Copyright ©2019 by The Good Elder. All rights reserved.
In recent months and years, one of the things that has troubled me most as a minister is seeing how accustomed people are to, and how comfortable people are in relying on the goodness and power of others to direct and manage their soul salvation. This, of course, is an impossible feat, for two reasons. First, no one is all good. Second, no matter how good one may be, no one has the power to stand in the stead of another at the "Judgment".
Unfortunately, it has been ingrained into the minds of the masses that "somebody else will do it".1 Those who believe in the spiritual world and the evolution of the soul must eventually understand, accept, and then pursue their own soul growth. Others may teach, advise, or serve as examples, but no one can do that work for you.
The concern and frustration I felt in these moments of contemplation developed into the following message.
There is an old play written by Edmond Rostand entitled "Cyrano de Bergerac", which is loosely based on the life of a real person from the 17th Century. Even if we have not read or seen this play, the one thing from it that has seeped into popular culture is the fact that the title character, suffering from a crisis of confidence due to his large nose, sought to connect with his romantic love interest through a third party. He wanted someone else to do the work of making her fall in love with him (i.e. to be his face while he hid in the shadows).
The problem he ended up with was that the woman actually did fall in love with the guy, to the point where Cyrano could not swoop in after the fact to reap the benefits. In fact, when the love interest finally realized the truth that Cyrano was the romantic who had penned the words that captured her heart, he was still not willing or able to acknowledge the truth, which he (sadly) took to his grave.
This play dramatizes a common phenomenon among people and romantic relationships. We all have been fixed up with a good person by someone we know, someone who will make us look good, someone who will smooth out the path before us. This isn't unreasonable, but at some point, if there is going to be a lasting relationship, we have to let the friend step aside and we step in ourselves; we have to get to know the person for ourselves, and we have to let them get to know us. The one who fixed you up can't be a third wheel for the entire life of the relationship.
Although this is common sense, we seem to throw this knowing out of the window when it comes to developing a relationship with God. Religion exists simply to help us get to know Him for yourself.
Our anchoring scripture brings us face to face (again) with the single biggest error/sin among the children of Israel: idol worship. With the palpable presence of God, it seems that the people were not only fearful of Him, but also kept their distance, pushing Moses out there to bond with God (and later, Joshua), but not really trying to know Him for themselves.
For a people to whom God introduced Himself personally, a people whom God delivered with a mighty hand and outstreched arm; a people whom He fed with manna from heaven and water from a rock; a people whom He guided with a pillar of cloud/fire, they sure seemed to be either forgetful, ungrateful, or both.
After they had inhabited Canaan Land, the exceedingly good land flowing with milk and honey, there was no war; so there was time for the people to contemplate spiritual and Godly things without the distraction of war and the need to survive. But, it seems that too few actually did this. There seems to be a disconnect, for we see that they had enough respect of God's presence and power to fear Him, but not enough gratitude to appreciate Him. For, how could they continue to live off of the sustenance and good fortune that He provided, but yet seek out other gods, or worse, supplant His influence with a man?
It seems that Moses' concern in Deuteronomy 8:11-18, where Israel would forget about the LORD when they got comfortable, came to pass; and it is still a danger today.
Two of the most damning parts in this scripture (1st Samuel 8):
[5] ...make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
and
[20] ...that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
If we look critically at this request, we will recognize the humbling truth that God was already doing what they wanted from a king! By Moses' request, God was going before Israel. In fact, there was the pillar of cloud/fire, and then there were the victories over larger, stronger foes in Canaan. What was a human king going to do that God wasn't already doing (never mind that He was doing it better)? Certainly, nothing, so why were the people so adamant about having a human king?
I contend that two things come into play here. First, they were not willing to (or comfortable with) being different from others. They wanted to fit in--but the Israelites never have fit in, even from the time they first went down into Egypt. In the name of fitting in, Israel has been willing to give up its heritage, its birthright to commune with and come to know God, and to be sons/daughters of God.
Second, I observe the seeds of the "permanent lesser state" doctrine. In other words, there were (and are still today) those who (are taught to) feel so far removed from God (or so sinful, damaged, or tarnished) that they cannot ever possibly rise to a level of having a meaningful relationship with God without being consumed/destroyed first. And, frankly, in the case of some, there is a resistance to exert the effort required to build an increasingly deep relationship with God. Yet, this is precisely why God called Israel to be His people! My mentor taught, "Whom the LORD specifies, He qualifies..." even when "it does not yet appear what we shall be"2.
Furthermore, the thing that Israel claimed to be afraid of, i.e. of being consumed by God's fiery presence, had already happened (Deuteronomy 4):
[32] For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
[33] Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
In short, for every concern or worry that Israel offered, God had already demonstrated that their concern or worry was unwarranted. Thus, we find ourselves left with only one remaining thing: willful estrangement. In other words, we just haven't wanted to do. It is so much easier to push someone else up to take the heat for us, while we stay hidden, remain in the shadows (or so we think). God sees all, so the only thing that we remain is unchanged, undeveloped, and unconverted.
Giving up power to another may seem to absolve us of responsibility (i.e. "they did it to us" or "this is their fault"), but it does not. We see that the monarchy eventually led the people astray and to a disastrous end. But, if the people had had their own relationship with God, they would not have given up their power (to be used against them) and they would not have been led astray.
Many of us, spiritually speaking, are like adolescent children. We want all the benefits of freedom from parental oversight, but don't want to accept the consequences of living independently. They don't want to pay bills, or be responsible for income to pay for shelter, food, and clothes, etc. Just like with parents and child, one day, the child will be pushed out of the nest. There will be no more freeloading, and no more outsourcing of responsibility or accountability.
It can be scary, but it is an opportunity to stand, and opportunity that we have prepared for our whole lives to date; it is a challenge that we are capable of meeting--if we only would. It is made worse when we are not proactive, when we have not developed a relationship with God for ourselves.
We want the blessings, but don't want to be held responsible for living in a state of righteousness/holiness required to receive those blessings. We don't want the responsibility of living right. We want a middle man there, a third wheel, to help take the pressure off. That's fine--at first! But Israel is called to know God for themselves. Israel is supposed to be a light for others, but how can that be if we, ourselves, are hiding from our own Light?
We need to get to know God for ourselves! We can't teach and talk about what we don't know about.
We must get out of the habit of looking for a parent, a preacher, a concept--anything other than God--to (always) stand between us and God! We will never receive all the blessings promised to us if someone else is doing all the work and accepting all of the accountability.
That one, that example doing all the work and taking all the heat will be blessed, not because we ourselves aren't capable, but because we've given them our power. Get to know Him for yourself!
1See this link.
21st John 3:2
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