Rev. George Miller
May 26, 2024
Numbers 14:13-16
Starting today we are going to hear the
scriptures that YOU, the people, submitted in the past for Stump The Pastor
Sunday.
Today’s reading could not be timelier.
We have one of the most heartbreaking
stories in the Bible. Much of the
Israelite’s history hinges on this moment,
Featuring a decision that never had to
happen, a moment that was theirs and theirs alone to mess up.
Today we hear why it took 40 years for
them to wander through the wilderness to enter the Promised Land when they
could have done it in 19 months.
The simple answer is hubris; good ol’
fashion human hubris.
Today’s story has lessons to learn.
Lessons about listening. Lessons about truth telling.
Lessons about waiting; about not giving
into ego-driven fear.
Lessons about what happens to a
religious body when they’re more willing to listen to the fears of the world,
then the hopes of God.
Here is what happens- God heard the
cries of the enslaved Hebrews and set them free, leading them across the Red
Sea.
God guided them to Mount Sinai, giving them
a year of rest as they receive the Law and take time to recover from their
trauma.
God guides them to the edge of the
Promised Land just as it is Spring.
The Land, the Nahalah, the Heaven Here
on Earth that God is ready to lead them into is ripe and fertile with all the
goodness of Creation.
The grass is green. The goats have udders full of milk. Bees busy making an abundance of honey. Grapes are ginormous.
Everything anyone could want is right
across the way, ready to be enjoyed, ready to be embraced.
The rivers flow with fresh water and
fish, and the formerly
used-and-abused and oh-so-tired people
are just a step away from entering into God’s promise of rest and being Pharoah-free.
All they have to do is trust, believe, and
enter into their future.
Representatives are chosen to scout out
the land and see the goodness God has waiting for them. 12 men selected to say what’s good.
Trouble is that although all 12 see the
milk and the honey, and they see the abundance of fruit,
10 of the men come back and decide to
give a false report.
Instead of sowing seeds of hope, they
sow seeds of doubt into the people’s ears.
They tell everyone that the land is way
too dangerous, the people that live there are way too scary.
Even though God has brought the people
from slavery into freedom, even though God has parted the Sea, 10 of the
leaders lie and tell the people-
“We simply cannot enter. It’s too dangerous; it’s unwise. We will fail.”
And with that…the people God cared for,
the people God listened to, the people God fought for and planned for…
They begin to weep, moan, and fight
amongst each other.
They say “It was better the way things
were. Let’s go back to being slaves to
the Pharaoh.”
Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb do all
they can to turn the people’s hearts and trust back to God, but the people
refuse.
Amidst of all these lies told and lies
listened to, in the midst of the sobbing and wailing and fear and folks focused
on what-ifs,
We are told that the Glory of God is
literally standing before the people at the tent of meeting.
And it breaks God’s heart.
God, who is full of compassion,
compassion meaning “womb love.” Love that comes from having created, having
carried, having cared for.
Imagine, God is filled with compassion,
God filled with womb-love, just like a Mother.
Imagine what it must have done to God’s
heart to see and hear the people choose the lies over 10 men,
then embrace the love and promise God
made to them upon their freedom.
So God gets angry; God gets mad. So mad that’s God’s immediate response is-
“That’s it- we are going to pull this
car over to the side of the road and all of you can get out and walk home.”
This is God, filled with the kind of
Womb Love that a parent has when their toddler becomes a teenager, who sees the
puss on their face, and says
“Fine.
Fine. If you think you know
better, go ahead…I am done with you.”
And Moses intercedes. He has a talk with God, a “come to Jesus”
moment with the Creator.
Moses says “OK Senor, Ok Big Poppa, we
know you’re mad, but you don’t mean what you’re saying; you’re just in your
feelings.”
This is the second time since freeing
the people that Moses had to have this talk with God.
And the cool thing is that God
listens. God hears.
God decides not to pull the car over
and make them all get out.
But God realizes there needs to be
consequences. There does need to be responsibility
for their lies, their bad actions.
So the consequence is that the promised
trip into the Land flowing with milk and honey is postponed, it is delayed.
Instead of getting to enjoy fresh fruit
parfaits and sweat tea with honey, the people will wait many years before they
enter the land.
Instead of getting to rest in the green
grass, and walking beside still waters, they’ll endure perils and frustrations
of the wild.
It is heartbreaking. It is so sad.
They are literally on the cusp of
entering into the Promise during the height of its fertility…
…and yet they are swayed by the fear
placed upon them by a few.
It’s a sad story about how fear can fatally
affect faith.
And we wonder- why were those 10 so
quick to lie about a land so, so good?
Why did they hold the people back from
reaching their full potential?
Perhaps some mistrusted God.
Perhaps some were worried that once
they succeeded, no one would need them.
Why were the people so willing to be
led astray?
Perhaps they were so used to being
slaves they couldn’t imagine anything else.
We all know someone uncomfortable with
change, no matter how promise filled it is.
Some prefer sticking with what they
know than to step into the unknown.
Perhaps they were addicted to chaos; the
kind of people who were most happy being unhappy.
Some fear success and the added
responsibility that comes with it, so they accept failure and keep everyone
around them down.
Why do some value the currency of fear
when others use the promise of possibilities?
Sadly, the Israelites wandered the
wilderness for 40 more years,
never getting to see, feel, taste,
smell or hear what a land flowing with milk and honey was like.
Sadly, God’s compassionate heart was
broken, and God had to see as all this needlessly unfolded.
As Emmanuel embarks on our Search and
Call journey, this is a timely story to hear, for there will be so many steps,
so many possibilities, hopes, fears.
And during the Search and Call process
there will be so many questions-
-How do we follow God?
-How do we balance fear with faith?
-How do we listen to what the Holy
Spirit says?
-How do we prevent ourselves from going
back?
-How do we know that we are not
following the fear of man, but humbly walking with God?
-What timeline do we follow, and whose
timeline is it? Ours or Heaven’s?
May today’s story guide us as Emmanuel
embarks on the next chapter of its existence.
Amen and amen.
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