Where are we going again? A look at Deuteronomy 8

I distinctly remember being 15 years old and sitting in my room in our little rental house in Missoula, MT. The carpet as an old green shag and the window looked out to a pretty garden and the hills just outside the city. I opened my Bible, daring God to show me that he actually had a plan in the chaos of my life. We were just a couple nights away from our 3rd move in 2 years. That would be four different states and a total of five different Junior High and High Schools in that same period. I was angry and overwhelmed.

I flicked the Bible open to Deuteronomy, thinking God was going to have a pretty rough time talking to me through THAT book of the Bible. Little did I know...

I opened up to Deuteronomy 8 and stopped at verse 7, utterly amazed at what I read.

I am bringing you to a good land; a land of stream beds full of water, a land of springs and deep rivers flowing out from the valleys and the hills. (my translation).

That's one moment in my life that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God cared about me. I was an insecure, self-absorbed, desperate teen and God cared enough about me to meet me in that corner room with the shag carpet, to comfort me and let me know that despite the unknown and my personal fears, God was bringing me to a good place. And it was just that. It was a good place.

In the book of Deuteronomy, the people are called to "remember" what God has done for them over and over again. God had miraculously worked on behalf of the Hebrew people in bringing them out of Egypt, in providing for them in the wilderness and was now preparing them to enter the land of promise. The call to remember was essentially a call to worship. Remembering what God has done plays the same role in our lives. As I look into our future wondering what it will entail and feel those same sensations of insecurity I did way back when, I also remember the times God met me and guided me in the past. I can trust God. I know that the place I am going will be a "good land."

More thoughts on Deuteronomy 8 to come...

A Potter's Consideration

At the beginning of Jeremiah 18, there is a story of the prophet being instructed by God to "go down to the potter's house." While there, Jeremiah sees the potter working at the wheel. The pot in his hands is marred, so the potter reshaped it into a form that was suitable in his eyes.

At that point, the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah, "Can I not do with you, house of Israel, as this potter does?" God proceeds to tell the prophet that if he announces that a nation is to be destroyed, but the people clean up their act, then he will relent in the prescribed punishment. Likewise, if he has promised to bless a nation, but they do evil in his sight, then he will "reconsider the good I had intended to do for it."

Reading this section impressed upon me the responsiveness of God to humanity. The thought that my actions influence the Almighty is overwhelming to consider.

Our Pastor has made a commitment to seek God throughout the next 40 days. He's asked those of us that are willing to join him during this time. I am joining. Realizing the scripture above is directly addressing the nation of Israel, I have taken it on as my prayer for the next 40 days. I believe that as I personally seek God, that God will consider me. Also, as our church seeks God, God will consider us.

Living Water

I've started reading through the book of Jeremiah. I generally haven't been an Old Testament kind of girl, but my interested was peaked not so long ago when I met with Helene Dallaire, Associate Professor of Old Testament at Denver Seminary.

Since speaking with her, I've been pondering the literature of the Old Testament and the story that unfolds amongst the Hebrew people. I'm considering studing Old Testament...whenever I actually start an MDiv or Masters in Biblical Studies.

As I was reading the second chapter of Jeremiah this morning, I couldn't help but feel as if Jeremiah's words to the Israelites were spoken to my heart as well. I particularly like verse 13, which says,

"My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

In this first part of Jeremiah, the prophet is sharing God's thoughts to the Israelites regarding their behavior, primarily the fact that rather than trusting the living God who has brought them powerfully out of Egypt, they continue to choose other gods, gods described as worthless.

As I read this verse, I had to ask the age-old question, "Why?" Why, when a living, powerful God has been evident in the life of a community or an individual, does the heart so easily turn back to trusting something false and worthless? Why do we exchange the glory of God for the nakedness of self-reliance or the temporary feeling of control?

I think the question boils down to the fact that trusting God in the midst of real-life circumstances moves from a theoretical exercise to one of stark reality. Reality can be hurtful, painful and feel very much outside our control. Our human tendency is to panic, to grasp for that control. The immediate response is to move away from a cosmic, supernatural God to one that we can more easily (at least in our very human perception) control.

In the verse above, God is saying to his people, through Jeremiah, that they have committed two sins. They have turned away from their source and then attempted to dig their own well. They want to provide for themselves. But, by attempting to provide for themselves, they bask in their own brokenness. They drink from damaged, leaky containers.

Of course, when I read this verse, I immediately thought of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman. John 4 tells the story of Jesus asking this woman, a reviled Samaritan, for a drink from her cup. She responds with a question, why would Jesus, a Jew, drink from her cup, tainted as it was from her religious, cultural background. Jesus responds by saying that if she knew who she was talking to, she would ask him and he would give living water. Their reparte continues for a few verses until Jesus says, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (TNIV)

The question, I think, is one of Lordship. When I try to dig my well, to control and provide for myself, I will have water, but from a leaky container. It will take work and my thirst will not be met, the water will be stale. When I take my hands off and choose to allow God to work in my life, there is the promise of a spring of living water. There is a richness of refreshing in this image. Cool, fresh, clear water. Water that "wells" up. It can't be stopped by holding your hand over it. It will gush. Theoretically, I think of an ideal life. Practically, I know this stream will look different. There is no promise of an ideal life. There is this promise of living water. No longer am I drinking from that damaged container, but there is welling up inside me water to meet my thirst.

I don't have three steps to how this works or what it looks like in practice. I do offer this prayer, "Lord, teach us to drink from your living water, from your wholeness rather than our own brokenness."