The Wild Places - Day 9

Friday, March 22

Numbers 13:17-33

17 When Moses sent them out to explore the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the arid southern plain and into the mountains.18 You must inspect the land. What is it like? Are the people who live in it strong or weak, few or many? 19 Is the land in which they live good or bad? Are the towns in which they live camps or fortresses? 20 Is the land rich or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous and bring back the land’s fruit.” It was the season of the first ripe grapes.

21 They went up and explored the land from the Zin desert to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath. 22 They went up into the arid southern plain and entered Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of the Anakites, lived. (Hebron was built seven years before Tanis in Egypt.) 23 Then they entered the Cluster ravine, cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and carried it on a pole between them. They also took pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Cluster ravine because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelites cut down from there.

\25 They returned from exploring the land after forty days. 26 They went directly to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Paran desert at Kadesh. They brought back a report to them and to the entire community and showed them the land’s fruit. 27 Then they gave their report: “We entered the land to which you sent us. It’s actually full of milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 There are, however, powerful people who live in the land. The cities have huge fortifications. And we even saw the descendants of the Anakites there. 29 The Amalekites live in the land of the arid southern plain; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the mountains; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

30 Now Caleb calmed the people before Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of it, because we are more than able to do it.”

31 But the men who went up with him said, “We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we.” 32 They started a rumor about the land that they had explored, telling the Israelites, “The land that we crossed over to explore is a land that devours its residents. All the people we saw in it are huge men. 33 We saw there the Nephilim (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We saw ourselves as grasshoppers, and that’s how we appeared to them.”

Points of Interest

nullWild places are often transitional places, and in between the known past and the unknown future. These times, what are called liminal spaces, are where most transformation and growth occurs, with that catch that they are also times of uncertainty and risk. But seen this way, our wild places of uncertainty and confusion can be great gifts to us, if we are humble and curious and patient.Perhaps you’re troubled by the hints of violence in this passage – the question at hand is how to “take possession” of someone else’s land.  Well, there are different opinions on this, but scholarly consensus is that the generation after Moses did not literally destroy the cities and residents of ancient Canaan. There are several theories regarding the ancient origins of the people of Israel, but they are all less violent and more complicated than that. Therefore, we’ll read this passage as it was likely meant to be read – as a metaphor for many other situations in which the future is potentially bright but full of risk and uncertainty.I see three parts of our relationship to an unknown future. The first we’ll call “Investigate the Future.” A team of spies walk through the land and inspect its fruit. This time is marked by curiosity and hope.

The Wild Places - Day 8

Thursday, March 21Exodus 33:12-34:9 12 Moses said to the Lord, “Look, you’ve been telling me, ‘Lead these people forward.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. Yet you’ve assured me, ‘I know you by name and think highly of you.’13 Now if you do think highly of me, show me your ways so that I may know you and so that you may really approve of me. Remember too that this nation is your people.” 14 The Lord replied, “I’ll go myself, and I’ll help you.” 15 Moses replied, “If you won’t go yourself, don’t make us leave here.16 Because how will anyone know that we have your special approval, both I and your people, unless you go with us? Only that distinguishes us, me and your people, from every other people on the earth.” 17 The Lord said to Moses, “I’ll do exactly what you’ve asked because you have my special approval, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glorious presence.” 19 The Lord said, “I’ll make all my goodness pass in front of you, and I’ll proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord.’ I will be kind to whomever I wish to be kind, and I will have compassion to whomever I wish to be compassionate. 20 But,” the Lord said, “you can’t see my face because no one can see me and live.” 21 The Lord said, “Here is a place near me where you will stand beside the rock. 22 As my glorious presence passes by, I’ll set you in a gap in the rock, and I’ll cover you with my hand until I’ve passed by. 23 Then I’ll take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face won’t be visible.” 34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones. I’ll write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke into pieces. 2 Get ready in the morning and come up to Mount Sinai. Stand there on top of the mountain in front of me. 3 No one else can come up with you. Don’t allow anyone even to be seen anywhere on the mountain. Don’t even let sheep and cattle graze in front of the mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning and climbed up Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him. He carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him, and proclaimed the name, “The Lord.” 6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:     “The Lord! The Lord!     a God who is compassionate and merciful,         very patient,         full of great loyalty and faithfulness, 7         showing great loyalty to a thousand generations,         forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion,         yet by no means clearing the guilty,         punishing for their parents’ sins         their children and their grandchildren,         as well as the third and the fourth generation.” 8 At once Moses bowed to the ground and worshipped. 9 He said, “If you approve of me, my Lord, please go along with us. Although these are stubborn people, forgive our guilt and our sin and take us as your own possession.”

