The book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ last chance to instruct and inform the Hebrew people before they enter the Promised Land. Moses will not be going there with them. So he explains to them as best he can who God is and what he has done for them, and what the relationship between God and his people ought to look like.
The Hebrew people have just spent forty years wandering around in the desert so that an unfaithful generation would pass away before they entered Canaan. The new generation that now waits on the side of the Jordan River has known nothing but this wilderness wandering, and they are about to enter a land of wealth, stability and comparative comfort. Everything, in other words, was about to change. Would they still remember God in this new land? Or would they be so enamoured with the Promised Land that they would forget the one who had promised it in the first place? Comfort and ease have a way of distracting us.
Moses, aware of this danger, places before their minds a picture of God who is not to be taken lightly, nor easily forgotten. God is the provider, God is the carrier, yes. But God is also the discipliner. The reason for the wilderness experience, lest we all forget, was to test the people of God, to deny them comfort, to allow them to endure hardship and privation so as to humble them. They needed to grow up and understand the reality of their situation, that they themselves were no great thing. It was God who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt, and it was God who would deal with any enemies. If they thought they could accomplish any of this in their own strength, they were very much mistaken.
And so, like a good Father who sets boundaries for his children, who tells them no, who allows them to fall down and to fail and experience the limits of their own abilities, God disciplined his children in the wilderness. The testing was to see if Israel really would follow the commandments of God even in the midst of hardship. He wanted to know their hearts, and he wanted them to know their own hearts. He also wanted to show his people that he was trustworthy, that even in the wilderness he would not fail to provide for his children. Food would come. Clothes would not wear out. Feet would not swell. The discipline was hard, but it was not impossible, and it was for a purpose. And though they grumbled and resisted, ultimately
This shows the degree to which the Father loves his children. Why else would he bother with them? He wants them to learn, to grow, to understand that which is best for them. And for that he needs to use limitations, strictness, rigour. No learning comes without these disciplines, these challenges. To use the new lingo, God created an “atmosphere of learning” for his children, and one that was not covered in bubble wrap.
If we want to learn and grow and experience more of the Father’s love for us, we also must submit to this discipline. We must come to know God as the Father who disciplines us, because he loves us. We must be open to his correction, to his limitation, to humility, to his saying “no” to us. How can we claim to be his children if we do not truly accept him as Father? There is a struggle inherent in the Christian life, a denial of self which is learned over and over again throughout a lifetime. There is a type of living that is counter-intuitive to the world, a rejection of certain comforts and privileges that would lead us away from obedience towards God. The life of faith is a dangerously risky thing, because it is meant to be lived in utter abandonment to God.
But we can trust him. God is not like a human parent, even the best of whom will fail, will be selfish, will sometimes act rashly or foolishly. God is in control of himself, and has proven that he loves his children so much that his discipline, though unpleasant at the time, will certainly produce the fruit of righteousness. What the Father has is good for us. It is never abusive, always life-affirming and life-giving. It will always lead us into greater knowledge of him, and greater dependence on him. And we can know that if God is disciplining us, we are his true children whom he loves.
So how do you suspect God wants to discipline you? How do you suspect God wants to discipline his people in this day and age?
(Much of the information used in this is taken from Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament by Christopher Wright and From Paradise to the Promised Land by T Desmond Alexander).
No comments:
Post a Comment