Holy God, Unholy Worshipers

Worship can be a moving experience.  The opening of the soul, mind and spirit to the adoration of God, with music and spoken words, readings and movement often leads to a deeper appreciation for the love of God, the Person of God.   In worship, we can acknowledge our position as creatures, rebels, pardoned and purchased.  The joy of realizing the attention of God to our lives is something that overwhelms.  “What is man that you take thought of him,” as David wondered in Psalm 8?  And yet, David understood that God thought of him; he knew it and rejoiced.

Common to our culture in the west is the idea that worship is freely given and individually determined.  We give worship and adoration if we determine someone is worthy of it.  Our decision to convey our reverence begins and ends with us.  We are the source of what constitutes worship and how it is expressed.  The idea that worship has rules is antithetical to our independent nature.  If we decide an object is worth our time and worship, then we will also determine how that worship is conveyed.  Worship is about how we want to honor another, how we want to love another.  The object of our worship has little to say about it and in fact should simply receive it and be grateful to us. 

This thinking does not always result in glorious experiences.  In fact it may result in death.

Consider David’s attempt to move the Ark of God from a small town up to the capital city of Jerusalem. In accounts in the books Kings and Chronicles it is noted that David consulted with all the leaders and decided that since the Ark of God had been neglected in the time of the previous king, Saul, it was time to put it back in its honored position.  Everyone agreed with David; this was a good idea.  On moving day, the Ark was transported on a new cart, driven by two men.  As the cart moved along all the people were energetically celebrating.  With joy, they sang praise and played musical instruments.  In fact the celebration was so dynamic, the people are said to have celebrated with all their might!  Can you imagine the scene?  Joyful people, celebrating the return of the ark of the Lord God “enthroned above the cherubim,” as 1 Chronicles 13:6 notes.  The music was loud and varied as all the instruments played.  The dancing, as they people moved along with the cart carrying the ark, was vigorous, perhaps even rapturous.  As in any crowd, the joy and delight was infectious; with happy faces, the people of Israel were taking the ark to its rightful place; the place where the ark would be appreciated and recognized for what it was, the place where it belonged.

All it took was a clumsy ox to upset the entire celebration.  As the cart nearly tipped over and the ark almost fell to the ground, one of the drivers put out a hand to steady it.  That is all; just a steady hand, a helping hand; to keep the ark from dropping to the ground.  In the next moments, the atmosphere of joy and elation in worship turned into a chaos of dread as God struck down the helpful man.  Dead.  Right there Uzza died; in the midst of the celebration, anger and death proceeded from the One they were all worshipping.

 All the singing stopped, the trumpets were silent.  The parade ended there.  David was shocked and became angry at God. Furthermore David was afraid of Him. In response to the outburst, David indicated that the people turn aside to a local house and leave the ark there.  He had no stomach to continue on. 

Why would a loving God kill someone who was only trying to help?   The people all were worshipping Him, they all had good intentions.  Why would God get mad with that?

This is precisely where the holiness of God meets headlong with our attempts at worship.  Holiness us not a fluid concept, it is not something decided by a vote.  Holiness is a foundational characteristic of God.  It is that which sets Him apart from all else, all else.  He is other, He is not like us, there is no comparing us with Him.   In His character, in His person, there is an otherness, a sacredness that is intrinsic to Him alone.  To demean, dismiss or devalue it is to attack the very person of God. 

In a small way, it is why He gave rules of civil behavior to the Jews as they were His representatives on earth.  Even as an ambassador to a foreign country represents another government, he also lives in submission to the laws of his homeland.  So, also, God in His holiness decreed how He was to be worshipped.  He gave laws and procedures for all aspects of the worship of Him.  Because God is holy, these parameters for worship were to indicate and communicate His holiness and to also be a protection for the worshippers.

When two sons of Aaron the Priest decided to offer an incense of their own making, it cost them their lives.  They did not conform to the holy instruction for the worship of God; the instruction that He had given.

