Seeing God’s Back

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Take a minute (though it may be that we need a whole lot more time than that) but take a minute and list the things you complain about. Take a minute and recall the things you have complained about already this morning. Might be the traffic in Lewisburg, the poor service in a restaurant, the doctor who keeps you waiting, the cable going out, the weather, or the guy who parked crooked in the parking lot. Might be about politics or the cost of food or a check that doesn’t cover much more than living expenses or the school system or the family who lives next door. Might be we just complain about most anything at all. Even though when we take time to really think about it, we don’t have a whole lot of room or reason to complain.
There’s no way we can even try to imagine being in the wilderness. Traveling through hundreds of square miles of nothingness. Other than sun and stars, there would be no frame of reference. Everything looks the same in every direction. Rock, sand, wind, same old food everyday, water only on occasion, heat in the day, cold in the night – for years. We complain if the sun is in our eyes when we are driving; we complain if we get sand in out sandals, we complain when the wind messes up our hair, we complain if our water doesn’t come in a bottle. So if any group of people had something to complain about it would be the Israelites. We don’t hear Moses complain much – but if there ever was a time for him to start it would be now.
Back when this adventure started, God gave Moses the power to turn water into blood, to divide the sea, and cause fountains of water to gush out of rocks. God told him that his brother Aaron would be there to help him. God also promised to go with them, to lead and protect them in a fiery pillar of a cloud.
Instead, the going was rough, the people complained, his brother Aaron had the people worshiping a golden calf…and now – – as the tablets on which God had written the law, were laying in broken pieces on the ground. God decided to check out. God no longer wanted to accompany this people on their journey, instead he decided to send a couple of angels to do the job. “You can go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
All that is left is for Moses to plead with God to change his mind. “Lord, you’re the one who asked me to do this – you are the one who chose these people – you are the one who said that this nation of people belonged to you. When all of this started Lord, we did not know who we were, we believed we were no people, but you said that you were the God of our ancestors, you said you would bring us into a land flowing with milk and honey. If you leave us now - who will we be? If you leave us now, what these people have said will be true – that you have brought us up out of Egypt for no other reason but to die in what truly will be – a God-forsaken land. And God agreed to continue the journey with the Israelites. But Moses wanted more. He wanted to see God.
And so do we. Every one of us has stood at the bottom of the mountain, hopes and dreams shattered around our feet, disappointed, defeated, wondering how what happened has happened, wondering where God is in the mess, why it seems God has called it quits in the middle of our journey. when we are convinced that God was no longer with us. Isn’t that when we want to see God?
Let us keep in mind that for the Israelites, being abandoned by God was more than a personal crisis, more than fretting over one’s own salvation. The Israelites understood that God called -and God saved -a people. For the Israelite – it’s always about the faith community. Example……
Perhaps more today than in recent history, the church wants to see God. like the Israelites who couldn’t go back to being slaves…we acknowledge that the church cannot go back to what we used to be, but like the Israelites who didn’t know where the were headed, we too are unsure of exactly how to go forward. Who exactly is the church today? What will we become? What are we called to do? Where do we fit? Do we fit? For many it feels like we are stuck in a wilderness – and so yes, like Moses, we say – find favor in us, carry us up from this place, and show us your glory, let us see you face to face….lord tell us we’re doing something right.
God told Moses you will not see my face – and so it is that neither will we see God’s face. But perhaps we’re not looking to see God, perhaps what we’re looking for is to see evidence of God.
Evidence of God that can be found in a kind word, a wise word. An unexpected visit, a $20 bill found in an old jacket pocket, a phone call from someone who has already gone through what you are about to face, when you least expect it - receiving one of those A-HA moments that sheds light and clarity on your situation.
The church that adds to its membership, that watches as a few more children trickle in here and there, members who come to the table with gifts of time, insight, enthusiasm, dedication, members who share their talents to build up the church, serve the church, and her mission. Members who contribute in man ways in order to keep the church door open and ensure that we are equipped to do what we are called to do – and do it relatively well. A church, who despite conflict, can show the world, what is most important-- and that is that we are still one in Jesus Christ. Evidence that sustain and encourage us - as we trust that even though we are a stiff-necked people – God journeys with us.
That God chooses to abide with human beings…that God longs to be with us, chases after us, even bothers to be in relationship with a people like us is an astonishing thing indeed. Think for a minute -- There is no need to complain, but there is a great need to praise, glorify, pray and lift up thanksgiving to a God who allows us to see evidence of God in our lives – even if we are only permitted to see God’s back.