Points of Interest

nullI find these opening verses adorable. Moses expresses the fear and vulnerability that all leaders experience, and God offers presence and partnership. God knows and likes Moses and won’t ever abandon him or his work. Jesus taught the radical idea that God feels this way about all of us, that we’re all God’s favorites. A moment when people in some way see or experience Divine presence is called – from God’s perspective – theophany, appearance of God. From the human perspective, it’s spiritual experience. Jesus and his first followers democratized these experiences, promising not constant but increasing felt, experienced sense of God with us.Moses’ most intimate encounter with God occurs while he is alone, out on a mountainside in the wilderness. It also occurs while he is in the wild place of aging, fear, loneliness, and anxiety, just after a crisis in his community that teste...

The Wild Places - Day 7

Wednesday, March 20

Exodus 32:1-14 32 The people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain. They gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come on! Make us gods who can lead us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t have a clue what has happened to him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “All right, take out the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took out the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He collected them and tied them up in a cloth. Then he made a metal image of a bull calf, and the people declared, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf. Then Aaron announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” 6 They got up early the next day and offered up entirely burned offerings and brought well-being sacrifices. The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to celebrate. 7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Hurry up and go down! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, are ruining everything!8 They’ve already abandoned the path that I commanded. They have made a metal bull calf for themselves. They’ve bowed down to it and offered sacrifices to it and declared, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I’ve been watching these people, and I’ve seen how stubborn they are.10 Now leave me alone! Let my fury burn and devour them. Then I’ll make a great nation out of you.” 11 But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, “Lord, why does your fury burn against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and amazing force? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He had an evil plan to take the people out and kill them in the mountains and so wipe them off the earth’? Calm down your fierce anger. Change your mind about doing terrible things to your own people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, whom you yourself promised, ‘I’ll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. And I’ve promised to give your descendants this whole land to possess for all time.’” 14 Then the Lord changed his mind about the terrible things he said he would do to his people.

Points of Interest

Just after we read of the commandment to not trade in the living, passionate god for dead, controllable idols, people do just that. Why the move to idol making when Moses has been missing? We get hints of fear, abandonment, loneliness, stress, and boredom – the conditions both then and now in which individuals and communities easily lose our path.The people want “gods who can lead us” and Aaron, their priest, makes a golden bull calf. This might represent the Egyptian calf idol Apis, associated with royal divinity. It might also be a nod to the region’s fertility gods – the need for harvests and children and the fear of drought or infertility being the great anxiety of ancient agricultural societies in arid areas. Perhaps it’s good for humans to reach for the living God in these anxieties, rather than avoid our fears through idols. Lest we put too much of a distance between our own times and these ancient religious practices, remember that the United States has our own actual golden bull idol – the popular New York City tourist attraction whose virility now represents wealth and fortune – the longing for abundance and the fear of scarcity being one of the great anxieties of our age. Perhaps it’s good for humans to reach for the living God in these anxieties, rather than avoid our fears through busy industry.In last week’s passages, Moses was regularly stressed and fed up with people, while God was a calming and loving presence.

The Wild Places - Day 6

Tuesday, March 19

Exodus 20:1-21 (CEB) 20 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You must have no other gods before me. 4 Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 5 Do not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the Lord your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents’ sins even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. 6 But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 Do not use the Lord your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the Lord won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way. 8 Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. 9 Six days you may work and do all your tasks, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Do not do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you. 11 Because the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 Do not kill. 14 Do not commit adultery. 15 Do not steal. 16 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor. 17 Do not desire your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor. 18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking, the people shook with fear and stood at a distance. 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, because God has come only to test you and to make sure you are always in awe of God so that you don’t sin.” 21 The people stood at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness in which God was present.