In today’s world we continue to assume that God welcomes all who desire to worship in any way they choose.  We have devised ways of worship that we determine are in line with the character of God.  There is an appropriate way to dress for worship, a proper way to arrange seating for worship.  We have various musical instruments that are suitable to use for worship and some that are not. Few of the parameters we set are found in scripture, leaving many to that are a result of improvising..  But what about the reason we worship and the Object of our worship?  Do we gather to worship because of Who God is or because of who we are?  It is a dangerous attitude to assume that we can do no wrong in worship, because clearly we can and have.  The One we praise must be worshipped first and foremost as the Holy God that He is.  We have no right to worship in such a way that demeans His holiness or falsifies His Person. 

To worship is a privilege and by invitation of the Holy One Himself.  It is not begun by us; we worship as a response to Him and His work and His rule in this world.  We must always be mindful that this God Who loves us and had rescued us is not our buddy upstairs, not the Big Man.  He is God Almighty.  He deserves to be revered in ways that are fitting, not ways of our own making.  

Wilderness

Wilderness, wilds, rough country, backwoods, wasteland, boondocks; all definitions of the place many of us find our own spirit dwelling.  That lonely, harsh place we would never have chosen on our own is right where we are. Think about your wasteland, and then examine the truth about it.

A wilderness is a place without roads, paths or trails.  It is a region devoid of the civilizing conventions we are used to seeing.  A wasteland has no friendly wayside inns or tourist kiosks.  It is rough, it is tangled, and it is daunting.  Those who seek out the wilderness prepare for the journey.  What is necessary to live must be carried with them or the explorer must know how to survive off the land itself.  The explorer must know how to traverse the unknown territory, what to watch out for, what to avoid.   In short, a journey into a wilderness is not a journey to be taken lightly or flippantly; because the cost of failing is very high.

When Jesus journeyed into the wilderness, He had just come from being baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist.  His baptism was followed by the descent of the Holy Spirit on Him and the vocal declaration by God that Jesus was indeed His beloved Son and was well pleasing to Him.   Well pleasing; it is a very encouraging affirmation, isn’t it? This very public display by God demonstrated the love and relationship in the Godhead.   It was after this open, heartening expression by God that Jesus went into the wilderness.

From Luke we learn that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, and that the Spirit led Him around in the wilderness.  The Spirit did not just lead Him to the wilderness; He remained with Jesus during the journey through the wilderness.  The lonely, deserted place; the place without direction or comfort; the place where Jesus followed the lead of the Spirit, and the Spirit stayed with Him through it. Remember this, the place was a desert but Jesus was not deserted.

What, then, is your wilderness?  Is it the desert of unanswered prayer?  Is it the lonely land of sorrow and loss? Is it the desolate land of dashed hopes?  Do you know that the same spirit that led Jesus in the wilderness is ready and willing to lead you?  The lonely places are often the easiest places to see the Spirit, you have only to watch and wait.  He leads any who ask and is a kind and trustworthy guide. 

Look at the example from the experience of Jesus in His wilderness.  The Spirit led him around for the entire forty days.  What does that tell you?  The Spirit is not going to bail out on you; He is there for all the time it takes.   In addition, He knows the way. He has the map and can surely lead you to the best place, the place where God wants you.  And as He leads, He speaks words of comfort and encouragement.  He gives wisdom for the decisions that need to be made along the way.

 

Observe, also, that the Spirit did not desert Jesus when the devil showed up to tempt Him.  In the time of need, the Spirit remained with Him.  And the Spirit will remain with each of us. This is what we know from scripture; it is what we learn from the eighth chapter of Romans, namely that through the Spirit we are adopted and children of God.  From 1Corinthians 3 we learn that the Spirit resides in us.  And we learn from Ephesians 2 that we have access to the Father through the Spirit.  All of these truths serve to keep us focused on the One leading us, and our position as the Father’s own possession, His child. 

These truths are the undergirding of the Spirit’s leading.  It is these that give us the assurance that we will arrive just where we are supposed to be.  Because the way of the wilderness is not easy, we need to keep these truths near to us, so that we can remind ourselves of them when the wilderness closes in.   By its very nature it is wild, untamed, and feral.  It is a dangerous place, so preparation is essential.  We must trust the guide and trust the journey.  So knowing what is true from scripture and keeping it as our treasure is the best tool we can carry on the rough journey.

Even as we must rely on the Word, Jesus leaned on the truth of the Word of God when the devil tempted Him.  Relying on what was true, each temptation was thwarted by the truth of God. Jesus was prepared, knowing the Word and knowing the Father.  Each step of His, in the wilderness, was guided by the Spirit. Every mile through the wasteland was directed by the Father.  Any conflict was blocked by the Word of God.

