Today’s Scripture Reading (September
21, 2015): Numbers 10
Donald Trump
continues his improbable run toward the White House. I have to admit that there
are times when I shake my head and say “we aren’t actually going to elect this
guy, are we? He has been an interesting diversion, but when do we realize that
he can’t do the job.” The problem with Trump actually lies in the very thing
that is getting him noticed – his ego. I just can’t see him possessing the
ability to handle delicate situations and I am not sure that he has the
humility to ask for help when he needs it – and there is no doubt that if he
actually wins the White House, he will need it. One of the paradoxes of
American politics is simply this, to get elected you must possess an incredible
ego, but to actually successfully complete the job you have to be a person of
incredible humility. This is why the wrong person often gets elected. The very
traits needed to win the election become a liability on the job. Humility and
ego seldom go hand in hand.
Some have
noticed what they call the “moral problem” in this passage. The problem is
simply this, if Moses has God; if he has the cloud to go before him during the
day and the fire to go before him at night, of what possible use could Hobab be?
Isn’t God all that we need?
I hear the
same sentiment from my Christian friends – all I need is God. I don’t need
anything or anyone else. But the problem is that God has very clearly placed
all of us in community – and we are not to shun it. God leads, but some of the
puzzle pieces that we need to survive he places in the ones that surround us. Yes,
we need God, but that does not negate the fact that we also need each other. It
is an incredibly arrogant person that dares to say that all they need is God
and then shun community. God often seems to use the community that surrounds us
as the lens which brings the commands of God into focus. And God has designed
it that way, so it can’t be immoral.
We are
actually the Great Self-Deceivers. We have the ability to convince ourselves
that God has said something, when the reality is that he said no such thing. It
is the community that can help us work through that – as long as we are humble
enough to accept what the community has to say. But community is a double edged
sword. It can help carry us toward God, or away from him. So we need to choose
carefully the people that will form the community that we gather around us. Moses
understood this, and for this reason he needed Hobab by his side.
Maybe I am
wrong, but Donald Trump has not proven that he has this ability. I am not sure
that he is honest enough even with himself to look at a situation and know that
he has entered an area where he needs to sit and listen to somebody else. Maybe
he will surprise me. If he is elected, I hope so. Because whoever occupies the
White House after 2016 needs to possess a Moses like humility, knowing both
when to charge forward and when to ask for help.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers
11
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