Points of Interest

At Mount Sinai, out in the wilderness, God has some things to say to the people. The wild places, as it turns out, are a great time for re-centering, re-calibrating our life course. But first, a reminder of just who’s talking to them – the god who brought them out of slavery. It would be easy to hear this as a guilt trip, but I think it’s meant to clarify what’s going on here. God’s reminding them that the purpose of this whole journey through the wild places, and whatever spiritual or ethical journey these commandments take them on, is liberation.  There’s been centuries of debate about what to do today with these ancient commandments. Some people want them on the walls of public buildings, while others think they’re utterly irrelevant for modern life. I receive them as my own faith tradition’s oldest, most central ethical teaching, guideposts for living that promise more liberation. The commandment against idol-making is tied to God’s passion. Idols – physical representations of unseen gods, be they religious statues or any other objects of devotion and control – are nothing if not dispassionate. God is clear that God is more alive than that – passionate in consequence perhaps but far more passionate in loyalty and love. God wants to be related to as a Person, not an object or idea.The command to regular rest is liberating – there is more to life than work! It is also hospitable – it is for the immigrants, it’s even for the animals. Worth keeping in mind when we consider that the lowest pay and lowest status jobs in our own economy tend don’t have paid vacation times and often involve long or inconvenient hours...

The Wild Places - Day 5

Monday, March 18

We continue in our second week of Lent reading passages from the wilderness narratives that sit between Israel’s deliverance from slavery and their arrival in the Promised Land. The founding stories of this people of faith include rescue and promise, but also the chaos and confusion of wild places.  

Exodus 19:1-9a (CEB)19 On exactly the third-month anniversary of the Israelites’ leaving the land of Egypt, they came into the Sinai desert. 2 They traveled from Rephidim, came into the Sinai desert, and set up camp there. Israel camped there in front of the mountain 3 while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him from the mountain, “This is what you should say to Jacob’s household and declare to the Israelites: 4 You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to me. 5 So now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most precious possession out of all the peoples, since the whole earth belongs to me. 6 You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation. These are the words you should say to the Israelites.” 7 So Moses came down, called together the people’s elders, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 The people all responded with one voice: “Everything that the Lord has said we will do.” Moses reported to the Lord what the people said. 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I’m about to come to you in a thick cloud in order that the people will hear me talking with you so that they will always trust you.”

Points of Interest

It’s striking how people so often encounter God away from busy economy and industry of human habitation. Certainly, the early Israelites’ primary places of encountering God are not in any human-constructed building. Bible scholar Wes Howard-Brook: “Moses encountered YHWH outside of Egypt, outside of empire, in the wilderness and at a mountain. These two sites are repeated places in which YHWH encounters Israel. It is where the authority of the state cannot reach.” (Come Out, My People, 143) The image of the eagles’ wings is a beautiful maternal image for the Divine. God scoops up her young to hold and to treasure, and in time to represent God to the whole earth as well. Many Jews have historically understood themselves as a chosen people, to be specially loved by God and especially equipped to represent the love and justice of God to the whole earth. The New Testament (in the letter Hebrews) also appropriates this responsibility to all followers of Jesus – to experience unique communion with God and to represent the love and justice of God to all the earth as well. Along with many other things, Moses passes on the eagles’ wings and holy priesthood news to the whole assembly, and the people shout out in unison: We’ll do everything that God says. I love that God’s response is to tell Moses: I think we should talk where they can overhear us, because I’m not so sure they understand. A funny moment in divine revelation. A small but interesting note. God wants people to hear God talking to Moses, not so that the people will trust God more (although that’s probably also true), but so that they will trust and listen to Moses. This is pretty sweet backing Moses gets from God, and also maybe a note of realism in how hard leadership and group learning really is. No matter how eager people may be, it takes a lot of trust and a lot of time for communities to learn new things and to change in any way. Change is hard.

A Direction for Prayer

Pray for your faith community’s calling to ride on eagle’s wings and be a holy priesthood. Pray that your faith community will experience God’s love and protection and represent the love and justice of God to your city.

The Wild Places - Day 4

Friday, March 15

Exodus 17:1-717 The whole Israelite community broke camp and set out from the Sin desert to continue their journey, as the Lord commanded. They set up their camp at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.2 The people argued with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”Moses said to them, “Why are you arguing with me? Why are you testing the Lord?”3 But the people were very thirsty for water there, and they complained to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with this people? They are getting ready to stone me.”5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of Israel’s elders with you. Take in your hand the shepherd’s rod that you used to strike the Nile River, and go. 6 I’ll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Hit the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will be able to drink.” Moses did so while Israel’s elders watched.7 He called the place Massahand Meribah, because the Israelites argued with and tested the Lord, asking, “Is the Lord really with us or not?”

