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When I found myself reading Deuteronomy 9 one day, it struck me as a damning indictment against those among Israel who feel self-righteous, when Israelites are beneficiaries of a promise God made to other people! Some blessings fall in our lap, but being able to keep them may be contingent upon whether we can step up to keep/maintain the blessing we received. Can we step up before someone else is awarded what we wouldn't develop ourselves enough to keep?
As we approach our topic, let us consider two well-known scenarios. First, consider lottery jackpot winners. One day, a person could be a janitor, and the next minute, that same person could be a multi-millionaire!
Unfortunately, we've heard the tragic stories so often, i.e. that within five years, many lottery winners end up losing all that money, and perhaps even filing for bankruptcy. This is, sadly, the case of many professional athletes as well. It is obvious that, unless the winner changes his/her life, changes how he/she views and handles money, changes his/her value system, or perhaps even change the people he/she associates with, it is just a matter of time before that money that so easily flowed in, flows right back out.
Let us, now, consider the flip side, as seen in the case (ironically) of a professional athlete named Doug Williams. In the world of the NFL, the black quarterback still seemed like an anomaly, to the point that his first team's owner actively worked to keep him from achieving his potential. Approaching the end of his career, and perhaps frustrated by the unnecessary roadblocks placed in his path, he took the role of a backup. But, one fateful day, a guy named Jay Schroeder got hurt, and Doug Williams' number was called.
A confluence of things happened in that 1987 season that had little to do with Williams, but yet he found himself the starting quarterback (a black man) of a team headed to the Super Bowl.
We all know the story... After the debacle in Tampa Bay, few saw Williams ascending the heights he achieved on that fateful day, a day that seemed unlikely from the moment he entered the league. Williams remains a powerful inspiration over 30 years later.
In both of these scenarios, a person became the beneficiary of a blessed opportunity that fell in their laps. They didn't do anything unusual or spectacular to earn that opportunity; however, what they did with their opportunity was entirely in their hands to maximize or to squander.
As we consider the state of the world vis-a-vis the teachings that we have received from God, and promulgated by His prophets, those who embrace the Israelite way has been given a priceless opportunity to move into a higher level of consciousness and state of being. The question before us is, can we step up?
One of the criticisms of Judaism is the concept of chosenness: how or why would God choose one group of people over another? Does God play favorites? And, if Israel is chosen, why are they so disobedient? These are certainly valid points of inquiry, but not directly relevant for our purposes today.
Instead, let us focus on why many countless adherents of Judaism take this chosenness as some sort of validation that they are better than other people, as an excuse to look down upon or judge the Gentiles, or as a reason why they don't have to change and grow.
Interestingly enough, this phenomenon where religious folks tend to think of themselves as higher or more valuable or important than other people is not restricted to Judaism, or Israelites in general. Many people, week in and week out, fill the pews, dress the part, and fill the coffers of their respective houses of worship. However, their moral and ethical compass is not working well, their grasp of religious and spiritual wisdom and concepts is often weak and superficial, and their deliberate development of their consciousness is almost non-existent.
For a people who have been chosen, or who feel special about themselves based solely because of the theology they subscribe to, so many sure have no conscious awareness that the opportunity before them is not due to anything special about them at all!
Moses spoke at length about this in Deuteronomy 9, basically telling the people, "Nothing that you did made you deserving of this opportunity. In fact, if God had not made promises to your ancestors, and if I, Moses, the man you constantly shun, ignore, and rebel against, had not pled for you, you wouldn't be here at all!"
For good measure, Moses says in Deuteronomy 9:
[24] Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.
And he, and successive prophets (as well as God Himself) constantly warned the people, "If you act a fool, I will dispossess you just as I am dispossessing the ones who were here BEFORE you."
The question before the adherent has always been, can we step up?
The allegory of being on a journey is apropos for us because the point or purpose of this Way is that we move from one place to another (higher) place.
If you've ever been to the movies, they often show previews before the featured show. The previews look really good, stimulating, even exciting. But, in order to see that show, you have to pay the money (or wait).
God has been previewing the results of living His desired and intended Way of Life for Israel (and by extension, the world) for centuries. It is a life of joy, peace and abundance, a life where there is no sickness, no war, no sorrow. It is a life that, for many, is (frankly) too good to be true! And yet, deep within, we know that it is possible (if not probable). We have seen, witnessed, and read about people who have enjoyed this type of life, even if it was only a few brief moments of ecstasy.
And yet, there exists an adversarial spirit, which many have personified or anthropomorphized as Satan or "the Devil", etc., which challenges us to lose faith in this idealized reality. This adversarial spirit has influenced the controllers of society such that oppression and opposition to goodness, love, and truth is constantly happening, where good people are persecuted unfairly, where injustice is allowed to flourish for the sake of political and financial gain. Still, the ideal stands before us, beckoning us forward, inviting us to accept and partake of the abundance.
Let us consider another analogy. Many of us watch the various programs on the Food Network. Gourmet chefs create amazing meals that look good and (presumably) taste good. Their cooking inspires us to aim higher. As we've seen, a top chef does not serve his gourmet meals on paper plates; he uses custom plating and china. A server does not pour piping hot drink into a plastic cup.
In short, the goodness of what is (available) for us to receive from on High requires a proper vessel to receive it. Can we step up?
Being born in is not enough. Having an established family lineage, or a strong attendance record, or a large sum of financial contributions attributed to your name is not sufficient to earn the opportunity with which we have been presented.
The question is, can we change our heart to receive this opportunity with all humility? Can we open our hearts to accept and acknowledge our state of sin and our shortcomings, and yet, with thankfulness, appreciate that God still loves us and wants a relationship with us? Can we open our minds and hearts to accept a higher and greater reality, even as we may not be able to directly perceive? Can we change the focus of our life from this world to focus on higher world? Are we bold enough to embrace those higher teachings, even as those in this world shun them or ridicule them? Are we courageous enough to do what's right if everyone is looking fearfully at you?
It must be real, for God is not a man that He should lie, not the Son of Man, that He should repent.1 If He says it's available, it is. It then falls to us to either step up in preparation to receive, or not.
Even in our condition, with karma playing out, with oppression continuing unabated, with secularism and hedonism actively being promoted, where media firms make money from using the downfall and shaming of others as entertainment--even in these dire straits, "if, from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul."2
For me, the question is not "can we?", for we would not have been offered the opportunity if we couldn't. The question is, will we step up?
1Numbers 23:19
2Deuteronomy 4:29
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