Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

At the foot of the mountain

Thursday, March 15, 2018

From Exodus 32 and John 5
The Lord said to Moses, "Go down at once to your people. They have become depraved." ... Jesus said, "The Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.

Moses has been gone too long. Is he dead? He walked away in silence not just one week, but five weeks ago. Where is our leader? Where is God?

"No one was cooking. No one was eating. The universe had gone through convulsions. Heaven and earth had collided. Aaron felt their agitation as a storm that was about to break. He could scarcely breathe. All the laws were gone. Bloody passions soon would destroy this people right where they sat, at the foot of the mountain" (The Book of God by Walter Wangerin, Jr., p. 140).

Desperate for something their eyes could see, they crafted a golden calf, offered sacrifices at its altar and prepared a feast. Their agitation eased and once again they felt joy. But this was not the way of the Lord, who chose them but would not appear to them, except in pillars of cloud and fire.

So Jesus is right when he says, "You have never heard his voice nor seen his form." Only a select few prophets heard his voice, and no one had seen his form, until the incarnation. Until Jesus brought both voice and form to the descendants of those at the foot of Mt. Sinai.

Still, how could they believe? Their ancestors were killed for worshipping something their hands could touch and their eyes could see. The problem was they did not realize they had made another idol from their rules and traditions.

God's plan all along, through what Moses called the Law, was to teach his people to live together in integrity and compassion from the inside out. But like God himself, all of this is invisible, and that has been always too much for mankind. We must see, put more shape on God's gift so we can see.

Improve it.

Ten commandments turned to hundreds and in anger Jesus cried out, "The sabbath was MADE FOR MAN, not man for the sabbath."

But how then do I live with mystery, with the inescapable fact that God's thoughts are not my thoughts, and his ways are higher than my ways? Jesus brings the simple answer, which cannot be proved except by trying: "Believe in the one whom he has sent."

His mother Mary walked straight into the mystery with that famous permission she granted God, "May it be done unto me according to your word."

She did not create countless questions that were beside that point and then insist on answers which could only mislead and provide false security.

There are ways to pray surrender, to act on Jesus' call. The "Welcoming Prayer" suggests that in welcoming God we let go of security, approval, control, and even the need for change. These goals have become our golden calves. Even as God wants us to welcome Jesus and wait for him, we lose faith and we panic. Buoyed by the shallow testimony and praise we give each other, we rush headlong toward something we can craft for ourselves, something we can see.

But this is not the way. On this path we ask wrong questions and we settle for false answers.

As much as I can turn away from this, my face will turn up to the infinite unseeable sky. And the simple words of Jesus will echo across my soul.

Believe in the one whom he has sent.

Lord, welcome, welcome, welcome. And I welcome everything that comes to me in this moment because I know it is for my healing. I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations and conditions. I let go of my desire for security. I let go of my desire for approval. I let go of my desire for control. I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person, or myself. I open to your love and presence, God, to the healing action and grace within. (prayer of Mary Mrozowki, 1925-1993)

Devotions Archive

At the foot of the mountain

Thursday, March 15, 2018