Moses and Mickey

"Sit Molly, Sit Makena, Sit Mickey."  I was struggling to manage the "Jan's home" chaos.  It seems that when I come home from work, the three dogs compete for the loudest bark of welcome.  It's a stiff competition which has resulted in a few dog fights.  So the pack leaders, Dick and Jan, have designated this past week as "Crackdown".  No excitement and rough play. We are going to master the "Sit" command.

I usually have to follow Molly around as she tries to avoid her submission to my command. Makena is right in front of me so it's easy  to get to her.  Needless to say, it is chaos and I'm thankful Dick has never learned to post to YouTube.  It's the real life craziness that inspires sit-coms!   

On Day  Four of Crackdown Week, in the midst of the daily chaos I noticed Mickey.  In spite of the competition, chaos and chase, he was calmly sitting, just like I'd commanded. He hadn't received a second command, a reminder, an enforcement or a praise.  He was just doing as he was told.

At the beginning of the week, I'd read Deuteronomy 32:48-52.  Moses had just finished giving the Israelites all the laws and decrees with an impassioned plea to take them to heart.  On the same day God tells Moses to go to the mountains to view the Promised Land and die.  God reminds him that he's not going to enter the Promised Land because he broke faith with Him in front of the Israelites at Meribah Kadesh.

I'd been pondering this end of life story.  Would I want to know it's my time to die?  Did God really need to remind Moses of his big failure?   What a downer portion of scripture to ponder!

 Then I remembered Mickey, patiently and quickly, following my command.  In contrast to what I think Moses should have done.  I had thought Moses should have made a good case before the Lord to show his overall pattern of obedience was good enough and God should change the verdict.  He'd served his forty year  sentence shepherding whiners and complainers.  Wasn't that enough punishment?   I would have begged and pleaded.  I would have been like Molly barking and demanding.

Then I remembered Mickey sitting in the midst of the barking and competing of daily life. "Good boy, Mickey!"

Mickey is the clueless one of the three dogs.  Mickey doesn't understand why he has to sit while my  attention is consumed by the females. Mickey doesn't understand the "big picture".  We have not accomplished our mission with Mickey.  He may be the best at the "sit" command in the midst of chaos but Mickey has his faults, a sudden bark that restarts your heart, an affinity for destroying pens and shoes and he wants my spot on the couch!  Yet his obedience on Day Four gave me a glimpse at the future and encouragement that one day my dogs will obey.

We have cracked down on their behavior for their protection.  Those dog fights could  escalate and we love all three dogs.  We are looking into the future and shaping their behavior so we can all get along. Mickey obeys, at least in this instance, because he trusts us.

I need to rethink my thoughts on what Moses should have done because Moses was getting his release and reward.  He was going to be "gathered to his people" and be free of the whiners and complainers.  God was in charge of the home going!  Moses had fulfilled his mission and the end was in sight.  Maybe this was God giving him a glimpse into  the future so he'd finish well.

If God is in control of my life and days, and He knows and controls the big picture, maybe I should follow His plan and enjoy my life.  What makes me think I know better than God?  In spiritual matters, I'm really just like Mickey, clueless.  I have my faults too (I listed Mickey's but not mine!) but I am sure that God loves me anyway.  Others, like Molly, may demand God's attention.  I know that in life's most chaotic moments, God is with me,  asking me to obey.

This week I learned a lesson from Moses and Mickey:  in the midst of life's chaos, just do what God says.

The Circle of Life

"I remember you laying on the floor right in front of the TV so you could just reach up and change the channels."  We were reminiscing with some old friends but it reminded me of the world before remote controls.  In the "olden days" the youngest child often functioned as the remote control.  "Son, go change the channel."  When he was a toddler it was so cute and he was so willing.  As he got older, he figured out the situation and commented, "It's not fair."  The father's response was "It's the circle of life and one day you'll have a child to change the channels."  Elton John even penned a song for a hit movie at that time to musically reinforce the concept!

The Circle of Life.  I thought of that as I outlined Deuteronomy 31:24-Deuteronomy 32:47.  Moses gave the people of Israel a Book and a Song.  They were to put the book of the laws, decrees and commands in the ark of the covenant and carry it with them everywhere.  Then he assembled everyone and gave them a song to remember the circle of their lives.

He reminded them to listen up and learn, to proclaim God's greatness, they were warped and needed God, to remember to ask their leaders for guidance and that God's boundaries were for their protection and not a burden.

Then the song recaps their history:  God found them and protected, nourished and provided; yet the people turned to idols and become enslaved to the false; God became jealous and angry;  with regret God turns away from them; God will judge them and yet have compassion; He will show Himself and ask them to choose Him again; God will take vengeance on the enemies and will make atonement for His people.

This is the true circle of life.  As I read the biblical history, time and time again, the Israelites are  living comfortable, because of God's provision.   They forget the Source and follow the temptations of the false gods and get themselves into trouble.  When they can't save themselves, they ask God and in His infinite love and mercy, He delivers them.

In hindsight I pity those poor Israelites but realize that cycle repeats too often in today's world and even in my life.  Too often, when I get what I want, I forget where it really came!  I follow after the temptations of the world and let the world control me.  When I realize I can't get myself out, I cry out to God. He is always ready to take care of me, even when I don't deserve it!  He, Himself, has made atonement for me. 

I think of atonement as at-one-ment.  My life is really best when I'm on the path with God, at-one-ment. My life is provided and protected when I am in at-one-ment. The world entices me with false promises of comfort.

My straying from relationship with God breaks the at-one-ment I have with God.  Even when I don't deserve it, when I have failed in upholding the relationship and left the One path, God is ready to have relationship with me. He has made the Atonement, once and for all (Thank you, Jesus, for paying  a very expensive price for me.) for my failures. When I ask, He will restore our at-one-ment, again and again.

The world can only offer us the circle.  God offers me something unique, at-one-ment. We may feel trapped in the circle of life but God gave us a Book and a Song.  The Book will guide us and warn us but we have to learn what is in the Book!  God offers us life outside that circle.  Listen to the Song as a reminder that even when we don't deserve it God loves us.

Moses tells them the words in the Book and the Song are not just idle words but they are life.  Living by the words of the Book and the Song will give them long lives in the Promised Land.

God has told me I have a propensity for this circle of life and even when I trap myself in that circle, God loves me and awaits my cry for help and delivers me. I learned it in a Book and heard it in a Song.

Now that's a  pretty Great God!