Moses

The story of Moses and Israel’s journey together can be found in the Bible’s books of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers.  Many people are familiar with Israel’s Exodus from Egypt.  Not as many are familiar with the fact that, according to the story, the people who experienced all those amazing acts of God in Egypt were not allowed into the Promised Land.  this included regular, everyday Jewish folk, Levites in charge of keeping the Tabernacle operations, and even Moses himself.

We live in a time when the popular theology being communicated by some of the US’ most popular TV preachers doesn’t have much room for that part of the story.  A teaching heard recently by one such preacher promised his audience that if they did the right thing, God would get them a job promotion that would shame their critics.  He used the story of Esther to support the promise.  Of course, people want to believe this.  We want it to be that simple.  But Pastor Jolly Ovaltine, in various interviews, has made it clear that he doesn’t feel that God has called him to deal with those discrepancies – he is called only to talk about the good, fluffy stuff.  Good for him.  Really good for him, since it sells millions of books and packs stadiums with folks who want it to be just that simple.

Good news for Jolly: there’s no money-back-guarantee for his books, and if things don’t work out the way he promised, it is surely due to someone’s lack of faith somewhere.  Bad theology is never to blame for false hope.

Moses was, according to the author of Numbers, the most humble man on the planet.  And then he blew his top (Numbers 20:1-13).  he was probably over 100 years old.  He had listened to complaints from Israelites for decades.  They lamented once again, and Moses let them have a piece of his mind.  In the process, however, he also disobeyed God, and attempted to play God during his tirade.  This was enough to disqualify him from receiving the dream.  Of course, this kind of behavior doesn’t just happen – there is backstory for sure, just as there is for us when we do similarly stupid things we regret.  And, like Moses, we also realize after awhile that while God may forgive us for our poor attitude and/or behavior, the consequences still remain.  Broken relationships are the usual toll.  Some heal up pretty quickly, others never do.  This is reality.  Jolly Ovaltine’s theology doesn’t fit so well.  It’s not always going to be a happy ending in this life.  This, again, forces us to consider what we believe, what we pray for, why we continue to have faith.  These are questions the Israelites struggled with throughout their history.

What do you think?  Is God worth believing in?  Is faith worth the effort if we don’t get the promotion, or the clean bill of health, or healthy children, or…  What does God do in the midst of our struggle, pain, failure, etc.?


I believe God still enters into the human experience.  I believe God still acts.  I believe God still breaks in.  I believe with Jesus’ brother James that prayer is powerful and effective.  And I believe that failed dreams, dashed hopes, disappointment and struggle are all parts of a normal life that do not rob God of any of God’s “Godness”.  So I look for God to meet me in the midst of struggle rather than seeing the struggle as a sign of the absence of God.  I look to God for strength, healing, direction for myself and everybody else.  This makes me a better person.  It shifts my expectations.  It gives me peace when I shouldn’t be feeling peace.  It keeps God close instead of at arm’s length.