Like Jesus’ journey through the wilderness, ours will be difficult even treacherous at times.  But like Him we must let the Spirit lead us through.  For that is what the truth tells us; we are being lead through the wilderness. We are not destined to remain there, we are destined for Heaven.

What We Cannot See

Have you seen the short video on Facebook?  As it begins, a young boy is sitting in a lawn chair outdoors.  There are tall, green trees in the distance and a large expanse of green grass all around him.  The blue sky is clear and the day is sunny. As the camera begins to focus on the boy, his blue and white checked shirt and khaki shorts come into view.  He is about 10 years old, and he is holding a smallish brown, cardboard box in his hands.  The people near him, parents and family, are asking the boy to open up the box.  He is clearly intrigued and pleased, if somewhat overwhelmed. 

As the boy sets about opening the package the onlookers, who are not visible in the picture, are excited and encouraging the child as he tears open the box.  Then comes the moment we have all been awaiting.  The boy pulls the gift out of the box.  It is a pair of glasses.  The boy looks up at the people watching and seems confused, he does not need glasses to see, and so why are all of them so excited about these glasses?  Everyone in the group at this point is so excited; they are all telling the boy to put on the glasses.  So he does.  Then he begins to turn his head and look around and then he begins to cry. Overwhelmed, his happy tears run down his face.   There is a look of total amazement on the face of the boy.  These are special glasses; they are designed to aid those who are color blind.  The glasses allow a person to see the different colors that exist in the world.  This child had only ever been able to see black, white and gray.  With the glasses that all changes.  Before the glasses, he had no concept of the colors that exist; no way to discern them, no words to describe them.  And really, if you cannot see the color red, how can you know what red it?  How can you know how to describe the color purple?  What words can give an idea of blue? The knowing of the color is in the seeing of it.

The glasses opened up an entirely new arena of reality for the boy; one he did not know he was missing.  In the seeing of the colors around him, he knew color.   Which gives me a reason to wonder what I cannot see?  Not only what I cannot see, but what is unfathomable, unknown and perhaps unknowable unless someone gives me glasses to see.  Someone who already can see the colors and knows the colors are all around and cares about me enough to let me know what it out there.

A similar situation of “unseeing” is recorded in the book of 2Kings chapter 6.  The prophet, Elisha, is trapped in a city and the enemy king has surrounded it with an army.  There is no way to sneak past the soldiers, horsemen and chariots.  Elisha’s servant is understandably upset at what appears to be certain death.  He asks the prophet, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” I can only imagine the servant is not encouraged much when Elisha answers; “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”  Now, the servant can certainly count, and he and Elisha make two people, and even the people in the city are not enough to constitute an army, equipped and ready for battle.  Can you imagine the feeling of doubt about the sanity of the prophet?  The power of the fear that was creeping into his  every muscle, the adrenaline beginning to kick in and the servant’s frantic search for a way out?  This was the end….

But Elisha knew something that the servant did not. Elisha saw something the servant could not see.   Like the family of the color blind boy, who knew color existed, even if the boy did not, Elisha knew the army of God existed and was present.  And he could see it.  The servant had no clue that the army was real and was in truth present at that very moment.   How could he know, how could any person, know unless those that could see told them.  Elisha prayed for his servant, “O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.”  What the servant saw, once his eyes were opened was overwhelming.  “And the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around.”

What exists that we do not see, what exists that we have no inkling is out there?  Have you ever wondered about that?  What are we missing because we cannot even fathom it exists?  Our sight, our senses do not detect all reality.  Our experience of the world and life in the world is bounded by what we can perceive, but not all reality is apprehended sensually.  What if the sensory experiences in our lives become blinders on us, limiting what we can see and know about reality.  What if the only avenue we trust for truth is blocked off because we can’t measure or quantify it?  Could we, in our quest for definitive answers, be missing an entire universe? 

That is why we need the help of someone who can see past the edge of the blinders, someone who knows that colors exist; someone who can correct our blindness so we can see fully.

O  LORD, I pray, open our eyes…..

