Today’s Scripture Reading (October 6,
2012): Joshua 2
When I was
in my second year of college, I met a guy (we can call him Fred). I was walking
through the cafeteria and Fred was sitting in a corner reading a book. Now Fred
was a first year student, and so I thought I would be friendly and stop to talk
with him. And I thought everything was going good until we got to the part of
the conversation where we introduced ourselves. The moment that I said my name,
I felt that somehow I was no longer wanted or needed anywhere near him. So I
left, but I was puzzled.
Fred would
eventually become a close friend, so at one point in our relationship I got up
the courage to ask him about the day that we first met in the cafeteria – and
the follow up question that was on my lips was this – did I know you or run
into you before that day. Fred admitted that that day in the cafeteria was the
first day we had met, but it was not the first day that he had heard my name.
The first time that he had heard my name was when he fell head over heels in
love with Susan (also not really her name.) Susan was everything that Fred had
ever dreamed of. She was beautiful and had a great personality – and he was
already good friends with her, but not friends in the way that Fred wanted to
be. But as he was trying to change the nature of his relationship with her – it
was only me that she wanted to talk about. (And I have to be honest and say
that I did not know that Susan ever liked me. We did not have the relationship
that Fred seemed to assume that we had had.)
The second
time he heard my name, he was attracted to another girl. This time the girls
name was Cheri (this is really her name.) He was on a bus coming to visit the
campus of the college where I was attending and he had met this gorgeous girl.
Apparently Fred sat down beside Cheri to get to know her, but all that she
wanted to talk about was that she was going to the college to see me. And this
was just too much for him. So in that moment he simply decided that he did not
like me – and would never like me. It was at this point in the conversation
when I got to say to him “you realize that Cheri is my sister.” And he laughed and
said, “I do now.”
As I read
this story in Joshua, I have this idea. We know that Moses escaped Egypt and
went to live in Midian. While it might have been impossible for a nation to
disappear, it might have been very possible for individual families to
disappear. And slowly, the exodus of Israel out of Egypt might have been going
on for centuries. All of these people leaking slowly into places like Jericho.
And there they told the stories of Israel and the mighty God that had chosen
her as his own. It would not be long before the people would be scared of this
power that they knew of only in the stories of those who had come from afar. So
when Israel finally showed up, they were already “melting with fear.” It is one
possibility for the way that God went ahead of Israel to prepare the way for
them.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua
3
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