyle Dane Bernbach) commercial for Avis?  “When you’re only No. 2, you try harder.”  “Or else.” Within one year, Avis went from loosing 3.2 million dollars to profiting 1.2 million dollars!  In the 40’s Air Force officer Warren Avis had the vision for renting cars to people who flew to cities for meetings and only needed a rental.  This commercial shot Avis into view and ran for over 50 years around the globe.  Wow.  I wonder if Joshua, who took over for Moses, didn’t feel like the number 2 man now having to replace that charismatic leader to take the people into the Promised Land?  We sing, “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho” to remember Joshua but that has not happened yet in his life. As he faces stepping into big shoes, God’s promises to Joshua found in chapter one, must have encouraged him.  God promised that he would fulfill his promises to Moses through Joshua and be with Joshua.  The gift of presence!  Joshua was not alone.  Four times in chapter one Joshua is told, “Be strong and very courageous!”  God will be faithful but we must be strong and courageous.

         That was good advice for Joshua, but “I’m not following Moses,” I hear you saying.  Perhaps yes but many of us know what it is like to be the second wife after the first good or bad wife.  We know about being a step mother.  We hire on to a new job that was handled so well by the previous person, or at least that is how the stories go.  There is always an Olympic record to break, someone to impress, and someone to compete with.  The desire to be valued for yourself, just as you are, to belong, I suspect is a driving dream for many of us.

         God does not promise to be with Joshua “only if,” but he does warn Joshua to meditate on the Book of the Law and to be careful to obey.  God does not promise automatic success that will be orchestrated by God behind the scenes.  We are not robots.  Success is work and partnership between Joshua and God, between God and us.  God promises to be present and helping Joshua.  But likewise Joshua must be brave and courageous.  Perhaps we call that faith when we act on what we know to be true from God’s word.  Obedience is hard but God is faithful to be present, helping.

         So where is the challenge to step forward in faith and obedience today, the place in your life where you need to be brave and courageous and trust God?  Perhaps there is someone to forgive.  Perhaps there is someone who is tough to love.  Perhaps there is a wayward child you need to hang in with.  Joshua stepped in to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land.  God went with him and God will go with us.  Let us be brave and courageous.

Exodus 32-34.   “They gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”  Moses went up Mt. Sinai to receive the carved stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.  But meanwhile back at the camp…   We know the dilemma.  We bake a batch of cookies and before they cool some disappear. No evil intent but the cookies just jumped off the plate into a mouth and the ones on the plate got rearranged.  It sounds a bit like Adam telling God, “It wasn’t me.  It was that wife YOU gave me.”  And Eve saying, “It wasn’t me.  The snake deceived me.”  It just happened.  I didn’t see the speed sign, officer.  My odometer is broken.  I didn’t know the gun was loaded.  Excuses. 

         Aaron, left in charge of the Israelites, buckles under the wave of doubt that sweeps through the camp when Moses doesn’t return from the mountain quickly.  When events don’t unfold as quickly as we think they ought, anxiety begins to mount.  We are swamped by “what-if’s and we begin imagining what has happened and how we will cope.  For the Israelites who are still in the very baby stages of becoming a nation and who barely know their God, fear drives them to relapse.

         It is so easy to convince ourselves that we have mastered “the habit” and that one drink, one peek, one candy bar won’t hurt but it does.  That old potato chip commercial that says, “I bet you can’t eat just one!” is so true.  The Israelites have not just gone back two steps, though. They have relapsed into idolatry.  Worshipping a cow and crediting the cow with deliverance from Egypt was crossing the line and God becomes angry.  We like to say that God is love but this scene as much as any reminds us that God is a real multi-dimensional being that has real feelings and real personality.  He is not a loving force field that makes my life work and is there no matter what.

         Besides Aaron’s silly explanation for his poor leadership, besides God’s justified anger at being replaced by an idolatrous cow, is the amazing response of Moses.  Moses goes to bat for his people.  Moses reasons with God!!  In these chapters we do not see God-boss and slave-Moses, we see a God who cares what his creation is thinking and is impacted by their prayers and pleas. God and Moses discuss that perhaps Moses is to just lead the people as God might get angry at their stubbornness.  Moses counters with this plea, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send me up from here.  How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?”

         God’s presence with God’s people is a distinguishing characteristic of the new nation.  Other nations have similar principles.  Other nations have stubborn people.  Moses accurately identifies God’s presence as a distinguishing characteristic of his people. 

         God does not tolerate idolatry.  God reasons with his people.  God’s presence active in our lives distinguishes us.  We work with an epic hero, a God who is willing to get his hands dirty in relationship with fragile people like us.  I find that very encouraging.  I pray you do too.  Blessings.

Exodus 19:1-20:21.  An emerging nation must have a geographical definition and a social definition.  The Promised Land is the place they are being promised.  They have been slaves for 400 years, governed by the Egyptians, so what we see in the next phase of our epic story is the formation of a group of people able to govern themselves.

         Moses goes up Mt. Sinai and receives “the Big Ten,” the Ten Commandments.  For many people “the law” is the system that tells “authorities”, perhaps God, if you are behaving properly.  Staying within the parameters of the “law” allows a sense of freedom and allows society to function maximally.  These laws can be divided into three sets of arenas that need attention if society is going to function well.  The first three commandments talk about relationship with God or perhaps we can call it values. When people live with integrity with the values of their group, life works best.  The second group of commandments deals with relationships with others, parents and neighbors.  The third group of commandments deals with our relationship to things, no coveting, not stealing.

         Many people use “the Big Ten” to evaluate their own goodness as compared to others and use the Ten to create a hierarchy to tell them who the good people area so they are safe.  I think there is a second way of understanding the Ten.  I know my car works best if I service it regularly, put in gas, avoid accidents etc.  Reading the owner’s manual from the manufacturer can be a burden, a “to-do” list, or it can be seen as guidelines for maximizing use of the car.  Our epic hero, God, wants to form a nation that blesses all people and so giving the “law” on Mt. Sinai is giving us the “owner’s manual” for how to live the good life.  If we don’t steal, kill, commit adultery, act respectfully, rest regularly, speak politely, and aren’t consumed with greed, then we will be more likely to be happy and content.

         Jesus, in the New Testament, expanded the commandments to be guidelines with meaning.  Murder is wrong but hate, the root of murder, also eats up our hearts and our lives and diminishes us.  Adultery is wrong but if we are eaten up by lust, we will not be happy.  Perhaps is would be good to reread the Ten Commandments, not as a check list of how good you are, but as a letter from the owner telling you how to happy.  Perhaps it is time to service your soul to make sure you aren’t running on fumes!  Blessings.