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04.07.2010_Deuteronomy 8:11–20
| 29.07.2010, 09:39 | |
| Rev. Tatiana Cantarella Other Scriptures read through the service: Psalm 96; Jeremiah 2:1–13; Acts 17:24–28 NO! TO A "SPARE TIRE” RELATIONSHIP DEUTERONOMY 8:11–20 We all hope for better times, we hope that in the future everything will be only better, don’t we? Who of you does not wish for the future to be better than the present is? In the Soviet times everyone spoke about the "bright future” that we need to build and now when people have difficult times of their lives they cheer themselves by saying: there will be joy also on our street. Most of the people think that good times, void of problems are much more blessed than the difficult times. It is better to live is abundance and peace and security, isn’t it? That’s exactly how the people of Israel thought, dreaming to finally get out of the desert and settle down and be filled and satisfied. Moses, when he spoke about the future of Israel, makes a beautiful contrasting picture: between a barren desert and a good land, between 40 years of constant moving and settling down in the land of Canaan, between living in tents and living in the houses, between temporary and constant, between scarcity of food and the time when bread will never be scarce. Moses reminded the people that there will be good times for them, so that they will not loose their faith in the difficult times. He called them to remember that God will be with them, just like He was with them in the desert. Moses pointed to the future, so that they would be strengthened by hope and anticipation of better times. Oh, if we could only live in the good times…the blessed times…But what are blessed times? What are good times? One woman, understood very well a very important truth when she said to her pastor: "you know, pastor, I came to understand that everything that makes us closer to God is a blessing for us”. Everything means everything; she realized that both the difficult and the good times if they make us closer to God are a blessing for us. IF they make us closer to God… But Moses his beautiful description of the future concludes with words that Israel’s humbleness may be replaced with pride and when things will go well for Israel and life will become good, she might easily forget God. Good life is not always a blessing and on the contrary it may pose a greater danger for a believer than the troubles of the desert. Israel, as history shows, did drift away from God in its good and satisfactory times. Two most important words that Moses can give Israel as a warning is DO NOT FORGET and REMEMBER. Very often people forget God, only remembering Him in special circumstances, as if God was something like a spare tire of which you forget for months, until you get a flat tire. Then you just hope that a spare tire is in a good condition and is ready to be used. In the same way, many people forget God when things go well for them and only when they are in trouble, they wish for God to be at hand and ready to immediately solve their problem and answer their cry for help. But as Philip Yancey noted very well, "Nothing bothers God more than the simple fact of being forgotten”. For God is not a spare tire and not a "911 service”, that only exits for emergency situations. He is our loving Father who created us to ALWAYS be with Him and always turning to Him. But how can you forget God, you may say? We do not forget him. And really, most people do not wake up one day with a loss of memory, not able to remember that God exists. Of course, we do not forget about His existence. Most people do not wake one morning saying: now that things are well with me I do not need God. It is not that easy, is it? So, how a person who once trusted God and lived for Him becomes a person for whom God is only a "spare tire” or a "911 service”, only an ER? How does it happen that a person might remember facts about God, may remember the contents of the Word of God, but neither God nor His Word continue to play an active, leading role in this person’s life. God ceases to be "necessary” for every moment of life and becomes "necessary” only when one is in trouble? Moses sees the root of the problem in what he says in vv. 14-17. Sometimes we learn to rely on God, because there is nothing else we can rely on – at times when it is so clear that no one else but God Himself intervened on our behalf. Just like it was in the desert for the people of Israel. They could have barely stated that it was they that grew manna for themselves to eat, or they themselves dug the water out of the rock. But Moses is afraid that when Israel gets settled in the promised land, and God will stop giving them provision in such supernatural way, when they will begin to cultivate the land, grow their cattle, will be fed and satisfied she will begin to think that all of that is her own doing, and that his heart will become proud and will forget that all she had is the gift of God. She might say, "my own power and the strength of my hand has produced this wealth for me”. Yet, history shows that that’s what happened to the people of Israel, who forgot whose hand has given them all that wealth. But understand me right, Israel did not loose the memory and did not cease to believe in God. She continued to worship Him, continued to bring sacrifices and repeat the words of Scripture and pray. But God has become history, mere tradition, because in the everyday life the people began to trust their own strength and abilities. When Israel acquired food, houses, cattle, savings, instead of remembering and thanking the Lord, who gave them all these things they began to think: "Finally we got what we wanted, after all we deserve it. It was