A friend once said that faith is not about having the right answers, its about having guts. All throughout the scriptures we see examples of men and women given the opportunity to step out... Noah building a giant boat on dry land, or Moses telling a king what to do, Ruth leaving her homeland to live with the people of God, Rehab risking her life for foreign spies, and who could forget Peter stepping out of a boat onto the rough waters... etc, etc. All of these people have one thing in common, guts. They didn't know for sure what was going to happen after they acted. There was no committee to study their issue and present a position paper. They simply were invited by God into a relational act of trust and they all obeyed.
Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." Num 13:30
This week at my home congregation I am teaching on God and circumstance. Circumstances are funny things as we can either see them as opportunities or barriers. I hear Christians talking all the time about doors and windows opening and closing, but rarely do I hear people honestly talk about "the thing" they are called to do but are afraid to do it. I am convinced that God loves an underdog. I think its because in using ordinary people to do extraordinary things the world can't explain away, though it may try, the miraculous God is up to.
Caleb had just returned from forty days of exploring the promised land. He and Joshua saw past the giants and walled cities. They saw God's invitation and promise. Ten others, whose names we never seem to remember even though they are listed with Caleb and Joshua, grumbled at the circumstances and stirred up rebellion among the people such that all of Israel was kept from living in the land. A forty year sentence in the desert, one for every day of exploration.
The question is simple, which are you going to be? Will we see past the circumstances, face our fear, and step out of the... desert, boat, car, position, home, etc? Or, will we grumble at the circumstances, deny our fear, and stay home? May you be blessed with guts to hear and obey.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
Why is humility so hard for us to grasp? Martin Luther once said; "True humility does not know that it is humble. If it did, it would be proud from the contemplation of so fine a virtue." Another way I've heard is said; "The fastest way to cure a man of humility is to tell him he is humble." The Bible is full of humble people, but it says of Moses...
"Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the Earth." Num 12:3
In the midst of his brother's and sister's grumblings he maintains a humble posture. Aaron and Mariam were jealous of their brother and began to undermine his authority. God struck Miriam with leprosy in anger and Moses pleaded for his Sister, who moments before had been attacking him. Moses continually did the same for the entire people of Israel despite there constant state of rebellion.
We are wired for rebellion. It is in our nature to be self-centered, we need only read the daily news to see the evidence. Yet, there are gleaming flickers of other-centeredness. Sometimes they come from followers of Jesus, sometimes not. The scriptures teach that all humanity was made in God's image, that we all bear the signature of our maker. By choosing to learn of good from evil through disobedience rather than obedience we became defined by rebellion. While our rebellion has marred that signature, there are still flickers of love and kindness, traces of our makers intent.
Jesus came not to simply "clear our name," changing our circumstances as Moses did for Miriam. This would be simply a first order change, a shift in the external. God's desire for us is that of a second order change, an change in our very nature. Jesus came to put our rebellious self to death, raising up a new self born in humility (John 3). I can't remember where I heard it, but may favorite definition of humility goes something like this... Humility is seeing God for who he is, and seeing our selves in light of that fact.
The fact that God ascribes to us unsurpassable worth, calls us to do the same for others (Philippians 2). May we invite Christ to put rebellion to death and become truly other-centered today and everyday.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
