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Ex. 13
I had to laugh a little when I read why God chose the longer route when leading His people out of Egypt rather than taking them through the land of the Philistines. God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” (Ex. 13:17b). First of all, it amuses me that is written like it is, as though God considered what ‘might’ happen. Aside from that, though, the people ended up wanting to return to Egypt anyway. Of course, God knew that, too. So why note this point in this way?
As usual, I can’t say that I have an answer to that question. I can, however, say what it makes me think. My thought is that, though the people didn’t realize it, God took them the easier way. Was the easier way easy? No, it wasn’t. And they griped and grumbled aplenty with every difficulty they faced, not realizing the greater difficulty they might have faced instead. The hard fact of life is that, even as God’s people, a lot of hardship stands between us and eternity. But God gave me just a hint in this Exodus story that He leads me through it the easier way. So when difficulties arise, perhaps I can be more inclined to face those difficulties with gratitude for the even greater difficulties He may have spared me from.
Luke 16
Jesus says a lot here, and I’m not quite sure I have anything more than a surface understanding of it. The general message I see in it is that what we do with this life impacts our eternity. When we use what we have now for the benefit of others, we save something for when this life is over. However, when we keep it for ourselves, receiving our reward and security from it, we end up empty.
I think everything Jesus says in this chapter is connected to that message, and it seems to center around worldly wealth, about which He makes several points. The foundational point is that worldly wealth is a little thing. Though it seems big to us, it is meaningless to God. The real value in it seems to be to test our hearts. God gives us something that has no real value and is not our own to see if we serve it or Him. If we serve the worldly wealth, it is all we will ever have, and since it is not eternal, we lose it in the end. If we genuinely serve God, however, we receive more than we could ever imagine.
The ending parable about the rich man and Lazarus wraps up that point for me. At the same time, it connects our attitude about worldly wealth to Jesus’ interim reference to the Law. The Pharisees were good at putting on the external appearance of having a wealth of righteousness. Like worldly wealth, however, worldly righteousness is a little thing. Just like worldly wealth does not give us true riches, obeying the letter of the law does not give us true righteousness. I think that’s why Jesus used Abraham in this parable. External appearances and worldly wealth are not the things that make us children of Abraham and heirs to the Promise.
Job 31
Job knew wickedness as a disastrous pursuit. Thus, he took great pains to avoid it. Yet he suffered calamity anyway. If he knew of anything he had done to justify that calamity, he would have gladly and readily confessed and turned from it. This gave me the thought that accepting punishment for something we know we did wrong is a little thing. What I mean is that, just like the worldly wealth and righteousness I mentioned from today’s Luke passage, it balances to nothing on God’s eternal scales. Undeserved suffering, on the other hand, leaves us net positive on the other side of this life.
A heart that doesn’t serve God can’t even deal faithfully, or humbly, with deserved punishment, let alone unjust suffering. So I guess we could say that suffering unjustly, though it seems harsh and unfair, is God trusting us with the greater things. It’s an interesting perspective, and one that might just help us rejoice in our trials, as the disciples did when they found themselves in prison. It may well be what James understood when he wrote, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (Jms. 1:2-4).