The Prize

Much of the chatter today is about reaching goals; from washing one’s own face to retiring as a millionaire at age fifty.   The good life is available for all who take the time to follow the simple steps laid out in any of a hundred self improvement books, eBooks, audio books and seminars.  The objective is attainable.  It is attainable for those in the self help industry; to the tune of nearly 10 billion dollars last year.   In reality, we all want to be successful at life.  We want to do well, be comfortable, care for our families and enjoy this life here and now.  Success in life is not a new goal, nor is it a goal limited by culture, geography or status.  Throughout history, succeeding in life has always been the aim of humans.  From Adam onward, all have attempted to live in a way that will bring satisfaction and joy, food and shelter, purpose and love.  These are all good goals, good things to strive for.  The concern, is not whether these are good goals, but if they are ultimate goals.  And it is at this point that we fail, all of us and often.

 
Throughout the history of the Israelites, God directed the people to be faithful to Him alone;   He wooed them as a lover pursuing his beloved.  He promised good to them if they followed Him and, conversely he promised bad results when they did not.   In the book of Deuteronomy, as Moses recounted the history of the newly formed nation of Israel, he emphasized the importance of following the Lord as their king and God.  Through Moses, God let the people know that following His ways would result in blessing; in full bellies and happy children and a good life.  Ignoring the law, rejecting God, would result in poverty, war and famine.  The instruction was clear, leaving nothing to the imagination.  It was impossible to misunderstand. 

Moses even went so far to utter a prophecy about the future of this new nation.  In Deuteronomy 31:20  God says through Moses; “ For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.”  The God who rescued these people and promised them the new land knew full well that they would eventually reject Him as God and worship other, new gods. 

What I find instructive is the point at which the people turn from God.   When the people are prosperous, when their goals are realized when life is good and full; that is when they turn their backs on God.    Being well fed, safe and happy are good things though, so what happened to Israel and what happens to us, that we turn from God when all is well?  
 

Could it be that we have mistaken the gifts for the real goal?  Have we settled for less than was intended?   In the Garden, Adam and Eve had it all, but a face to face relationship with the Creator was not enough for them.  The people of Israel had God as their King, Rescuer and Provider, yet once they were comfortable; it too, was not enough for them.  What was it that led them and leads us to desire only the side effects of God’s presence and not He, Himself?

Remember that God had rescued the Hebrews from within a nation, that He had called

them His own people, identifying with them before the on looking world.  Throughout

their history, variously He called them His treasured possession, His inheritance, the

sheep of His pasture, the people called by His name.  These words all describe a

relationship of love and care, paternal in nature.  God reaches out in love and desires love

in return.  Moses knew this, as did Joshua.  And because they knew it, these men sought

to be with God, to spend time in His presence.  Jesus also embodied this truth in His life

and ministry.  He called the disciples to Himself, to a relationship based on the love of

God for His creatures.  1John 4:9 “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”

As the love of God draws us into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we come to know the love of God and to return that love to Him, letting Jesus be the One who gives us the life of love.

To be in Christ, to remain or to abide in Him is to be so connected that His life flows into us to give us life.  As a branch attached to a vine thrives as long as that attachment remains, so with us.  We cannot have life apart from the One who is life.  However, we all know that the perks of life, the things we crave and set out to achieve are often the focus of life.   But these things are not life, nor are they life giving.  It is as if we forget the source of the life and remember only the gifts. The source, the One through whom the good gifts come gets pushed aside.   And the prizes, the shiny, costly, expensive trinkets rise to the center of our focus and energies, they become the “must haves” while the Source falls out of mind.  

 This is the warning of the prophecy in Deuteronomy, indicating that it falls to us to remain in the vine, to hold fast the hand and will of God, the Source.    John 15:9 tells us about the nature of the relationship of abiding; remaining: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain (abide) in my love.” 

 Always stay in His hand, always remember who He is.  Stay in that place of His presence.  Actively recall that He has committed Himself in promises and in fact to our good, to Life and to purpose.  In calling us to worship Him and find joy in Him He has shown us how to abide and see what is truly valuable.  Because He, alone, is the true Prize, and the pearl of great price. Only in Him will we be satisfied.  The effects of His work in us, the good gifts He gives are really only the side effects of His grace.  They are fleeting, He is everlasting.  They are limited, He is infinite.  They are partial He is complete.  He is the Prize.

