Surely the people expected that following the Lord who had
done such marvels in the plagues of Egypt and at the Red Sea was going to be
something that would be a true delight.
Those forty years in the wilderness could hardly be described in that
way. Moses says that all that was a
test, the Lord humbling the people to see if they would come to love His
commandments more than anything else.
Later, prophets like Hosea will write that this was a time of blessing
even though it was a time of privation, for it was just the Lord and His
people. The exile to Babylon was for the
same purpose, to wean the nation from prosperity and their attachment to it in
order that they be dependent on Him as all in all. How many of you have been tested for forty
years? We aren’t ready for blessing
until we know that there is nothing that compares with Him, until we are truly
satisfied in Him. Moses worried about
their ability to handle prosperity, he knew the allure of the stuff of earth
and how easy it is to seek satisfaction in those things.
The crowds don’t know what to make of Jesus, He is an enigma
to them. The disciples need to have no
such doubts about Him and Peter gets it right, “The Christ of God.” The real issue is, what does that mean? Jesus knows that they think that means that
He will set up the Davidic throne and Jerusalem will be the center of the
universe, Israel will be the most important place and nation because God will
have established it as His own place of dwelling. No, Jesus says, He must suffer and die and if
they will follow Him it will require them to take up their cross daily. Not a single one of them signed on for
that. They had no idea what was in store
for them or for Him. We must develop the
attitude of detachment for the things of the world, even our own life,
reputation, etc. if we are to follow Him.
Praying for His kingdom to come, longing for it rather than kingdom of
earth is the first step in that journey of radical detachment.
James’ attitude toward trial and mine don’t always line
up. I can’t always say that I count it
all joy when I face trials, my first reaction is generally otherwise. He’s right though, just as Moses noted in our
first lesson. Trials are an opportunity
for growth and measurement, just like testing in school. I can be prepared for a test and measure how
I am doing or I can fail to prepare and more likely also fail the test. Trials are generally a way of moving me away
from the world and from desire, measuring how and where I take delight. Losing something or being denied something
becomes a way of knowing what I find important.
None of us start with a blank slate when we come to the Lord, we have
already found ways of filling our lives and the process of denying self and
following Christ generally requires Him to deny us the fulfillment of other
desires. We don’t know how to deny self, we don’t see what it is that holds us
until we have to deal with desire denied fulfillment.
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