Manna

It occurs to me that there is a lesson to be learned from Manna.

I think most of us are familiar with the story: When the Children of Israel came up out of Egypt through the wilderness, God gave them Manna to eat. God told them that, Sunday through Thursday, they should only gather enough for one day, but on Friday, they should gather enough for two days. The Bible tells us that some of the Israelites tried to gather more than one days worth on the days that they were only supposed to gather one days worth, and some people went out on the Sabbath day and tried to gather manna (they may have even been the same people). The Bible tells us that the people that listened to God had no lack, nor any extra. Sort of like Goldilocks with Baby Bear’s stuff: It was just right.

I don’t claim to know if the people that tried to bring in extra were greedy, or lazy, or just
had a hard time figuring out what they really needed. I can remember as a kid, my mother watching me serve my own plate and warning me that my eyes were bigger than my stomach. She was usually right; it took me a while to be able to gauge how much food would actually fill my belly, especially when I felt unusually hungry. I know some people will try to pack more food into their stomachs than what they can reasonably hold. I also know that some people are so afraid of running out of something that they will hoard it. Some people are also just plain lazy. It’s easy for me to imagine some poor Israelite thinking that life is just so rough: “Here I am, stuck in this desert with millions of other people, not a stick of antiperspirant amongst all of us, and now I have to go out and gather this manna stuff six days a week. You know, if I just gather a little extra, then I may be able to work it so that I only have to go out three days a week…” In any case, it didn’t work. Anybody that tried to put some of it away overnight found that had gone bad in the morning, except on Friday night. I would imagine that was probably confusing to a lot of people. “If I save some on Monday night, then on Tuesday morning it has gone bad, but if I save some on Friday night, then on Saturday morning it’s just as fresh as it was Friday morning.” Of course, the proper way to look at it is, “Gee, as long as I do what God said to do, then He takes care of me.”

I guess that’s why Jesus told us to take no thought for tomorrow. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t think He meant that we don’t have to do laundry (although my sister has an interesting story about some laundry and a jigsaw puzzle), but more the fact that things will happen tomorrow that we have no control over. If we spend today worrying about the things that might happen tomorrow, we won’t get done today the things that we need to get done today, which will really only make tomorrow that much worse. Solomon once wrote about a man that wouldn’t leave his house, using the excuse that there might be a lion in the street. Most of the things that we worry about are at least more realistic than that, but we need to trust God to get us through those things, rather than work ourselves up over things that we can’t change anyway. Yes, you should pray about those things, and if you don’t feel that the issue is resolved, then pray some more, but let God handle those things. Don’t be the child that asks its father to fix something that it has broken, and then refuse to let go so that the Father can fix it.

The Return

I have blogged before about falling from grace; it occurs to me that I should post something about the possibility of returning to grace.
Is it possible to return from a backslidden condition? One would certainly think that a loving God who created us, and has done so much to make it possible for us to be saved would understand the human condition and be understanding of human frailties that result in mistakes. He is, after all, a loving and forgiving God. If we stop to consider the parable of the lost sheep, how the shepherd left the ninety and nine to go search for the one that was lost. Wasn’t that one lost sheep part of the flock before that shepherd went to look for it? Didn’t Jesus say that the shepherd rejoices more for the one sheep that was lost than for the ninety-nine that weren’t? At first glance, that may not seem to make sense, but if you stop and think about it, the shepherd would have been so relieved that he found that sheep before some predator did. That is not to suggest that he would have willingly sacrificed the ninety-nine in order to save the one; quite frankly, it wouldn’t make sense to put even one of the ninety-nine at risk to try to find the one. The one may have already been killed before the shepherd even noticed it was gone. One sheep, off by itself, doesn’t stand much of a chance. Sheep don’t have much in the way of defense mechanisms; pretty much all they’ve got is staying with the flock. One off by itself is easy pickings for a wolf or lion. The Bible tells us that Satan is like a lion, seeking whom he may devour. He is looking for people who are not part of, or have become separated from, God’s flock. God is, of course, looking for those people, too, but He allows us freedom of choice. So, even when one has separated oneself from God, one still has a choice, whether to let God lead them back to the flock, or to stay off on their own where they become simply prey.
Is there a limit to how far God will allow us to go and still return? Jesus talked about things that one can do and still be forgiven, but he also said that there is one act that can never be forgiven. He even said that you can talk bad about Him, and it can be forgiven you. That’s pretty impressive, isn’t it? It seems to me, though, that most people that walk away from the truth end up getting caught up in their own wants and desires and end up not ever even attempting to return, anyway. These people are so involved with things that, in the long run, don’t really matter anyway. At the time, these things seem absolutely urgent, but from the perspective of eternity, really don’t matter. Quite frankly, if you take your eyes off of the prize, it is possible to become so distracted that you never look back at the ultimate gift again.