On the Brink

Imagine you have a goal, one that you have had for years.  You can recount numerous times you sacrificed just to be able to move forward toward reaching this long held goal.  The milestones along the way are etched in your mind as though they are a map of your efforts to achieve the objective.  The drive to realize the goal has been your life, it has been what has driven you and at the same time, what has  sustained you along the way. 

Picture yourself nearing the achievement of your goal and looking around at your life and circumstances and seeing how close you are and how nearly like the goal things are.  You could say you were one step away from the goal.  Life is as good as you could have expected, although it is not quite the target at which you had aimed.  But, in looking around, it suits you, it is what you had expected and if you stopped here, all the work and sacrifice would be over.  You may not have reached the original goal, but this is even better to your eyes.  Everything you need, here, right now. 

Would you do it?  Would you stop one step away?

God had given His people a promise; a promise of land and the good life that accompanied a good land.  A land the people would have as their own land, no longer slaves working on land not their own.  “I (God) have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt…So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Exodus 3:7-8)

This is the promise that led these people to defy the ruler of Egypt.  This promise led this people to leave behind all they knew of life.  The promise of a better life, a better land and a God to care for them gave them the courage to begin a journey to reach the land promised to them.  The promise sustained them through years of weary walking through wastelands and deserts.   The promise was the goal; the promise was the driving force.  There was a land of milk and honey, a good land awaiting them.  The One who promised, God, continually showed His faithfulness to them while demanding the people trust Him.  The journey was difficult, but the people and God persevered and they neared the goal after forty years of travel. 

As the multitude stood looking across the Jordan River toward the land promised to them forty years earlier what would they be thinking?  On the verge of realizing the goal given to their parents and to them, what level of thrill was theirs?  In Numbers 32:1-5 we learn what some were thinking.  ““The Reubenites and the Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the land of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, ‘Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Hesbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon- the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel-are suitable for livestock, and your servants

have livestock.  If we have found favor in your eyes,’ they said, ‘let this land be given to your servants as our possession.  Do not make us cross the Jordan.’ ”

These people of Reuben and Gad are at the edge of the land of promise.  They can glimpse it across the river, but what are they looking at?  The land they currently stand on.  The land through which they have just traveled is their focus.  They see it as a great place to settle.  And the reason they give is that it is a good land for livestock and they have a lot of sheep and goats and other animals.  The land is good for them; no doubt it was.  They had been tending to these animals through all sorts of terrain, fertile and dry.  But here, where they stood, they recognized good land, ideal land.  So they asked permission to refuse entry into to land promised to them by God. 

After the entire journey, standing on the brink of realizing the goal, this group stops short.

The land where they stand is good.  But only compared to what they had already seen in their travels.  Bear in mind that they had never seen the land of promise.  They had no idea if the land was good for their animals, if it was even better land than where they were standing.   Remember also that God, who had promised them the land, had also cared for them for the entire journey; looking out for them during the entire trip, they lacked nothing.  And while the trip was not a cake walk, it was a successful passage.

What reason could stop someone on the brink of realizing their goal?   Why does a person give up a promised reward for an existing reality?  Did the people of Reuben and Gad not believe the promise?

  Was it that they were tired and had given up?   We can say that weariness was probably not the issue as the men of the two and a half tribes had to go into the land to help the other tribes take their land.  Were they afraid of failure?  It would seem not, as they were planning live in the same manner where they stopped as they would have, had they crossed into the land of promise.

What we do know is that those who chose to stop short of the Promised Land chose to live with the very real barrier of the Jordan River between them and the rest of the community.  They chose to be apart from their people and the land where God said He would be present.  The two and a half tribes that stayed out of the Promised Land did so by their own decision.   They opted out of the promise.

The promise of a land flowing with milk and honey was not the promise they wanted.  They did not want that land, the land chosen and made for them, the land where God would be present.  They did not see that the physical barriers would eventually break the communal bonds forged on the journey just completed.  They wanted the land they saw and were standing on instead of the land God had promised. 

So, what keeps us from realizing the promises God had made to us?  Why do we stop short of taking that one, last step into the fullness of all we have been promised?   

Why do you and I choose to remain just on the brink?  Figure out what is keeping you on the brink and then make the choice to follow God into the promise.  You won’t regret it.

