What a Long, Strange Trip

Deuteronomy 8:1-20
“Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Two thoughts cross my mind when I read and reflect on those words from our Old Testament reading this morning. The first is the song “Truckin” by the classic rock group The Grateful Dead, which includes this refrain: “Sometimes the lights all shinin’ on me; Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been.” There are indeed times in my life when I have looked back and marveled at what a long, strange trip I’ve been on, the ups and the downs, the challenges and the accomplishments, the doubts overcome and the assumptions proved wrong, the questions answered and those that remain unanswered, the times of light and the hours of darkness. In a number of ways my life (at age 52) has been a long, strange trip, and I’m sure the people of Israel, standing on the cusp of the promised land, poised to enter and, with God’s help, to subdue it, were given cause to think in similar terms. But according to Deuteronomy God had been at work throughout, guiding and sustaining the people and testing to see their intentions. Wherever they had gone, God had been with them, and that fact had made the journey possible. Wherever we’ve gone, wherever our long, strange trips have taken us, God has been with us, too, leading us and making our journey possible.

And that leads to my second thought this morning. A minister friend of mine once spoke of his sense of call as best seen in hindsight. As he had moved from church to church in his career, it was when he took the time to reflect on events and opportunities in his life that he could most clearly recognize the hand of God at work. I’ve experienced the same reality. I’ve found myself wondering why I was in a particular situation as a minister and only after the fact, only when I’ve taken the time to ponder events and opportunities, have I recognized the real reasons that I had been there. As the book of Deuteronomy points out, the people of God finally had reached a place in their history where they could look back, reflect, and fully recognize their journey in terms of God’s actions.

Perhaps as we journey through the season of Lent each of us will be given the chance to look back, to reflect, to consider where, by God’s grace, we’ve been and how God has led us and cared for us. Perhaps we will find time to ponder the journey ahead and behind and note that, no matter how long or how strange, our trip has never been without God’s encouragement. Granted, some trips are longer and stranger than others, but the one God of Israel lies at the heart of them all.

Prayer: Lord God, make your presence known to us that we may remember we do not journey alone, but always in your presence. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

A Healthy Diet of Understanding

Jeremiah 3:6-18

In one way or another each of the readings for today deals with the problem of human sinfulness, but I find a verse in Jeremiah to be especially timely for the season of Lent. God tells the prophet, “I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jeremiah 3:15). There is a lot to deal with in this short verse. The word shepherds in this case refers to kings or rulers. That a ruler would be “after (God’s) own heart” indicates that they are faithful to God’s will. But God says these rulers will “feed you (the people) with knowledge and understanding,” and that’s the part that I find helpful today.

According to the gospel of Matthew, after Jesus had fasted for 40 days in the wilderness he was famished. Then the devil challenged him to turn stones to bread so that he might have food to eat. Jesus replied, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). This is a direct quote from Deuteronomy 8:3, a reference to the manna on which the people fed during the Exodus. The manna was real, a sign of God’s grace. But it pointed to the need to trust God and to listen for God’s word each and every day. One may be well-fed physically, but starved spiritually. In replying to the devil Jesus make the point that spiritual food is every bit as important to a healthy life as bread. Which brings us back to Jeremiah. The rulers of Judah and Israel had not attended to the spiritual needs of the people, had not led them to lives of faithful obedience to God. The people were starving from a lack of “knowledge and understanding.” God promised to change that.

The season of Lent reminds us of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. At this time of year it is important to examine our spiritual “diet,” to be as attentive to it as we are to what we eat. Without the “knowledge and understanding” of God’s word we are left malnourished and unable to live as we should. I challenge us all to be aware of what we consume spiritually so that we may live with faith and trust in God and in love and patience with one another. Bread alone won’t do it. We need God’s word as well.

Prayer: Lord, feed us with your word so that we may do your will. Amen.