GOD AND THE DAD-LECTURE (lessons from the end of Exodus 15)

Blogging  Exodus 15: 25-27

 ²⁵ So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, ²⁶ and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.

Upon reflection I realized that I when I give my children money it usually comes with a lecture.  Here’s the script:   Here’s $____ .  It’s yours.  Spend it how you want, BUT you know you need ____ and _____ is coming up; so you might wanna _____ first and make sure you ____.  Don’t go and _____ cause you won’t have anything left to _____ and when you can’t  _____ , don’t come running to me asking for another $_____ because you have money to handle your business, right?  O.K.

I can tell that gets on my kids nerves.  I don’t care.  But I can tell.

I bet God can tell, too; cause He does the same thing with His children.

In Exodus chapter 15, the Lord  performed a mighty miracle at the waters of Marah. He transformed the chemical composition of a poisoned spring and saved the escaped Hebrew slaves from death by thirst in the desert.  He gave them sweet water out of a bitter spring.

But before they left Marah, He also gave them a lecture.

. . . the waters were made sweet [, and there] He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them (Exodus 15: 25).

A statute and/or ordinance is a rule, a codified restriction or requirement made part of the law.  We aren’t told what this law was, but we are told why this law was.  It was a test case. 

Before He gave them the Law, before even the 10 Commandments, God wanted to see if these people, this prenatal nation could handle living by God’s rules. 

The lecture I give my kids when I give them money is a test ---- and a plea.  I need to see if they will make responsible choices.  I WANT to see that they will make responsible choices because I want to give them more responsibility, more freedom, and more opportunities for (yes) money.  My lectures are the daddy way I beg them to please do the right thing here, kid, cause there’s more where this came from.   More lectures for sure, but also more blessings.

“If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you (Exodus 15:26).

The God of the Bible has a LOT of rules:  how you have to  treat people, who you should love, who you should forgive, how you should handle your money, who you can have sex with . . . a lot of rules.  But each of those rules is actually a plea.  Every “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not” is God saying “Please, please, please, my child.  Show Me that you can responsibly handle this part of the miracle that is your life because I want to bless you with more authority, more power, and more opportunity to grow and to succeed.”

After refreshing Israel at Marah’s one spring, God gave His people a statute and ordinance as a test.  They kept that test-case rule.  And so,  God brought them not to another single spring with a log next to it,  but Then they came to Elim, where there were TWELVE WELLS of water and SEVENTY PALM TREES; so they camped there by the waters.

If you ever feel like God is holding you back with warnings and slowing you down with lessons, take a breath.  It’s all right.  Your Heavenly Father isn’t trying to keep you from enjoying the present.    He is trying to position you for the greater blessings He has in store.

  

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He writes the popular blog: A Word to the Wise at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com

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I couldn't work this into the blog post, but #Mrlegendarius 

OF BOTH KINDS. Blogging the Articles of Religion #19.

Article XIX - Of Both Kinds

The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to be administered to all Christians alike.

  

See, what had happened was:  back in the Middle Ages, the church in northern Europe couldn’t get enough wine.  This was before globalization and chemical fertilizers and year round fruit supplies.  North of Mediterranean climes it became impossible to stock enough wine to give Communion to every Catholic in Europe (which at the time was every person in Europe), every day, at every Mass. 

Simple supply and demand. 

However, the Catholic Church had ruled that receiving  the Eucharist in Mass was necessary for salvation.  What to do?  What to do?

The medieval Catholicism promoted hierarchical holiness.  Each person of higher sociopolitical or ecclesiastical rank was holier than thou on lower rungs of the ladder.  In that system, ordained clergy were more worthy of God than regular lay peons.

And thus the solution to their wine shortage.

Catholic priests began reserving the Eucharist wine for themselves.  Regular folks could receive the bread, but only the purely pure clergy were worthy of the cup.  The Church even formulated doctrine to match the policy, maintaining that Jesus was fully present and transubstantiated in both elements, so if the priest keeps the wine for himself, no biggie.

Protestants protest this doctrine.  But not for any reasons that could be fixed by opening a new liquor store.

If you can’t get wine, or Welch’s grape juice, then you just can’t get any.  That is a purely secular problem.  It’s neither necessary nor honest to spin it into something deeper than it is, like Jesus’ mom did.

John chapter 2.

Read verses 1 and 2 very carefully.  Anyone’s who’s ever tried to shorten the guest list for a wedding reception with the family matriarch in the room saying, “Now you have to invite so-and-so” will understand.   Jesus and His friends only got invited to the wedding in Cana because Mary made somebody send for them after she’d arrived. 

After they got there, the wedding party ran out of wine, and when Mother Mary mentioned it to Jesus, the Lord responded, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

Translation:  “Mom, that is a purely secular problem. Don’t try to make this into something deep and theological.”

Sometimes our physical, financial, or relational deficits are NOT deeply spiritual states.  Sometimes being sick is just being sick, not  a demonic attack.  Sometimes being broke is because of our math not because of a witch’s curse.  Sometimes you’re alone because …(And I don’t want to be mean or insensitive).  Sometimes you’re just alone.  God isn’t testing you.  The devil isn’t afflicting you.  You’re just not with anybody right now, and that’s all there is to it.

The Lord is always present in your circumstances, but sometimes He’s present and asking, “What does your concern have to do with Me?”

Just take the antibiotics.   Just stop spending money you don’t have.  Just go home and don’t watch Lifetime or Oprah for a while.

Just admit:  we’re out of Communion wine but you aren’t going to Hell because of it.

After Mary told Jesus about the liquor situation in Cana, she submitted what was under her matriarchal authority (the wedding servants) to whatever Jesus decided to do or not do.  Ultimately, Jesus transformed the hand-washing water into high-quality wine. 

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2: 5)

The Lord could step into your situation with miraculous physical, financial, or relational provision.  The Lord could turn your water into wine.

But, that’s His call; not yours. 

“Whatever He says to you, do it.”

He says share bread AND wine.  That’s what we do.

And if we ever run out of one or the other, then we won’t invent a theology to spiritualize the situation.  We’ll just admit that we ran out. 

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

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