Two Dangerous Extremes

After Israel crossed the Yam Suph (Sea of Reeds) their need for bread and water kicked in. Exodus 17 preserves the memory of Israel’s grumblings for water by naming the place Massah and Meribah meaning testing and quarrelling (Ex. 17:7). Both of these names are summarized in one line that Israel as a people were askance about: is the Lord among us or not? This line shows Israel to be a people who are deeply impatient and doubting God’s presence with them. It will be these seeds that lead to the golden calf being erected at the base of Mount Sinai. 

Later on in Israel’s life, after the monarchy had been established and Judah was shown to be a bastion for God’s people, the prophet Micah sends the word of the Lord. Micah addresses Israel’s leadership and confronts them with their unjust practices of bribery, chicanery and violence. Following this, he then says that these same leaders lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us?” (Micah 3:11) This line shows Israel’s presumption in thinking that the Lord goes along to get along with Israel’s leadership. Micah though warns them not to think so highly of themselves.

Both the Exodus account and Micah’s prophecy bear witness to two dangerous extremes. The first is to doubt God’s presence among His people. The second is to presume God’s presence is with us. Both are distortions of God’s life with Israel. They are both forms of unbelief that are mysteriously rooted in Israel’s heart. The presence of God is not that which we should waver in believing is with us. But not in the way that leads to a sanctioning of our own actions. God is a security blanket for the evil being done.

The cure for this is to recognize God is holy. He is high and lifted up and the wonder of it all is that He does dwell with His people. The presence of God cannot be something that we treat as a formula. In Micah’s day, Israel thought they had the promises of God to David as their guarantee for their temple, land and lifestyle. This is erroneous and false. We cannot presume to lord over the Lord His promises. As if God is held hostage by His words. It is a subtle attempt to gain mastery over the Master. Recognizing the holiness of God will give us a healthy fear of God’s presence with us, the way we have of fire and dare not touch it lest we want to get burned. The holiness of God means God is God and we are not. More to the point, we are those who must come under His lordship in good faith and reverent submission. Whenever the sense of the holiness of God is lost on us, everything comes undone.

The dangerous extremes of not believing God’s presence is with us because we have no water or thinking God is okay with a life of sin are ways that lead to death. Sure enough, the generation who came through the Sea of Reeds never made it to the Promise Land. Also, Judah’s leadership will be plowed as a field and the temple will be a heap of rubble.

Let us hear Jesus’ words at the end of Matthew’s Gospel with fresh ears: behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.  

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