The Script Writer

How do you talk to God about the tragic circumstances that each of us encounter in life?

When praying, do you have ideas and suggestions for how God could sort out the situation?  I do.  Frequently, I find myself imagining how to orchestrate a meeting between people who need divine help; what they should say, how they should act.  How God would get all the glory if only my simple plan were followed.  It’s easy, I think.  Here God, this is the way to work it all out, just follow my script.  No matter that God has not asked me to figure it out, nor has He asked for my help; I really just want the sorrow and pain to be fixed and He is the only One capable.  I am only trying to help.

Then I am reminded that God has not asked for my insight but He has told me to pray.  He has not tapped me to script the scene, but rather to trust Him.  Trust Him to work the situation out, with fallen humans who also have been given a choice in the matter.

 In the end most things, if not all, come back to trust; to rely on the wisdom and character of another.   In my mind, figuring out how God should work comes so easily; trust is not so easy to come by.  Trust requires patience which means waiting and praying and waiting more and praying more.  Trust means listening for God to direct and to speak and then watching for Him to act.  All of these are passive activities and I want to get moving. I want to get the tools out and fix the situation.  Trust is not visible, action is.  And when something is wrong and we pray about it to God we want to see Him swoop down and fix it, NOW. 

However, what if our script, our design for fixing the situation, doesn’t allow God to be God; what if it limits Him?  That is the question I must ask myself, because He could have different plans, a different perspective than mine.  Our knowledge is limited, our creative ideas imperfect, and our power is deficient.  What ever we can do would be small, repetitive and weak.  We are like characters in a play, saying our lines and trying to rewrite the script as we perform it, ignoring the fact that all we know is contained on the stage.  We have no clue about the next act.  We know little to nothing about what is under or above the stage and we take exception to the playwright and His part in this little production. 

Recall a conversation from scripture between Jesus and Peter.  Walking along with the disciples, Jesus asks them who He is.  Peter answers, “You are the Christ, Son of the living God.” (Matt 16:16)  Then Jesus tells Peter that God has revealed this to him.  Can you imagine what that must have been like for Peter?  To know that God had used him in this amazing way would be overwhelming, stunning and marvelous.  

As the time continued on, Jesus explained what was going to happen to Him soon--betrayal, beating and death-- and He was heading to Jerusalem, so it could take place!   The words are just barely out of the mouth of Jesus when Peter rebukes Him and tells Jesus that this will never happen.  In Peter’s mind the Christ did not fall into the hands, nor give Himself up to anyone who could hurt or kill Him.  The Christ was a conqueror who would rescue all of Israel and restore the kingdom and rule of the land to them.

For Peter, his partial knowledge led him to limit the plan of God; to make it fit what he did know.  The vision of rescue Peter had was small and parochial.  The Christ, the Messiah, was to be a local hero.  The enemy the Christ would conquer was a human, political enemy.  The Messiah would rescue them this time, but what about the next time?  Peter did not think beyond the present.  His existential Messiah existed only in his time and his land.  Peter, like me and like you, I suspect, could not fathom what God had planned.  He could not see beyond the end of the stage.  Had Peter rewritten this scene, none of us would know of Jesus or Peter, except as footnotes in dusty history books. 

Peter proves the verse from Isaiah:  “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Is 55:8).

This is where trust and patience and knowing the character of God matter.  We all have to learn to trust that God’s ways are so far beyond our imaginings that we could never ever dream up what He already knows.  We really have no good choice but to wait, in trust; which means being patient for Him to act.  The best part of this is that if we know Him, His character and His promises, trust and patience will come more easily.  And we can know Him because He has shown Himself to us and He has told us about Himself.  He even came here to let us see Him.  Let God amaze us with His plans, stun us with His love and fill us with His joy in the uncovering of His great work. 

Are you good at looking out for the needs and causes of others? Do you prefer that people pray for another person and not you?    Do you notice how often you wait to speak up; wait to be recognized?      Have you conquered the mountain we call meekness? Are you the best at being humble?   Are you like me in not truly understanding what it means to be meek; to be humble?   We all need to toss our notions out and take the truth to heart.

