I just came back from a trip alone in the mountains. Well, I guess that I wasn't alone. One of the big reasons for going was to listen and pray to God. As usual, God showed me a lot of things, many of them came from just the ordinary experiences of life. Nature itself provided two examples of deep truths. But I'll get to those later...
The Shenandoah Mountains are quite spectacular this time of year. The lush green tree canopy covers the mountain range like a carpet. Every time I am on a mountain, I think about when God appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai. So this trip, I decided to read about the encounter.
While reviewing the account of Israel's rebellion in Exodus, I came upon an incident which explains what Moses so special. After the people worshipped the Golden Calf, God was angry. He decided to provide for their needs, but He decided that His presence would not go with them. He would send an angel instead. God would make sure that He upheld His part of the covenant with Israel. But God would withdraw His direct presence.
Moses would be able to lead the people into the Promise Land. They would get where they wanted to go and hopefully stop complaining. But Moses said that wasn't good enough. He told God that He wanted to be where God was. He didn't care about making the people happy if it meant God would not be with them. Moses pleaded his case before God and sought the Lord in humility. He basically said that it was God's presence that made the Israelites different from all the other nations of the world. God answered Moses' request and agreed to go with them. He did so because Moses had found favor with the Lord. God said that He knew Moses by name.
That's what we really need more of in the body of Christ today. People who know God by name and are known by Him. People who don't care about appeasing the mob if it means losing God's presence and power. Moses valued God more than man. He knew what made Israel distinct. Moses prefered not to move if it meant leaving God behind. Where are the people like Moses in today's church? Would we rather have the results or the manifest presence of God? Sadly, we would rather have the results... or at least that is how I see it in today's churches. Heck, I look at my own life and see me settling for the good instead of the best.
Speaking of rotten fruit, I bought a carton of strawberries at the store before leaving town. I hoped to enjoy the strawberries while settling into my cabin. The berries looked fine at the store. I didn't open the container. But through the clamshell packaging I didn't see any rotten or bad looking berries. I even thought to myself, 'These look pretty good compared to most strawberries that I have seen this summer.' I planned on having them as a snack between prayer and Bible study times.
When I opened the package and began to inspect each one before washing them, I noticed that they looked too ripe, were smashed and a few were rotten. One even had fuzz (mold) growing on it. I was upset. Only a few of them were really worth eating. I thought back to what went through my mind at the store. I almost didn't by them because of my previous experience with strawberries. Normally, berries look ok in the store and only half of them are edible when you get them home. For some reason, I thought that these were going to be different. Besides, they looked so good, and they were on sale.
Nope. The berries were not a good buy. What had happened between the store and the cabin? Had they deteriorated quickly? Had I not seen them correctly through the plastic packaging? Did the packaging hide the real flaws?
Sunday Christianity is a lot like the strawberries. People look good when you see them through the facade of their packaging (public image), but when you open it up and look inside, there is a lot of rotten fruit and moldy fuzz causing the person to decay. When will we see that real Christianity is measured by what's on the inside not the public image we try so hard to maintain?
Later in the night before going to bed, I saw a centipede marching through the cabin. I didn't want to kill it. But I didn't want it in my cabin either. I picked up a plastic cup and tried to get the centipede to walk into it. But that did not work. Then I decided to trap the centipede using the cup. As soon as I did that, the centipede rolled into a ball to protect itself. This caused me to think how I tend to do the same thing sometimes. I won't go where God wants to take me (the cup). Then when He tries to take more forceful measures, I try to protect myself. I ball up hoping to keep from getting hurt. In the process, I keep God out, which limits His ability to help me. I need to be more trusting.
I learned a lot more on my short journey to the mountains. I'll write more as I have time. For now, you'll just have to read about Moses, strawberries and centipedes.
