Monday, March 18, 2019
The Lord said to Moses, “Get going, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Go up to the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I told them, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ And I will send an angel before you to drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Go up to this land that flows with milk and honey. But I will not travel among you, for you are a stubborn and rebellious people. If I did, I would surely destroy you along the way.” When the people heard these stern words, they went into mourning and stopped wearing their jewelry and fine clothes. For the Lord had told Moses to tell them, “You are a stubborn and rebellious people. If I were to travel with you for even a moment, I would destroy you. Remove your jewelry and fine clothes while I decide what to do with you.” So from the time they left Mount Sinai, the Israelites wore no more jewelry or fine clothes. Exodus 33:1-6
It was a
simple thing; the zipper on my jacket wouldn’t cooperate, and I was late for
the school bus that would take me to my first-grade class. Mom started to
help me zip-up, and I yanked the zipper out of her hand – NO! said
the brat with all his superior 6-year-old wisdom, I’ll do it!
It’s almost like there’s a merit badge for always being self-sufficient
and claiming to have accomplished life by yourself. It’s like that with politics, family,
relationships and matters of faith…we seem to learn the hard way, proving there
are much fewer geniuses than we imagined.
Israel was
helpless, enslaved for 400 years in Egypt.
God sent Moses to announce the captivity was at an end. Pharaoh eventually capitulated and let the
people go. Slaves became free, and they
imagined that meant they were in charge of the universe. But that was a cardinal error; the brat-nation
had much to learn. Stubborn and Rebellious Israel had met Immovable and
Faithful God.
There’s
that old saying, what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object.
The problem with applying that to a
relationship with God is there’s nothing that is irresistible when compared
with immovable God. It’s much more that
we, the created beings of God’s hands, are fragile, housed in temporary bodies
with imperfect and limited knowledge. When
it comes to a contest with humans vs. Yahweh, we are
more like the local nursing home residents’ football team going up against the
New England Patriots in a Not-So-Super-Bowl…it won’t be pretty!
God, in
His infinite wisdom, kept a safe distance (for Israel) from Israel. They needed that space to find out just how dependent
they were on their God. Rebelliousness
and stubborn ways need to experience stubbing toes and falling-down. It’s how we learn to walk.
People who
have suffered a stroke, or been in a coma, learn this lesson in a heartbeat. When they wake-up they realize there are
things that must be learned all over again.
Simple things, like how to pick up a ball, or say a simple word they’d
used a million times.
It is this
way with the stubborn rebelliousness with which we convince ourselves we can
make it just fine without our Creator.
Baby steps, all over again!
For You Today
If you want
a tested, reliable, immovable and faithful path to spiritual liberty and life,
let Scripture have the last word today and every day:
For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.” Hebrews 3:14-15
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