Life or God?

     Chapter 8 in The Story covers a huge amount of material, including the really great stories of Deborah, Samson and Gideon.  These were three individuals chosen by God to lead Israel during times of great turmoil and military unrest.
     The theme of the chapter, and of the whole book of Judges is that 'the people sinned and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.'  It seemed that Joshua and his generation did a wonderful job of sticking to the covenant except the part where they 'recite it to their children, and talk about it when you are at home and when you are away, when you lay down and when you rise.' We are told that after Joshua died, "another generation grew up who neither knew the Lord nor what he had done for Israel."  And with this generation came several more who followed a pattern:

• Sin and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord by worshiping other gods
• Cry out to God to deliver them from their enemies
• God raises a judge to rule them and provides peace for the duration of the life of the judge
• The judge dies and the people sin and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord

While all three of the major judges discussed in chapter 8 are wonderful and have fascinating stories, full of God's presence and God's Spirit, we will focus this Sunday on Gideon, particularly on his call story found in Judges 6.11-24.
 
Gideon is from the smallest and weakest clan in his tribe, a lowly farmer with no military or strategic experience.  He knows his sheep and his land, and he knows that the luck for the Israelites has been running thin.  Agricultural disaster, famines, and enemies winning every battle meant a bleak outlook for them, and everyone took it as a sign that God had abandoned them.  All of this set up makes the opening lines of the text seem rather comical, when an angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and the following dialogue takes place:
Angel: The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.

Gideon and the Angel, He Qi*

Gideon: But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.

The angel appears to Gideon and seemingly says two outrageous things.  Firstly that God is with them, and secondly that Gideon is a mighty warrior.
     As I read this account of Gideon's call, I am reminded of so many conversations I've had with myself and with others.  Circumstances around us would seem to point to God's absence, and yet God has promised to be with us.  And like Gideon, I also find myself asking for signs.  I've never been quite so fortunate as Gideon to receive so many, so specific signs, but the signs of proof are not where I want to focus today.
     I am drawn again and again so the circumstances of life and God's presence with us.  It is easy to look at others, and sometimes at ourselves, and wonder where God is.  Surely if God was with us, x, y, or z would never have happened.  Surely if God was with us we wouldn't feel this way.  Surely if God was with us...
     But what if this is the wrong line of thinking altogether?  This line of thinking focuses on the lack of evidence of God's presence.  It is a scarcity mentality.  And, it is not exactly biblical, as Philip Yancy discusses in his book, Disappointment with God.  In it, he tells the story of an acquaintance who cautions us, "Don't confuse life with God."  Life happens.  And as disciples of Christ, we know that there are powers other than God at work in the world.
     The truth is that life circumstances don't actually give us any clue as to God's presence or lack thereof.  The truth is that God is with us.  Period.  That is why Christ came, and why he suffered, died, and rose again, and that is why we are joined to him in baptism.
     What this story of Gideon tells us is that God isn't necessarily looking for the people who have it together, or for those whose lives look good from the outside.  God isn't looking for highly trained or qualified people.  God is simply looking for a willing heart.  And when God finds it, the world begins to change.  God's power in and through Gideon made the difference of life and death for the Israelites.  God's power in and through us makes the difference of life and death for those we meet.  We never know what is happening in the lives of those around us, and as disciples ready and willing to shine our lights and live a life of witness, our random act of kindness, our word of forgiveness and love, our service in the name of Christ changes the world.
     This week I am pondering the mystery of life and God.  Rather than asking why God is missing, perhaps the mystery is for us to find God in all circumstances, and to give thanks for the small things that didn't go wrong, rather than focusing on the things that did.
*He, Qi. Gideon and the Angel, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46091 [retrieved October 29, 2013]. Original source: heqigallery.com.

To fear or not to fear?

     We have come to the conquest of the Promised Land in chapter 7 of The Story.  We hit the highlights of the conquest, starting with Jericho, the story of Rahab, and how God provided victory for the Israelites after 7 days of marching around the city.  We then have the battle with Ai, and the subsequent defeat of 5 kings.  These stories of battle include seemingly impossible victories for the underdog, unlikely allies, and most of all, evidence of God's faithfulness to Israel through fulfilling a centuries-old promise. 
    It is good to note that societies at that time were mostly theocracy, where the god of the people ruled and militaristic strength and victories proved that one nation's god was better than another.  By winning so many impossible battles, and by going in to the Promised Land as a fulfillment of God's promise, the Israelites were making a statement to the world: our God is supreme.  To make God's power even more tangible, the author of Joshua even includes a couple of verses about the sun stopping in the sky, for about a day, it says.  "There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded a human voice; for the Lord fought for Israel."
     But even more than the military victories that Israel celebrated as they entered and conquered the Promised Land, this story is about trust in God and God's promises.
     Each time the Israelites come up on an obstacle, whether it is a wall or a great and mighty army or a river, God provided and they came out ahead.  Several times in Joshua the Lord tells the Israelites

Be strong and courageous.  Do not be discouraged.  For the Lord is with you wherever you go.