not for nothing that we wondered about for so many years and suffered so much. Of course, we earned and gained and deserved all that, we worked hard for it and finally we rip the fruit of our efforts and we will achieve even more”. You see, forgetting is a gradual process of not paying attention: "It is human nature to move from scarcity to plenty with an initial gratitude which after a time give place to a spirit of self congratulation, complacency, and sometimes haughty rebellion. There is a progression that takes place within the human spirit. Nobody wakes up one day and says from that day on I will be a rebel. Rebellion is born slowly in the human spirit as pride wells up until the human says I have no need of God». When we have difficulties in our life we have nothing else to do but to call out to God for help, but when things get well and even some success takes place, very often we do not handle it as we should. Good times are also a time of testing for our faith and our faithfulness to God. When all things got settled Israel forgot that it was God’s strong hand that delivered them from Egyptian persecution and begin to trust their own chariots and military strength and armies. When all went well Israel forgot that once she was poor and was an alien and became prejudiced against the poor and the alien. Israel forgot God, having forgotten that all she had belonged to Him and that she was only a servant to whom her master entrusted all good things. The good times cease to be a blessing if they instead of drawing us close to God draw us away from Him. There were two royal servant that stood on the top of the hill. The newly hired servant asked the one who was there awhile: "Tell me, can you see the royal palace from here?” "You know, in the winter, when all the leaves fall off the trees, you can see the beauty of the royal palace from everywhere. But in the summer when the trees are covered with leaves, the palace is hidden away from our sight, and sometimes we even forget that it is so near here”. Abundance of things often hinders our sight of God, just like the leaves on the trees hindered the sight of the royal palace and we forget that He is near, that He is the master of all that surrounds us and the owner of all things in the world. When things get well, when we experience good times, we often begin to think that what we have is ours, that it is deserved and earned and we begin to cling to it. We become so busy gaining, earning, managing and settling that there is no longer room for God is our lives. We are so busy with OUR things. We think that WE are the owners and the managers of our lives. In England there are many estates that the layers are often trying to find the original claims for. There was once a conversation between two people about the lawyers who were searching for a clear title to an Oakdeen estate. One said: "they have already traced the title back to Lord Mayor Woodroffe of England, who took out a claim in 1600, but I am sure there is a prior claim and would not be surprised if Adam’s name would appear on the title deed. But the other said, "oh, I am sure there is an earlier claim”. They other was surprised, "I though Adam was the first of the humans on this earth”. His friend answered, "yes, buy if we trace the title deeds of all the estates to their origin, we shall find in the most ancient of all land records this entry, "In the beginning God created the heaven and earth” and across every title deed that has been executed is God’s signature: "The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein”. The other answered, "Then the man’s claim at its best is that he is only a tenant and if God is the owner, we are nothing but squatters”. The good times, if they make us proud and self-relying, cease to be a blessing, for they draw us away from God. Someone said, "Happy the man who can balance a full stomach with a thankful and lowly heart”. Unfortunately many of us are unable to do that, because a proud heart does not let us remember that it is God that was good to us and we begin to explain our success either by our own doing – "I worked hard for it” or by good luck – "things fell in place for me”. "In our days these two perils are especially prominent – pride and idolatry. Mankind exalts itself and dethrones its God”, said someone. When all goes well we are easy to conclude that it is our own merit. But there is a good joke about it. A couple of scientist once came to God and said: God, we learned to create man, just like you did and therefore we don’t need you anymore. "Really”, said God, "do you care to demonstrate it to Me?” "With pleasure, here we take some dust and begin the process…” "Wait a minute” said God "do you mind using your own dust…” You can imagine that the demonstration was stalled at this point… for even our breath that we have is a gift of God… God desires and wants to bless us and often times He does just that. But as Moses called the people of Israel, I call you today to always remember that when things go well, it is God that "gives us ability to produce wealth” and I call you today to live in His presence every day of your life, realizing that He is the owner of all things and it is He that gives us opportunity to use them. To remember God is to come to Him not only as to a "spare tire”, but to give Him due praise and thanks for all we have from day to day. To remember is a conscious effort not to forget, a conscious effort to see that even the material goods, even peace in our families, even being satisfied – is a gift of God. Whether we have good times or bad times in our life now, it can become a time of blessing for us if it will help us to become closer to God. | |
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