Psalm 124
If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
—let Israel now say—
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
when our enemies attacked us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us;
then the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
then over us would have gone
the raging waters.
Blessed be the Lord,
who has not given us
as prey to their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
The first third of the journey is behind us. As our caravan inches ever closer to Jerusalem, we find ourselves acclimated to the road. The days have become long and tedious. We get up. We pull up stakes. We feed and pack the animals. We spend our morning walking. We take a break for lunch. We spend our afternoon walking. We set up camp. We eat. We sleep. Tomorrow, we'll do it all over again. Eventually, we will be nearing the Holy City but right now we are at home in the desert. We are wilderness people.
Yes, we are wilderness people... just like those Hebrews who wandered with Moses in the sands of the Sinai desert for 40 years. We too work our way toward the promised land with no end in sight. Surely you understand the metaphor... The barrenness. The scarcity. The anxiety. The sheer dependence on things beyond our control. The sense of daily being on a strange journey with no end in sight...
The wilderness is a place of trial. Like the Hebrews before, we are tempted to grumble when we are hungry and cast accusations when we are thirsty. The cries of those first wilderness people in the book of Exodus may well be our own cries today. First, it was when they found themselves pinned between the Red Sea and the approaching Egyptian Army. The wilderness people called out to Moses:
“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? ... It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die here!”
Then Moses said, "The Lord will fight the battle for you, you need only be still!" And sure enough God parted the Sea and the Hebrews walked through. Then the waters closed in and drowned the Egyptians. Then in chapter 15, they celebrate! But the celebration is short lived. The very next chapter, the wilderness people are hungry because they've run out of bread. So again they cry out:
“If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
So God caused bread called manna to rain down from heaven every morning. He also sends quail so they will have meat. Disaster is averted. The wilderness people will not starve! The very next chapter they are without water. But this time they trust in the Lord to provide. Just kidding! Once more they call out:
“Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?... Is the Lord among us or not?"
"Is the Lord among us or not?" The nerve! Maybe you heard these stories in Sunday school and marveled at the Hebrew people's faithlessness and forgetfulness. But I wonder, now that we are wilderness people ourselves-- has your perspective changed? Do you understand now how hard it is to remember the last miracle in the fog of the current crisis. When the shelves are empty of the things we need, when there are rumors of disease, when you personally know someone sick or laid off or on the front lines, when you are one of those persons yourself... do you see how easy it is to forget the last miracle? Do you see what an extraordinary act of faith it is to remember?
Read Psalm 124 again.
When was the last time you felt like a bird freed from a trap? Was your car suddenly sliding on a sheet of ice and as the world slowed down around you and you managed to regain control of the car and save your loved ones? Were there rumors of downsizing at work and you spent a week preparing for the worst only to be spared by some intervening event? Were you waiting by the phone for a test result the longest 48 hours of your life until you finally received the good news? What was it for you? He was with you then and he is with you now.
If it had not been the Lord who was on our side... Let Israel now say... Wilderness people, we are called to remember during this crisis how God has come through for us in all the crises before.
In my front yard, I can see one of our Church buildings. Bridle Creek. That congregation was started in the 1700s when a circuit rider named Francis Asbury came through. I sometimes marvel to think what all that Church has been through. The Civil War... The Great Depression... 9-11... God was with us then. He is with us now.
Because we remember that, we can believe. We can believe that one day, not too far off, we will all be in our Church buildings... together once more... We will be laughing, smiling, and hugging... Then the piano will begin to play. And we will stand together and sing:
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
we have already come!
Tis grace that brought us safe thus far,
And grace will lead us home.
Lord, we are your wilderness people. We know that we can be stiff-necked and that we have grumbling hearts. But we praise you for your faithfulness and we remember your many miracles in our own lives and in our life together. Help us to have faith that you will rescue us once again. Amen.
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