Points of Interest

The trials of the wilderness continue, and again everybody but God is angry and stressed and up in arms. We’re not meant to stand apart, but see ourselves in this. The trouble and chaos of our wild places are not signs that our life has gone astray or is failing; they are signs that we are alive. Every life includes the chaos and hunger and need of the wilds.God works through Moses and his leadership team to provide water, water reminiscent of the abundance of the Nile. Just as we long for refreshment in our wild places, God longs to refresh. The New Testament (I Corinthians 10 3:4) creatively, mystically represents God’s regular refreshment in this rock, imagining the water-flowing rock following the people of God, and naming that rock to be Christ. Whatever the nature of our faith in or connection to Jesus, it’s meant to feel like steady water in the desert. Moses calls the place Testing and Quarreling (“Massah and Meribah”) because he remembers the stress of the arguments and the testing of his leadership. God calls this place The Mountain of the Sun (“Horeb” relates to the word for sun). A beautiful, mighty thing has happened here. Again, the power of perspective. What would it take for our very places of testing and quarreling be transfigured into seasons of beauty and light?As we continue in the wilderness narratives, we’ll note that we skipped a verse that foretold it would be like this for forty years. (Exodus 16:35 – “The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to a livable land.”) The journey from Egypt to Canaan is not that far – it’s a multi-day trip, not the voyage of a lifetime. There’s a great deal of meaning to this forty-year span, just as there can be a myriad of ways of seeing the symbolism of our forty days of Lent. The scholar Wes Howard-Brook notes, “This length of time is a round number symbolizing both a lifetime and a pregnancy…. Manna, in this sense, is akin to amniotic fluid and mother’s milk. It comes directly from YHWH’s (the Hebrew name for God, translated “The Lord”) ‘body’, i.e. creation itself, to feed Israel in utero and while nursing.” (Come Out, My People, 150).

Could the troubles and opportunity of your own wild place be a microcosm for your while life? What is the gift God wants you to know in your life? What is the lesson God wants to teach you for you to pass on? 

Could your current wild place, with all its troubles, also be a season of preparation for new birth? What life is God growing and nurturing in you, currently unseen, that in time may be yours to share with the world?

The Wild Places - Day 3

Thursday, March 14

Exodus 16:13-3013 In the evening a flock of quail flew down and covered the camp. And in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the desert surface were thin flakes, as thin as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” They didn’t know what it was.Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Collect as much of it as each of you can eat, one omer per person. You may collect for the number of people in your household.’” 17 The Israelites did as Moses said, some collecting more, some less. 18 But when they measured it out by the omer, the ones who had collected more had nothing left over, and the ones who had collected less had no shortage. Everyone collected just as much as they could eat. 19 Moses said to them, “Don’t keep any of it until morning.” 20 But they didn’t listen to Moses. Some kept part of it until morning, but it became infested with worms and stank. Moses got angry with them. 21 Every morning they gathered it, as much as each person could eat. But when the sun grew hot, it melted away.22 On the sixth day the people collected twice as much food as usual, two omers per person. All the chiefs of the community came and told Moses.23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. But you can set aside and keep all the leftovers until the next morning.’” 24 So they set the leftovers aside until morning, as Moses had commanded. They didn’t stink or become infested with worms. 25 The next day Moses said, “Eat it today, because today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you won’t find it out in the field. 26 Six days you will gather it. But on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be nothing to gather.”27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather bread, but they found nothing. 28 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to obey my commandments and instructions? 29 Look! The Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day he gives you enough food for two days. Each of you should stay where you are and not leave your place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Points of Interest