Skepticism or Cynicism?

I got a mailer form The Skeptical Inquirer recently, wanting me to subscribe to their magazine. To be honest, I was thinking at first, that I would do it, but as I read their material, they talked me out of it.
There is a difference between skepticism and cynicism. Skepticism is when one is introduced to a new idea or a new concept, and one says, “I don’t think I believe that, but let me investigate it and see if it is true.” Cynicism is when one runs across something new, and immediately begins listing reasons why it can’t be true. Skepticism is very healthy; cynicism is not. Skeptics sometimes find themselves convinced by things that they would not have expected; cynics often paint themselves into a philosophical corner trying to explain away very real things that they don’t want to believe.
I have applauded efforts of skeptics in the past that have investigated, and debunked ridiculous ideas that appeared to have credence at first. As I read the material from the Skeptical Inquirer, though, it seemed to me that many of their selling points were cynical in nature, rather than skeptical. One statement that I found particularly distressing, they mention an article that they published showing the vested interest that science has in making sure that they get things right, as opposed to religion which, according to them, has no such interest.
I suppose a case could be made for the idea that, since the score for the final exam doesn’t come during this lifetime for religion, religious leaders don’t have to worry so much about making sure that they put out the right material. It seems to me, though, that religious leaders are going to be judged in much the same way that the rest of us are, so, yes, they do have a vested interest in getting things right, if anything, they have more interest because they have more responsibility. At the same time, though, since they haven’t completed the course, either, they may be unintentionally be putting out bad information. It is even possible, that, although they teach the accepted values of their religion, they don’t actually believe that, and subscribe to the philosophy of, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” As opposed to the more common sense philosophy of, “He who dies with the most toys still dies, and then has to give account.” The thing to keep in mind though, is that this life doesn’t even compare with the life to come. Most of us will live to be less than 100. A few will live to be 120. Compared to eternity, that’s not even a grain of sand compared to all of the beaches in the world. We have an absolute vested interest in being right.
The bottom line is that each of us is responsible for ourselves. We can try to help others around us, with the understanding that there will be others who will try to bring them down, or we can selfishly worry about our own soul’s salvation (which is self-defeating).
A friend of mine, many years ago, gave me this analogy: Suppose that you want to go on safari, and you want to be prepared, so before you go, you read a book on lions. In this book, it says that if you look a lion straight in the eyes, then it hypnotizes the lion, so that he (or she) cannot attack you. So you keep that in mind as you go on Safari, hoping that you won’t ever need that information. As it happens though, the day comes when you find yourself face to face with a lion, and you look him straight in the eyes, and then realize that this lion hasn’t read that book.
We have the book written by the Lion. He has given us instruction and direction, and has made it pretty clear what we should do. When we get to judgment, God is not going to accept the excuse that, “My pastor said…” or “The televangelist said…” His Word is available to all of us. One would hope that pastors and TV preachers would help us to understand God’s Word, but it is your immortal soul that hangs in the balance. Check your pastor, and the leaders at your church. If it doesn’t match up, then make your way out.