Looking in the wrong places
A bully is someone who uses their apparent strength to intimidate us and make us feel powerless. Very often the bully isn't as strong as we think, or there is someone stronger than them.
Our reading today comes from the end of Deuteronomy where Moses gives a final address to Israel and then draws his protege' Joshua to one side for one final mentoring session.
Joshua and the nation will be facing a number of "bullies":
- Enemies that made them feel like grass-hoppers
- An unknown future
- Transitions: New leadership, a new lifestyle (from nomadic wanders to pioneering settlers) and from fleeing to asserting themselves.
Currently we face similar bullies...
God urges the nation and Joshua:
- Draw from the wells of strength and courage
- Don't drink the brack water of fear and terror
- Remember, remember, remember, remember that God is with you and will not leave you. Even and especially when the bullies come.
My cell-phone camera can auto-focus on faces. This can be useful, but also bothersome if I'm actually trying to focus on something else. In these paranoid times, we easily focus on the faces of the bullies and their fake news...
Our passage today shows us where to look and where not to...
| Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." (Deuteronomy31:6-8) |