When considering the idea of meekness, of humility, a good place to begin is with the man the bible calls the meekest man of all; Moses.  In the book of Numbers, chapter 12 verse 3 we read the following:  “Now the man Moses was meek more than all the people who were on the face of the earth.”   This is an amazing statement relating this superlative to this man. Consider then the man, Moses.  From scripture we learn he was an Israelite, of the clan of Levi.  Having been condemned by Egyptian policy even before his birth, he was rescued from death by a princess of Egypt and raised as royalty in the palace of the Egyptian pharaoh.  Moses knew his origins and yet lived apart from them as a young man.  He was raised to be powerful, to be catered to, to be honored and obeyed.  All his needs were met; he was educated, privileged, loved and wanted.  Even having all this, his conscience stirred him upon seeing injustice, and he did what some powerful people do; he became what judge, jury and executioner.   Nevertheless even his exalted status in Egypt could not rescue him from the will of pharaoh or of the law, so he fled.  Moses the son of a princess became a fugitive living out in a desert with nomadic shepherds.  He married, not a princess, but the daughter of a shepherd/priest.  From being a privileged person of royalty, he landed a job as a shepherd; a job that led nowhere, with nobodies surrounding him and certainly none of the comforts and wealth he previously knew. 

Enter the plan of God-to meet this man face to face and to assign him a new job; shepherding the people of Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land.  It is at this point that meekness or humility begins to be birthed.  For we find Moses afraid to look at God.  Moses is not brazen or demanding, even though his curiosity led him to check out the sight of a burning bush.  When God tells Moses that he is to lead the people out of Egypt, Moses asks “Who am I that I should do this…”  It is in the response of God that we all can find the truth about the power of humility.  God answers Moses’ question with His promise; “I will be with you.”   God is not asking Moses to plan, fund, design or execute this exodus.  He is not giving Moses a task to prove his worth, or to earn a place in the Scripture Hall of Fame.  God calls Moses to follow as God leads His people out of captivity.  Moses is the servant of the Lord, the representative of God to the people.  He is the one who will speak to God for them and speak to the people for God.  And it is in that place where Moses will show that humility knows the power of God, it knows the leading of God and it knows the wisdom of God.

  Ephesians 1:19-20  “ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might ²⁰ that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,”

Moses learned, as we all must, that humility is not disparaging ourselves, but rather obeying God.  It is not harping on how sinful we are, rather it is be stunned at the grace God showers on us.  To put God first is to allow all for Him, all through Him, all because of Him.  Moses learned this through time spent with God; time spent talking, pleading and sometimes arguing.  But Moses came to know God, to know His voice, His will, His heart, realizing that God was there with Him.  Moses knew God, and he knew God had given him a people to lead, to shepherd, to the Promised Land.  Moses did not have to defend his position, fund his position, figure out his position.  God did all that.  Moses simply needed to obey, to follow God.  In that obedience, humility was able to exist.

What of us?  How do we define humility?  Is it putting ourselves last, feeling guilty for being needy, for asking for help from God?  We are all in need of checking our definition of humility against the biblical definition. God does not have to divide His time between me and others, nor does He have to ration out answers to prayers to those who are worse off than me.  His attention is not needed elsewhere in the world; therefore He will not be busy when I pray. We often assign human constraints to God, but He is not less favorable to me because I am less needy.  He is not in need of a rest from me.  He is never tired of me, never willing to give up on me.  I can never fall beyond the reach of His grace and love.

 This way of thinking is actually idolatrous since it makes God out to be different that He has shown us. It is self centered, not God centered, self defined, not God defined.  This is the lesson Moses learned and the one we all must learn as well. 
In the power of God with us, we can do mighty acts, courageous acts, and remain as meek individuals, knowing it is always the power of God, the plan of God and the love of God that work through us.  To be meek is not to be self centered; it is to be God centered.  To be meek is not to be a door mat, it is to be a God directed, strong, vocal servant speaking and doing that to which God had called us.

We are all told to seek humility; Zephaniah 2:3 “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands.  See righteousness, seek humility.”  As we seek God, we will learn humility for what it is; a long, obedient walk with God leading the way.

Not a Clue...

