What can I add to some of the most haunting, poignant last words of a loving God to His errant children. I will never fully grasp his love for us.
You think you are alone out there, battling the winds and the waves, as God watches from a detached, aloof distance? So have I. He knows it too.
I’ll be watching you (chapter 8)
Sting’s haunting melody is so appropriate here.
An Indian tribe would take its young men into the hills for their initiation. On the last night the fathers led the boys to a place out in the open and told them to spend that night alone, under the stars, reflecting on their lives.
In those days wild animals haunted the hills, so it was a fearful thing for such youngsters. None slept as they lay awake, alert to every crackle of underbrush, every howl of a Coyote, every hoot of an owl, every sigh in the grass.
Then in the morning, as the mists cleared they would see, standing a little way off, that their dads had maintained a silent vigil in the night. It was an unspoken promise never to forsake them, no matter what the future held.
In verses 2 – 3, Moses recounted the years of struggle, where God tried them to know their hearts. That is the key really. He needs our hearts converted.
The recounting of their journeys, through chapters 1-7, filled me with the kind of melt I often felt when my dad would hug me some time after discipline.
God knew that he humbled them, chastised them like children and sustained them on a basic diet of manna. He also knows everything you have been through.
He allows it all to transform your heart to the point where actually none of the things that once hurt can touch you anymore, not because he drives further harm away, but because it runs off your transformed life like water off a duck.
That is the more appropriate understanding of the armor of the spirit. It is not drawn from a soldier’s store, but as organic armor grows on you and becomes you.
Yet, as David said, “the righteous are never forsaken, nor do his seed beg bread”. Not even their shoes or clothes wore out in all those years. I confirm it is really so.
In verse 17, he expresses why. It points to the notion of autonomy. Like a great father, he was leading them into their heritage.
From then on, they would be a true nation, able to take all the principles he taught them and to apply that to their future. It would lead to ploughed fields, homes, villages, cities and all the accoutrements of a developed nation.
The reason for the length and depth of their past struggles was to ensure that when autonomy came they would not stray. It was about driving piles deep into their souls, so deep than when he let them go they would stay on course.
I put it to you, that no matter how broken you may have been, ahead is a mandate (maybe not land, more likely a role, a calling, a ministry or some other noble purpose). As you enter that, you will be free enough to go your own way.
The only restraint, is that of the heart. When I taught my sons, I kept the scaffolding in place while they were a work in progress. Then I tore it down, removed the gates of restraint and trusted that the gates of their hearts would hold them true.
God had brought Israel to the essence of covenant, vested in love, not duty, fear, works or the demands of others, only love.
On that basis alone, God promised to be with them and to prosper them before all nations – and he always kept his silent vigil over them for he will never forsake his own.
I am about to lead you into the promised land (Chapter 9)
God also knew, always knew, that the giants of Canaan were real. The Anakim were true giants, mighty warriors. Yet, the greater giant was of the mind, not the reality out there. They had to learn that “if God is for you, none can stand against you”.
I watched a lion cub being trained by its mother. He charged out to a Gnu, ran around it and yapped, as the Gnu bemusedly watched its antics, without being intimidated. The cub then ran back to the safety of its mother.
She then flicked her tail to distract him from his failure and allowed him to catch the tail more than he didn’t. She was teaching him to fight his own battles, just as God picked up Israel after they failed and taught them the art of war.
He then cautioned them not to think that he would ever drive out such enemies because they deserved it. It was because of the wickedness of those driven out, not because of the righteousness or deserving character of the occupying Jews.
He thus gave them a vital character lesson.
In Deut 6:13, God reminded them, “The Lord is God and Him alone you will serve”. In Deut 6:16, He reminded them, “Do not tempt the Lord your God”.
Then In Chapter 8, He reminded them, “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God”. Both were quoted by Jesus in His Wilderness.
It confirms that there was another giant that God knew about but which Israel never saw, the same serpent that tried Jesus for 40 days. For every year they were wearied by the unseen menace in their midst, Jesus faced that giant.
Then, having proved beyond all doubt that he was spotless, not like the Jews who were anything but, Jesus went to the cross and defeated His eternal enemy, not because we deserved it, but because his enemy is evil and worthy of judgment.
It leaves us with one vital conclusion: Don’t get ahead of yourself. Stay within yourself, know your place and your calling and be faithful to the few things He expects of you. Never lose perspective about your own inadequacy and unworthiness.
Give him your heart and keep that true and you will never fail to thrive in God. He will release you from your wilderness seasons, but only you can keep your heart true in the ambiguities that will follow the removal of your restraining scaffolds.
(c) Peter Missing @ bethelstone.com
