Today’s Scripture Reading
(October 31, 2018): Numbers 15
There used to be a process that
we called “layaway.” At this time of
year, “layaway” became an important part
of our lives. The idea was that there would be times when we would want to buy
someone a Christmas gift, but we wouldn’t have the money to pay for the gift.
But, if we made the decision early enough, we could have that gift put away
while we made payments on it. And so, between now and Christmas, we would make
our payments and if we planned our budget
right, we would walk out of the store with the gift before Christmas Day.
Now we are much more likely to
put that gift on our credit card and worry about paying for it in January. And
for a lot of us, we really don’t mean
January. Our credit card debt is so high that there is no realistic plan to
them off in a year, let alone a month.
And because our credit card debt is hopeless, we just keep making purchases, adding to the debt, and maybe pray that
we will be the ones in possession of a winning lottery ticket.
I have admitted that I don’t
like debt. I am afraid that our debt is the legacy that we are leaving for our
children. What scares me is that our debt may change their world drastically in
the wrong direction. I am not comfortable living a comfortable life, knowing
that my comfortable life is going to cause my children and grandchildren
hardship. I want a better life for them, but our debt doesn’t seem to make that
much of a possibility. Maybe it is time for us to take the hardship, to make
the sacrifice so that they can live that better life.
This might be the lowest moment in the life of
Israel. God has taken them out of Egypt, organized them, and set them on a
journey toward a land that God intended
for them. And then, Israel rejected the vision of God. For a moment, and it really was only a moment, they grew afraid of
the giants in the land and lost sight of all of the giants that God had already
helped them to overcome. They took their eyes off of the prize and forgot to
trust God. And as a result, they were not going to enter the land that had been promised to them.
But their children would. And
God reaffirms that promise. Even though a generation was going to die in the
desert over the next thirty-eight years, God was still promising that Israel
would walk into the Promised Land. At
this moment when it must have seemed that everything was being taken away from them, God was promising
that the day was still out there when Israel would inhabit Canaan. But now
Israel became a nation that was willing to make the sacrifices so that their
children could take part in the promise.
And they were comforted by the knowledge that life for their children and
grandchildren would include a Promised Land
and an easier life than what was available in the desert.
The gift was on “layaway,” awaiting the payment that would be made over the next thirty-eight years, until
the time when the children of Israel would enter the land that God had already
declared would be theirs.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 16
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