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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Belief and Bad news

So the EPA limits state's sovereignty in car emissions. Middle east peace talks revisit us. And the Obama overtakes Hillary in the latest poll.

I blow my nose and choke down sinus pills, listening to Uncle Tupelo's 'No depression' on repeat. My bosses mother-in-law is diagnosed with cancer.

What a world! Bad news-- good news-- blah news--the internal and external problems in the headlines; the internal and external problems in our lives.

Do I expect peace to be the de-facto state of the world? That peace is humankind's natural equilibrium? As if this suffering and war and injustice is an aberration in the plan. In a way, it is. From the original perfect plan. But now sin has been spliced into every molecule. Still there a yearning to return to the realm where perfect justice will reign. The eternity in all our hearts longs for it!

I long for steadfast belief in my God, and not just a wavering belief dependent on circumstances and headlines. I've been reading through Exodus and find Israel's wavering is a perfect example of the instability of my heart. They were under harsh slavery in Egypt for ~430 years after Joseph died, and God made himself known to Moses, declaring He would deliver them.

4:31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

God hardens Pharaoh's heart against Israel; he harshly increases their work load.

5:20-21 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them as they came out from Pharaoh; and they said to them, "The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."

Israel freaks. Moses worries. God answers with the GOSPEL: his promises!

6:2, 7 God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the Lord...I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians"...

Israel disbelieves.

6:9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

God shows his power through the ten plagues and deliverance to the wilderness; Pharaoh's armies pursue them to a dead end at the Red Sea.

14:11 they said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? .. For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."

But man's dead end is God's tunnel; they go through the Sea and Pharaoh's armies are utterly destroyed.

14:30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord had used against the Egyptians, so the people fear the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

This battle of belief wages; the tide comes in and there is despair, the tide leaves and there is hope. Again and again.

And that's the bad news-- our natural tendency is one of self-reliance. So once the way gets a little rough, or the road a little foggy, we freak. We can't handle it on our own, so we revert to a hopeless, godless outlook. Oh how obvious it looks in hindsight! But in the moment, I am the same as Israel, believing that God has abandoned me, and that Egypt would have been better. Lord, Forgive me for my unbelief! God, the Lord, is surely the faithful God; full of grace and mercy to Israel, and to all who believe on Jesus Christ today. He does not leave or forsake us in the wilderness. He is the Redeemer, the Deliverer, the ONLY Savior.

The Bad news-- good news-- blah news--the internal and external problems in the headlines; the internal and external problems in our lives so often quake our little faith. O, help our unbelief!