The Long Game

Today's readings: Ps 97, 145; Deut 8:1-10; James 1:1-15; Luke 9:18-27

Great coaches do not hang their hopes or reputation on any single game, tournament, or season. They focus on long-term goals for the team and the program. Many fans and players who prefer the gratification of short-term results can quickly become disgruntled. No one likes to see their team lose. No player likes to sit the bench, especially a former star in high school, college or the minors. Despite complaints, good coaches stick to the strategy, put in players who won’t put their own egos ahead of the team’s needs, and patiently mold a team into its optimal form,

God also plays a long game – the longest. As the Israelites entered the Promised Land after forty years of wandering the wilderness, Moses explained how their trials had prepared them. Their faith was tested, and refined when found lacking. As their endurance was pushed to its limits, they became a people who could face adversity and come out the other side. No matter how much they complained during the process, God forcefully but lovingly stuck to the program for the benefit of the people as a whole. In the end they learned the problem was not the program, but their ability to accept and live it.

Under the best circumstances, people appreciate great coaches. Under the worst, they replace them with someone who promises more immediate results. Like the golden calf worshipped by the Israelites while Moses was on the mountain, cheap substitutes satisfy the present urge, but fail to build character that sustains the team for the long haul.

Jesus certainly understood the importance of long range planning. When Peter admitted he thought Jesus was the Christ (Luke 9:20), Jesus told him to keep that information under wraps until all that needed to happen had happened. Events might have unfolded very differently if the Jewish authorities had believed Jesus was the messiah – different in ways that could have been easier on him – but he chose to stick with the program.

A good program adapts to the needs of the team, while simultaneously moving each team member closer to the goal. God can work similarly in our lives – if we are open to the program. Let’s come ready to play.

Comfort: Waiting is not the same as doing nothing.

Challenge: Write down some long range goals. Revisit them regularly.

Prayer: God, thank you for your patience and guidance when I wander.

Evening readings: Ps 124, 115

Discussion question: When are you tempted to take shortcuts in life? (please comment)

A Song of Anger

Today's readings: Ps 137, 144; Job 3:1-26; Acts 9:10-19a; John 6:41-51

Psalm 137 is a difficult text. Its violent images and sentiments arose from a people suffering in oppressive exile. Jewish faith and identity were inseparable from the land delivered to them by God. When the Babylonians forcibly removed them from that land and placed them into slavery, their faith and identity were in unimaginable crisis. When the psalmist asks “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (v 4) he is responding to his captors’ demands for the Israelites to perform holy songs as crude entertainment.

Instead, the Israelites compose a song about the revenge they would seek on the Edomites, a people who captured escaped Israelites and sold them to the Babylonians. Of course the Israelites are really using the Edomites as a cover to curse the Babylonians. Used in nursery rhymes, African-American spirituals, and other songs, such coded language is common when a people can’t safely express themselves openly.

Sadly, the description of the Israelites happily dashing the enemy’s infants against the rocks is not code for anything. We may find this image shocking, but an honest look at world news reveals similar atrocities every day. The oppressed becoming the oppressor is an old, old story.

In this psalm – unlike some of the passages in Joshua – God is not commanding cruelty against innocents. The psalmist and his people are turning a degrading demand into a revenge fantasy. Oppressed people need a way to vent their rage, and a song or poem is a safe way to do so. Modern artistic expressions from rap to slam poetry to screamcore often portray violence as a reaction to oppression. We are not required to advocate or agree with a position to understand or consider it.

This psalm warns us about who we may become when oppressed, and what we may reap when we oppress. Let’s take heed.

Comfort: God understands our anger.

Challenge: Compare and contrast the lyrics of “When Will We Be Paid For The Work We’ve Done?” by the Staples Singers to Psalm 137

Prayer: God of renewal, I trust you even with my anger.

Evening readings: Ps 104

Tomorrow's readings: Ps 146, 147; Job 4:1-6, 12-21; Rev 4:1-11; Mark 6:1-6a