     Now while I can't relate to military battles, other than hearing of them in the news, I can relate to strength and courage (or the lack thereof!).  I often find myself facing my own giants, whether real or perceived.  Often times the giants come from within, in the form of self doubt, criticism, and fear, as I think about my job performance, my parenting skills, or my role as wife.  Other times there seems a task too big to complete or something that is impossible to do.  Still other times it seems like I face something in the future that is unknown and scary.
     No matter the giant, these words for the Israelites are for me and for you.  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be discouraged.  For the Lord is with you wherever you go.

    I found this lovely acrostic for Fear at Avies Place, and thought it quite fitting.  We can be the latter since we know God is with us.

Are you with Moses? Or the rest of them?

    

Moses Striking the Rock*

As we move along in "The Story" we find ourselves mired in more conflict between the Israelites and God.  It has been a year since the Exodus from Egypt, and the Israelites have been camping in Sinai as Moses received from God the Law, and it is finally time to go forth to the Promised Land, the land which was promised to their ancestors in the covenant God made with Abraham.  So they set out, according to their tribe, in 12 groups - and no sooner had they started than the complaining and blaming God for their hardships:

The rabble among them began to crave other food,** and again the Israelites started wailing and said, 'If only we had meat to eat!  We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost - also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.  But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!'

The problem with this complaining is that they did it in earshot of God - which made God quite irritable.  After all, God had performed some pretty miraculous signs, had delivered them from slavery, had promised to be their God and to bring them salvation and a Promised Land, had kept them alive in the wilderness for a year, and was ready to get settled - and now the people are complaining again?
     When it comes to patience and forgiveness, God definitely takes the cake.  I get impatient with Frankie when she can't understand why she can't have a piece of chocolate AND chocolate frozen yogurt (which was exactly what happened last night).  And, as we read on, we find out that God's patience only lasts so long before punishment is meted out.
     Despite the complaining about food, they move on and get close enough to the Promised Land to send spies in to see what awaits, one scout from each of the 12 tribes.  And the scouts are gone for 40 days.  (Remember that 40 is an important number?  This is a clue for us to pay attention!)  After 40 days, they returned with the report: it is as God said - a land flowing with milk, honey, and fruit - it is wonderful!  Except the people there are huge!  The report they gave said that they were like 'grasshoppers' compared to the residents of the land and that there was no way they could win in a military conquest.  So the Israelites become afraid again, and plot to return to Egypt as slaves.
     All but two - Joshua, son of Nun, who will be Moses' replacement, and Caleb.  Together with Moses, these three try to persuade the whole nation that it is worth it and that God has promised and is with them - they should go and take it!  Except doubt and fear win the day, and the Israelites continue to bicker about going or staying.  And here is where the punishment from God comes.
     Because the people didn't believe in God's promise, even after everything they had seen in Egypt, they would wander in the wilderness for 40 years (one year for each day the scouts were in the land) and no one who is the age of 20 or over would live to see the Promised Land.  Their worst fear - dying in the wilderness - will come true.

     In the 40 year wandering many things happen, including an incident in which Moses disobeys God.  As punishment, God told him he could see the Promised Land but never enter it.  And so the 40 years comes to a close and the Israelites are standing at the edge of the long-awaited Promised Land.  And Moses, knowing he will never enter it, gives his farewell address. The address in its entirety takes up several chapters in Deuteronomy, but the gist can be found in a few verses:

Surely the Lord your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.’  So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the Lordyour God is giving you for all time. Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. ~ Deuteronomy 2.7, 4.39-40, 6.4-7

