Episodes
Wednesday Jul 20, 2011
The Fall of Israel
Wednesday Jul 20, 2011
Wednesday Jul 20, 2011
Leah, our 5½ month old, is on the verge of crawling. It's an amazing process to watch. We lie her down on her back on a blanket. She immediately flips herself over and gets up on her hands and knees. She pushes one hand forward. She may push a knee forward. And she begins to move. If you catch her in the act and applaud her efforts, she'll give you a big two-toothed grin since she's pretty proud of her newfound ability. Yes, she is becoming more independent daily. And it's exciting to watch, but also a little sad. It marks the end of her total dependence. It marks the beginning of her ability to get around by herself. Watch out world! It seems that from the moment we are born, we are on the path to becoming less and less dependent on others. We start out totally dependent on our parents of course. But they teach us, and we learn, how to navigate through this sometimes treacherous world on our own, with as little help from others as possible. It is part of our national ethos to become a "self-made" man or woman. People who are able to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" are lauded as the standard by which everyone should live. Wanting to be free and independent is not wrong in and of itself. Indeed, it is part of our growth and development as human beings that we become less and less dependent as we head towards adulthood. But we are never totally independent. We never truly are self-made. The moment we start to believe we do not need anyone else, is the moment we have fallen into a very insidious trap. Leah may be crawling and excited about her newfound independence, but after a few minutes of it, she's tired and ready to be held and comforted, fed and rocked. We too can be excited about the things we are able to do and accomplish, but in the grand scheme of things, we realize how much of we are able to do and accomplish is really dependent on others having helped us, and on God having given us so many good gifts to begin with. In our scripture readings for this week, the nation of Israel is striving to become less and less dependent on God. Israel starts to follow the ways of other gods in the story of Elijah. King David disobeys God by having an affair with Bathsheba and then having her husband killed. Israel falls to the Chaldeans because they have become too independent of God. They no longer rely solely on God for their well-being, but rely on gods of their own making. They have fallen into that very insidious trap thinking that they are in control of the situation. Paradoxically, as we grow and become more independent, God calls us to become more and more dependent on him. As we strive to accomplish so many things by our own hands, it is necessary to look for the hand that holds all of our accomplishments, all of our selves, all of this world and to rest comfortably in that hand - the hand of God. For that is the source of all we are able to do "by ourselves" anyway. All praise and thanks be to God, the hand who holds us. Pastor Heidi
Comments (0)
To leave or reply to comments, please download free Podbean or
No Comments
To leave or reply to comments,
please download free Podbean App.