The miracle of this wilderness begins with bread and meat, but especially bread. There’s more than enough for each person, a whole omer (which is about eight cups worth – that’s a lot of bread)! The root of this magical food means “what?” in Hebrew; I love that they name this bread “what-is-this.” So there is food for hunger of the belly and mystery and beauty for huger of the soul. Lest we forget, our stomachs and our hearts, our bodies and our imaginations both need feeding. Another part of the magic of God’s food is how it interacts with space and time. Aggressive gatherers can’t overfeed, and folks that struggle to keep up – the physically disabled, the young, the old, the easily distracted – still have enough. And this food’s sell-by date is always today. It can’t be stored up for the future. How much of our life is robbed by our obsession with the future? God’s interested in nudging us back to today again and again. This is the day in which we’re alive. This is the day.The other miracle of this wilderness is called the Sabbath, which means rest. Rest has got to be one of the least strategic activities in wild places. Out of control? Lost in the wilderness? Overwhelmed? In chaos, duress, or confusion? To not do anything, to simply rest seems counter-intuitive. But rest is part, maybe a seventh part, of what people in all places – wild places included – need. In this story, God bends the laws of biology and physics to make this point,

The Wild Places - Day 2

Wednesday, March 13

Exodus 16:1-1216 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Sin desert, which is located between Elim and Sinai. They set out on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt.2 The whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. 3 The Israelites said to them, “Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.”4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I’m going to make bread rain down from the sky for you. The people will go out each day and gather just enough for that day. In this way, I’ll test them to see whether or not they follow my Instruction. 5 On the sixth day, when they measure out what they have collected, it will be twice as much as they collected on other days.”6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.7 And in the morning you will see the Lord’s glorious presence, because your complaints against the Lord have been heard. Who are we? Why blame us?” 8 Moses continued, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning because the Lord heard the complaints you made against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren’t against us but against the Lord.”9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole Israelite community, ‘Come near to the Lord, because he’s heard your complaints.’” 10 As Aaron spoke to the whole Israelite community, they turned to look toward the desert, and just then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared in the cloud.11 The Lord spoke to Moses, 12 “I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat. And in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

Points of Interest

God’s newly freed people leave the oasis named after the god “El” and enter the desert named for the Canaanite moon-god Sin. (The connection to the English word for missing the mark or bad living is entirely coincidental.) The God of Israel proves again and again to not just be another tribal god. This Divine Mother/Father/Creator/Guide can be found everywhere and anywhere, even in places dedicated to or known for other gods. It’s easy to get a little judgy about these stories of constant grumbling and complaining, unless we notice the time. It’s been forty-three days on the road, on foot in a hot, dry land without enough water or foot. I’d be pretty whiny myself!In hard or confusing times, it’s easy to lose perspective. Forty-three days of trouble, and they wish they had died. That, or they wish they could return to what their life used to be; they fondly remember the occasional big, fireside meal, forgetting they were enslaved! The hangry (hungry + angry) people lose perspective both in romanticizing their past and in blaming God. I think we see two temptations we all face in hard times – fantasy for a life we wish we had but that doesn’t exist, and fear that God or life or the universe is out to rob us of the good we wish we had, or that others have now.  This loss of perspective only compounds our pain. The people aren’t just hot and hungry, they’re also alienated and bitter.Once again, Moses is understandably, predictably stressed and defensive. God is not. God devises a rain-bread-from-the-sky and fat-birds-gather-at-twilight plan to address the hunger of the people God loves. God attaches a learning opportunity to God’s provision. In hard times, God is interested in taking care of us, but also teaching us. We’ll examine this lesson more tomorrow, but it seems related to learning to live in the ...

The Wild Places - Day 1

Tuesday, March 12

We’ll spend the first two weeks of Lent reading passages from the wilderness narratives that sit between Israel’s deliverance from slavery and their arrival in the Promised Land. The founding stories of this people of faith include rescue and promise, but also the chaos and confusion of wild places.

Exodus 15:22-27 (CEB)22 Then Moses had Israel leave the Reed Sea and go out into the Shur desert. They traveled for three days in the desert and found no water.23 When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink Marah’s water because it was bitter. That’s why it was called Marah. 24 The people complained against Moses, “What will we drink?” 25 Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD pointed out a tree to him. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.The LORD made a regulation and a ruling there, and there he tested them. 26 The LORD said, “If you are careful to obey the LORD your God, do what God thinks is right, pay attention to his commandments, and keep all of his regulations, then I won’t bring on you any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the LORD who heals you.” 27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They camped there by the water.