     Even though the Israelites were made to wander for 40 years, even though they complained about not having the food they wanted, even though again and again they failed to trust in God and God's promises, they are at last delivered.  Moses knows that they have been blessed, even if it did not seem so.  And Moses also knows that as people of the covenant it will go well for them to obey God's teachings.
     Into all of this, I read myself.  The complainer and drama queen that I am, I identify with Israel so much that I am sometimes ashamed of looking at the behavior from the outside.  Yet I am who I am, and thankfully God is who God is - which is merciful and abounding in steadfast love and forgiveness.  As I live my life of faith, trying to trust God's promises, I find the last part of the Deuteronomy text most helpful.  When I keep God's words in my heart, when I recite them to Frankie, or talk about them at home or when I am away, when I lie down and when I rise, I am much less likely to complain or grumble or lose faith.  Following Moses' instruction is not so much a command for me, but an invitation to a life of faith.I hope that I can be more of a Moses than the rest of the group, and hopefully if I follow these instructions it will happen.  But this has left me wondering:
     How do you live your life without becoming too much of a complainer?  How do you live your faith in God's promises?

*He, Qi. Moses Striking the Rock, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46127 [retrieved October 15, 2013]. Original source: heqigallery.com. 

**They had been eating quail and manna in the wilderness since leaving Egypt. Both of these items were provided each night by God to sustain the people in the wilderness.

Obedience or faith?

     After a week of vacation (which included two Sundays), we are back at it with an interesting and far-reaching chapter of The Story, titled, "New Commands and a New Covenant."  It is the story which takes up the latter half of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, the portions of scripture which I joke used to keep me awake during my 24-hour on-call stints as a seminary student at the hospital.  They are the portions of scripture which are easily glossed over and are the reason that many think that religion is a bunch of rules to follow.
     Indeed, if you were to only read these chapters, it would seem that way.  The conversation between God and Moses include rules (or laws, in the Jewish tradition) that can generally be divided into two categories: how to deal with others and how to deal with God.  In the rules in dealing with others we get all sorts of topics from diet and apparel to loans and lawsuits.  In the rules in dealing with God we get all sorts of topics like how to worship and how to offer sacrifices.  But rather than getting bogged down in the details of each law, let's look at the why of the law.

     The why all comes down to what God tells Moses in the days following the Exodus from Egypt, when God delivered the Israelites from slavery into freedom, when God says, 

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. ~ Exodus 19.4-6a

The law is set so that the people shall be God's treasured possession.  Now if you know me, you know that the English language and grammar are very important, and these verses are one reason.  Let's talk about the word shall, shall we?  
     The word 'shall' is often used interchangeably with the word 'will' yet more than will, shall indicates a future inevitability.  For instance, you knew that when I said, 'let's talk about the word shall, shall we?' that I was going to do it.  Regardless if you wanted it or not.  And that is the grace in the midst of all this law.  God will treasure these people out of all the earth, and they shall be a priestly kingdom and a holy nation whether they want to or not.  It is more than God willing it to happen, indeed because God wishes it, it shall happen.
      Now this statement from God marks what is called the Mosaic Covenant, one of the five covenants in the Old Testament.  The first was the Noahic Covenant, and was regarding the destruction of the whole earth with flooding - God covenanted never to destroy the whole earth again.  This covenant did not require any action from anyone on earth.  It is an open, unrestricted promise that no matter what, God will not do this.  The second was the Abrahamic Covenant, and regarded the promise to make Abraham into a great nation, to bless all the world through him.  This covenant is based on the understanding that Abraham will trust God's promise, going to a new country and waiting for the promised heir.  Now the third covenant, the Mosaic Covenant is dependent not on trust in God's promises, but on obedience to the law.
     We Christians are not people of the Abrahamic Covenant, but are part of a later covenant made that we will come to in a couple of months.  However, that does not mean that this scripture is not for us.  This scripture shows us something unbelievable about God and God's love for all of creation.  God who made the whole cosmos, who can create catastrophic floods, who can do great miracles and powerful feats, knows us.  Knows our names.  Knows who we are, what we like, and our innermost thoughts.  And God 'shall's' us into holy people - not because of our obedience (remember, we are not people of the Mosaic Covenant) but because God loves us. 
     As I ponder these covenants, and my own relationship with God, I wonder how obedience and faith work together, and how my relationship is affected by each of these.  Thankfully I know that regardless of my faith or obedience, God shalls me as God's own and God knows my name.
* Artwork: Moses receiving the tablets of the law on Mount Sinai, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55133 [retrieved October 8, 2013]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meister_der_Bibel_des_Patrice_L%C3%A9on_001.jpg. 
* for more on the Covenants, a good source is 5 Covenants of the Old Testament.