Saturday, 3/7/2015

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

DEUTERONOMY 3,4

Moses continues to review the history of their travels and triumphs in the desert and then he makes a plea...

 23At that time I pleaded with the Lord: 24“Sovereign Lord, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? 25Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.”
26But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the Lord said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 27Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. 28But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.” 29So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor. 

MARK 11:20-33 

 22“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23“Truly^f I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” [26]^g 

JOURNAL

 Here we have two seemingly contradictory texts.  Moses desperately wants to go into the promised land and is refused.  Jesus then tells his disciples that if you ask and believe, then you will receive...I have no firm answer as to what Jesus is talking about here or why he would give a response that in many ways seems absurd.  

However...Moses knows that he has not been pure in his motives and or his faith.  He is double-minded and it has been the cause of all of his failures.  The more I try to dissect Jesus' statement then I realize what he is actually saying.  Jesus himself knows that God will not be manipulated into doing something outside of his ultimate plan and will.  Therefore my only conclusion is that the first part of this statement is the key to it all, "Have faith in God".  A man's motives and requests will be influenced and determined by his core desire.  If a man's core desire is Faith in God, he will only desire the unfolding of God's plan.  Therefore if he asked for a mountain to be thrown into the sea, and believed it would be done...then it would happen because it would have been God's intention all along.  

Jesus will ultimately come to the crossroads of desire and ask God to remove the fate of the cross.  In perfect faith and humble obedience he accepts and trusts God's reply.  Jesus closes his response by also going straight to the core of my inner demons.  Holding grudges and harboring hate over wrongs takes me out of the pure fellowship of God and his love for me.  So often it is the core of my sin...to forgive and let go frees me to trust and accept God's love and his plan...without revenge or selfishness.

As with all Jesus' parables and lessons, they all go back to relationship, trust and understanding the heart of God.

14For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^f And by him we cry, “Abba,^gFather.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (Romans 8:14-17)