Vayetze/and he went out
Genesis 28:10-32:2
Hosea 12:12-14:10
Part of the ‘battle’ of walking with the Lord and keeping our hearts alive, partially resides in how we approach the word of God. By being on a cyclical bible reading program; whether it’s something like the weekly torah and haftorah portions, or if you are on some kind of daily or whatever system; the main thing is to be in the ‘word’ regularly and allow it to be ‘fresh’ and living. I love the feeling of seeing something for the first time in God’s word or seeing it in a whole new light. We need to ‘fight’ the western approach to ‘truth’, that forces us to defend it or cauterize it, in order to constantly legitimize our ‘truth’ or ourselves… Biblical thought is more forward rather than rearward looking; we are headed somewhere and our surroundings can constantly be changing; but foundational truths are never violated by time and circumstance. What if just being ‘right’ isn’t what saves you; but the grace and mercy of God as expressed through Jesus, does? “It’s the blood, stupid!” My temptation is to claim that of course I already know that and live that way; but do I? It’s so easy to get a false sense of security in our denominations or theologies! Does the ‘church’ save you…does your doctrine save you…if you have been told that: run like hell!!!!!
One way we may view this is the contrast between cement culverts and a river. In my little analogy, cement culverts represent typical western thought, and a river, I believe, gives us a glimpse into how the Holy One of Israel interacts with humanity and earth-bound history. The culvert is basically well meaning; it is very efficient, predictable, and easily managed. It has a built-in consistency and can be trusted to carry water from point A to point B. Built into its ‘nature’ you might say it’s not very creative or adaptive. It’s stiff and straight (except for manufactured curves) and has a great deficiency in that nothing grows in a culvert, except maybe some algae! I know by now you are probably wondering, “What does this have to do with this week’s torah portion?”; please stay with me. The river in contrast, tends not to be efficient, predictable or easily managed. It has been known to overflow its banks and create havoc and even death…it rarely flows in a straight line, changing course and meandering in loops and various shapes, as it moves relentlessly forward. However, in spite of all this, it has a very important characteristic; it spawns life, wherever it goes! Vegetation is everywhere and people gather near and around it! Cities spring up and people are nurtured and sustained by its bounty of water and even from the life found within it. There is more, but for now let me draw us back to the reading for the week.
In both the torah portion and the haftorah (actually throughout the whole of the word of God), we are taken on, at times a wild and even confusing ride, down this ‘river’ of God. Unfortunately, our western mindset is driven to make ‘sense’ out of it, and thus attempt to fix this ‘problem’ by creating cement culverts for it to ‘flow’ in. It may all be ‘well meaning’ at its core, but I believe, the Lord of All Glory, wants us to appreciate and learn to live with the ‘river’! So much of Israel’s behavior and God’s response to it seems to overflow the riverbanks and cause ‘damage’ to our nice neat tidy western thinking, in our ‘cement culvert culture’. He seems like He wants to wipe His people out at any minute, and then, without even taking a breath, He has surrounded them with all of His love and promises, and all their bad behavior is forgotten! If we didn’t know better, we would say that He is a lousy ‘Parent’! In this week’s reading we see a lot of that, and it would do our emotions and intellect a real service if we would adopt the river model in our thinking.
I want to invite you all to at least consider giving the Lord some opportunity to begin to reveal the contrast of these two elements and possibly deconstruct some of our ‘culverts’ and learn to enjoy and appreciate the ‘river’! Let’s get over our timid response; get your toes out of the water’s edge and just jump all the way in! You won’t drown, and if you do, it must be your ‘time’. Father, thank you for loving us enough to share your ways and graciously helping us beyond our cultural and social limitations with Your word and Precious Holy Spirit. by john eisner
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