Points of Interest

The Shur desert lies to the northeast of Egypt. It’s a dry place on the road away from the fertile Nile delta. The word “marah” means bitter. The final place, Elim, is likely connected to the ancient Canaanite root word for god, “El,” meaning this name for this oasis might mean something like “Land of the gods.” Coming out of a hard and dry season of life, it’s easy to lose our way in bitterness before we reach the land of God.I find Moses and God’s reactions to bitterness to be interesting. Moses is stressed out, as leaders usually are when managing bitter or angry people. That’s normal God is not stressed out. God recognizes that embittered people need to taste something sweet, and God’s glad to provide that.Let’s notice the bargain God does and doesn’t strike. God doesn’t criticize them for their bitterness or tell them to never again feel embittered. God says to them in this wild, empty place: Follow me, do what I say. I know the way out of here. I am the one who heals you, again and again, as I just did. God’s response to our problems is healing, not judgment.The people have the good sense to not just fuel up at the oasis and move on, but to camp out for a while. In busy, hectic times, it seems to me we rush on from most of our sweetest experiences of relief, without pausing to enjoy and savor a bit. Life is a journey – we always keep moving – but there’s time and space to camp out a bit and enjoy the best parts.

A Direction for Prayer

Pray for any of your friends or family who seem lost or embittered, that the God who heals would drop that tree of sweetness into their lives, bringing the kindness and relief they need.

Spiritual Exercise of the Week

Honest Prayer and Requests for Encounter, Discovery, and Rescue – This week, you are invited to name a place in your life where you are out of your element, beyond your resources, or out of control. Tell God about this. How is it that you want to experience God’s faithful love with you? What do you hope to learn in this season? How is it that you would like God to rescue you?

The Wild Places - Introduction

Monday, March 11

We begin our guide with our longest passage – a poem of encounter and discovery in wild places. 

Psalm 107 (CEB) “Give thanks to the Lord because he is good,         because his faithful love lasts forever!” 2 That’s what those who are redeemed by the Lord say,     the ones God redeemed from the power of their enemies, 3     the ones God gathered from various countries,     from east and west, north and south.4 Some of the redeemed had wandered into the desert, into the wasteland.     They couldn’t find their way to a city or town. 5 They were hungry and thirsty;     their lives were slipping away. 6 So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,     and God delivered them from their desperate circumstances. 7     God led them straight to human habitation. 8 Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love     and his wondrous works for all people, 9     because God satisfied the one who was parched with thirst,     and he filled up the hungry with good things!10 Some of the redeemed had been sitting in darkness and deep gloom;     they were prisoners suffering in chains 11     because they had disobeyed God’s instructions     and rejected the Most High’s plans. 12 So God humbled them with hard work.     They stumbled, and there was no one to help them. 13 So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,     and God saved them from their desperate circumstances. 14 God brought them out from the darkness and deep gloom;     he shattered their chains. 15 Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love     and his wondrous works for all people, 16     because God has shattered bronze doors     and split iron bars in two!17 Some of the redeemed were fools because of their sinful ways.     They suffered because of their wickedness. 18 They had absolutely no appetite for food;     they had arrived at death’s gates. 19 So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,     and God saved them from their desperate circumstances. 20 God gave the order and healed them;     he rescued them from their pit. 21 Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love     and his wondrous works for all people. 22 Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices     and declare what God has done in songs of joy!23 Some of the redeemed had gone out on the ocean in ships,     making their living on the high seas. 24 They saw what the Lord had made;     they saw his wondrous works in the depths of the sea. 25 God spoke and stirred up a storm     that brought the waves up high. 26 The waves went as high as the sky;     they crashed down to the depths. The sailors’ courage melted at this terrible situation. 27     They staggered and stumbled around like they were drunk.     None of their skill was of any help. 28 So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,     and God brought them out safe from their desperate circumstances. 29 God quieted the storm to a whisper;     the sea’s waves were hushed. 30 So they rejoiced because the waves had calmed down;     then God led them to the harbor they were hoping for. 31 Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love     and his wondrous works for all people. 32 Let them exalt God in the congregation of the people     and praise God in the assembly of the elders.33 God turns rivers into desert,     watery springs into thirsty ground, 34     fruitful land into unproductive dirt,         when its inhabitants are wicked. 35 But God can also turn the desert into watery pools,     thirsty ground into watery springs, 36     where he settles the hungry. They even build a city and live there! 37     They plant fields and vineyards     and obtain a fruitful harvest. 38 God blesses them, and they become many.     God won’t even let their cattle diminish. 39 But when they do diminish—     when they’re brought down by oppression, trouble, and grief— 40     God pours contempt on their leaders,