Today’s Scripture Reading (October
11, 2012): Joshua 7
In Alexandre
Dumas’ “Twenty Years After,” Dumas continues his romance of D’Artagnan. The
Musketeers have split off into their various individual pursuits. Athos has
returned to his estate, Porthos finds himself married to a lawyer’s widow, and
Aramis, who could dream of nothing beyond becoming a priest, has become a
Priest who can dream of nothing other than being a soldier. D’Artagnan begins
the process of seeking out his old friends for what would be, at least in some
ways, a fool’s errand. The task at hand is the rescue of England’s king,
Charles I, who had fallen under attack from some rebels within his own
government. Dumas’ allows the reader to experience sympathy for the fallen
king, but at the end of the story, Charles would die, although it would not be
because of the inaction of the epic four Musketeers.
Throughout
the story maybe the one fault of the Musketeers, at least in the view of some
of those that wished to direct the responses of the soldiers, was their
absolute refusal to just stand by. Whether it was defending the King of France,
or the princes of France, or even the King of England, the Musketeers would
briefly bow, acknowledging the office and then stand, getting ready for action
that would necessarily follow. After it all, it was action that they were built
for.
Joshua and
the elders of the nation tore their clothes and fell on their faces before God.
In this act they took care of what they saw as their ritual responsibility
before God. In falling on their faces they were acknowledging God’s sovereign
authority over all of their lives. In staying on their faces, they recognized
their sin in denying that very authority.
But it was
not what God wanted. God’s desire was for the Musketeer inside of them to come
out. He needed Joshua to get off of his knees and take action against the sin
of the nation. Often it seems that we are sorry for our sin, but part of
repentance is to take action to get rid of our sin – something that we often
find hard. So, maybe it is time to unleash the Musketeer inside of all of us,
in order that the hard part can be taken care of – and then God will not have
to ask us why we are stuck in the middle of a ritual.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua
8
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