Have you ever been totally wrong about something?   Like those times when you are preparing to meet someone from a place where you have never been.  You begin wondering how you will communicate or whether the person will like you. It  can seem daunting and exciting  all at once.  But then, once you meet all those worries and concerns are pushed aside.  You had totally misread the situation because you really had nothing on which to base your fears and preparations.  Or perhaps as a child, you were caught doing something you had been told not to do.  Waiting for dad to get home and the discipline to begin, you plan all the ways to avoid it, or cope with it, only to learn that the discipline is easy; merciful. You were not prepared for it to unfold in the way it did, but you are definitely happy it did. 

             Totally wrong; it is something we cannot avoid as humans.  Often our foresight is shortsighted.  Our visions of what is going to happen are not really visions of the future but wishful thinking.   The idea that we can be totally wrong is not a comforting one, but it is true.  “The best laid plans,” as people say….

Totally wrong is the label I give to Eve’s assessment of attaining the knowledge of good and evil.  No matter how beautiful that fruit looked to her, no matter how wonderful the idea of being wise was, Eve’s assessment and Adam’s agreement were totally wrong.  Totally.   Think about this from our vantage point.  We know good and evil; we know murder and rescue, thievery and charity, hatred and love.  Adam and Eve knew nothing of murder, let alone death.  They had no concept of robbery, private property, ownership and certainly had not even known of hatred.  These were unknowns to them, more than that, these concepts-actions-were things that did not exist for them.  They couldn’t be known.  God, in His wise mercy, had not allowed them to be aware of these things even as a possibility.   The idea that grew in Eve’s mind, that she needed to know good and evil, that what was being denied her was something marvelous, was totally wrong.  Recall what happened the moment the first two humans turned from God.  As God had warned them, they began to die.  First to die was the confidence between Adam and Eve of love and acceptance.  They realized they were naked and they felt shame and so they covered themselves.  The knowledge of the good they had lost was piled on the knowledge of the evil of the human heart to judge another, to demean, hurt and shame another.  Second to die was the sweet friendship with the Creator as the two sinners hid themselves, like naughty children hiding under a bed.  The new knowledge of evil about rebellion and fear of deserved punishment for treasonous behavior was clear to them now.

More learning about the knowledge of evil follows at a stunning rate.  They learn all about self preservation at the expense of a spouse, they learn about weeds and dry, arid soil, about pain and separation and sorrow and banishment, of hard, fruitless work, of regret.  In a matter of minutes, the two of them became fully aware and knowledgeable about concepts, ideas and actions which they had never even dreamed was possible.   It was beyond imagining for them.  They had been transferred to an unknown place, by their own choice.  What was before totally unknown to them, was now home to them, and all their descendants.

Now as the doomed descendants of our knowledgeable foremother and forefather, we have also had the opportunity to choose.  We have the choice to choose to be redeemed or not; to be reunited with God or not.  For those of us who choose to be redeemed we have been given a promise, the promise of Heaven.  But I fear many of us are taking the old way of being Totally Wrong in our assessment of what Heaven really is.   Mainly because Scripture is not extravagant in descriptions of what it means to be in Heaven, we have created our own heavenly landscape.  Some characterizations have us sitting on clouds playing harps for eternity. It is a continual worship service, filled with music and singing say others.  BORING say some.   Then for many heaven is a great golf course or a perfect fishing spot.  For others, heaven is a place of eternal youth and lots of puppies and kittens.  No matter what Scripture tells us, we often want it our way, filled with what appeals to us.  

            When thinking about heaven remember how Totally Wrong Eve and Adam were in their ideas about the knowledge (THEY HAD NO IDEA ABOUT) of good and evil.  Recall too the words of 1Corinthians 2:9 " but just as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all the God has prepared for those who love Him."

         Read that again;  eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and it is not even in the heart, this is what God has prepared for all who are redeemed.  The idea of a perfect fishing spot, eternal youth, harps and clouds, all these we have seen or heard of or at least imagined.  But Heaven is beyond our imagining.  It cannot be adequately described by us.  We may have some pictures, a beautiful bride, a city of gold, fruit trees and thrones, but these are descriptions for what is yet unseen and unimagined by us. 

        We look forward to this amazing, eternal existence, in the presence of God.  We do anticipate its beauty, but let us not limit it to our experiences or our imaginations.

Let us, like innocent, joyful children, be astonished, awed and merry when we finally see all that God had prepared for us.