After Pentecost Devotional - Day 29

“When Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt, you saw how he fought for you and showed his great power by performing terrifying miracles. You became his people, and at Mount Sinai you heard him talking to you out of fiery flames. And yet you are still alive! Has anything like this ever happened since the time God created humans? No matter where you go or whom you ask, you will get the same answer. No one has ever heard of another god even trying to do such things as Yahweh your God has done for you.” Deuteronomy 4:32-34

There are many claims made today regarding the similarity or even sameness of all the religions of the world. To be sure, there are certain ethical principles that are shared among them. At the same time, it is rather superficial and naive to simply consider them all the same. This text in Deuteronomy is getting specifically to that point. There is a claim by Yahweh and in Yahweh's actions of some distinctive character issues, of some very different manners in which Yahweh acts.

Abraham Joshua Heschel has famously called the basic theme of the Hebrew Scriptures to be “God in the pursuit of man.” That is one of the very core distinctions for Judaism and Christianity in relation to various other world religions. We could add Islam to that strain of Abrahamic faiths resting on that same philosophy.

There is nothing wrong with looking to the distinctiveness of the Christian faith in contrast with other faiths of the world. That does not mean that we must denigrate those who hold to different beliefs. We should treat those who hold different views with the same respect we desire for ourselves. That is an essential application of Jesus' Golden Rule.

The other issue here is, however, that we tend to discard and discredit this very principle the author of Deuteronomy is setting forward. Not only has God revealed a different character in the Hebrew Scriptures, we often fail to grasp much of the import of that very revelation. Like Moses' audience, we are privy to God's revelation, but then step back from it precisely because it does not fall in lock step with our expectations and what those around us already believe.

Yahweh spoke to the people out of the fire, and the people were afraid. This was so far beyond their expectations that they did not know what to do with this experience of God's immediate presence among them. All the other religious practices they knew were about following prescribed rituals in order to control the gods and keep them in their place. The rules of sacrifice and ritual were designed to offer security to the people from the gods acting out on whims that would be disastrous for humanity.

When Yahweh stepped in to speak to the people, they wanted nothing to do with it. They wanted Moses to step in between them and God. They wanted Yahweh at arm's length, at a safe distance. God wanted something more intimate and direct, but the people rejected God's advances. They preferred to be like the other peoples. In downplaying the most significant distinction of Yahweh desiring to relate directly to them, they denied what was the greatest gift of all, God's immediate presence in their lives.

Do I try to keep God at arm's length, depending on others to relate to God in my stead? God desires something much more intimate and immediate.

"Lord, make me willing to truly seek your face, walking daily with you."


—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

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