Today’s Scripture Reading (September 17, 2019):
Psalm 136
“God, I will give you
everything, except _______.” Have you ever prayed that prayer? I think it is a
fairly common one, and it takes many surprising forms. For instance, every time
that we pray that our will would supersede God’s, it is this prayer that we are
really praying. Every time we cry out to God because the health of our child is
not what we wish it to be, we are saying “God I will give you everything, but
you can’t have that.” The prayer ends up on our lips more times than we might
think. And no, I am not suggesting that we should stop praying some of these
prayers. I pray for my kids and grandchildren on a daily basis; they are
precious to me. I think that God wants us to pray for those who are on the
journey with us, especially those who are the most precious to us. But
somewhere in the prayer there needs to be the recognition that even in the
worst situations, God might be doing something. And the last thing that we want
is to get in his way. Somewhere in our pleading for sick children and hurting
adults, there needs to be the echo of the prayer of Jesus in the garden. “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup (this sickness,
this pain, this time of trial) be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you
will” (Matthew 26:39). God I know what I want, but only you know what it is
that I truly need; and what it is that fits in with your plan.
Psalm 136 rehearses some of the history of Israel. It tells a
story, interspersed with a reply from the worshiping congregation that forms a
reminder to the worshippers that God’s love is perfect; it endures forever. And
included in the story are names, including that of Sihon, one of the kings over
the cities of the Amorites. The story of Sihon is a story of what the king was
unwilling to give to God. In the case Sihon, it was his territory. Sihon denied
entry of Israel into the space that he controlled. He thought that Israel was a
threat to what he owned. You can almost hear his prayer. “God you cannot have
this. Take your people somewhere else.” The slight was remembered by Israel as
part of their history. But it was also part of the movement of God.
In the end, the territory of Sihon became part of Israel. It
is found in the territory of the transjordanian tribe of Gad. It would be easy
to say that Sihon was right to fear Israel and deny their passage through his
land. Israel had designs on what belonged to him. But that isn’t really true. The
original plan of God was that Israel would settle on the west side of the
Jordan River. Sihon’s territory was not in the mix. At least it wasn’t until
Sihon opposed the movement of God. It was only after Sihon denied passage to
Israel, that this land that he was so scared of losing became vulnerable.
Maybe the moral of the story of Sihon, King over the
Amorites, is that the will of God will be fulfilled in our midst. We can give
freely of what we have, or we can withhold, but the danger to what we consider
to be precious increases when we refuse to release it to God. Pray about
everything, ask for God to intervene in the stresses of life. I am convinced
that he will answer the prayers of his people. But at the end of the day, the
healthiest response from us is that we want God’s will to be accomplished, even
if it causes us momentary pain. Because, ultimately, our territory and
possessions are his, whether we recognize that truth, or not.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 8
No comments:
Post a Comment