Lent 2010 #12

Numbers 14:10b-24 (NRSV)

Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.

And the Lord said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me? And how long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they." 

But Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for in your might you brought up this people from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people; for you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill this people all at one time, then the nations who have heard about you will say, 'It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them that he has slaughtered them in the wilderness.' And now, therefore, let the power of the Lord be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying, 

'The Lord is slow to anger, 

and abounding in steadfast love, 

forgiving iniquity and transgression, 

but by no means clearing the guilty, 

visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children 

to the third and the fourth generation.'

Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now."

Then the Lord said, "I do forgive, just as you have asked; nevertheless—as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of theLord— none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested me these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

THOUGHTS: 

I run into a lot of people who think that the so-called "Old Testament God" is an angry God more  interested in smiting people than in giving them the benefit of the doubt. At first glance today's text appears to fit right into that assumption. In verse 12 we read that the people have tried God's patience long enough. God is ready to strike the people with pestilence and disinherit them. It look like God is mad; get out of the way.

It's for this reason that Moses' response is so surprising, or at first glance stupid.  We might expect Moses to cut his losses and try to get out of Dodge (or at least the wilderness).  Instead, Moses takes God on; he argues with God. Moses ostensibly "mouths off" to God, using God's own words to make an argument.

If this were a scene in a play, I would imagine the cast running for wings while the audience gasped in fear for lone Moses standing there in the spotlight before God on an otherwise pitch black stage. And then, afraid to exhale, the audience would watch Moses neither run for stage right nor cower in fear, but fervently gesture towards the Most High as he reminded God of promises God already made: "The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression but by no means clearing the guilty" (v. 18). And Lo and behold: God listens.

What I love about this is Moses' audacity to quote God back to God. And Moses can do this because he starts with an important assumption: God is just. Now Moses doesn't sugarcoat what this means. He knows that the actions of the people will not be without consequence; he knows that God will judge them as we read at the end of verse 18. But Moses presumes that God is just; that God always is who God is. Moses pressures that even in the worst situations, God does not change from love to hate but remains love even in the midst of human faithlessness. So Moses argues with God because he trusts that he is dealing with a just God who really wants love, forgiveness, and deliverance for his people.

I run into a lot of people who believe that God is angry; that God wants to smite them or damn them or punish them. But Moses reminds us of something different. God is just no matter how unjust or unfaithful we have been. God is faithful to the promises God made to us, even when we don't deserve them.

Now we're invited to trust God's justice enough that we hold God to it, too!


PRAYER: 

God, so often we carry our sins with us and try to hide them from you. Lord, teach us not to fear but to trust you and your justice…for ourselves, our loved ones and our world.  Amen.

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Thoughts by Rev. Amy Sevimli, Assistant to the Bishop, Metro D.C. Synod of the ELCA, www.dcyoungadults.org

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These devotions for young adults are provided by:

Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University http://www.gmu.edu/org/lutheran

Lutheran Student Association at the University of Maryland http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~lutheran/lsa/

DC Young Adults http://www.dcyoungadults.org/

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