I'm starting off my blog today with a bit of a sad story. I once worked with a very nice woman named Anna who once confided in me as if I were a Priest and she the penitent. She said she once had asked God if she could always have a child around the house. As it turned out she had a son who was born terribly challenged, mentally and physically. In fact he had to be institutionalized when he grew into a young man. The fact is, she said, God granted my prayers because my son will always behave (mentally) as a child. I have serious doubts that God would answer a prayer in this manner but it drives home a point about our human nature.
In todays passage from Numbers, I was struck by this quote that made me think of Anna. The people spoke against God and moses when they were in the desert. They said 'for there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ I'm not sure what the exact translation would be but they lack food and yet complain about the food that they apparently do have.
In our Lenten journey or even our life's journey, we hopefully pray to God earnestly and frequently. What do you pray for?
Not unlike how we love to play God with justice we would like to mete out for other offenses ( that we so boldly judge no less ), we pray to God for things we think will make our life better. If you don't think so, have you ever prayed to win Lotto? 'God, I will be able to help so many people'. Yeah. Right. But while our prayers are often not so brazen as to ask to win Lotto we do pray for all sorts of things that we know will make everything ok, will make our lives perfection as if we are the master potter ourselves, molding our own futures.
I have witnessed time and again, and understandably so, people praying to God to make a loved one be cured. I have heard people pray for miracles that would be contrary to reason and it is called faith. I am sure I have done so as well in desperate times. What we would be better served doing is praying for God to be with us whatever happens.
Hebrew scriptures for all the incredible stories of rape, murder, drunkenness and other sordid stories, the people recorded it all quite truthfully because no matter what was happening, they were faithful to God and knew that God was with them.
Can we step out of our human arrogance to let God's plan of love unfold before us and simply be still enough to realize that no matter what, God is with us, loves us and wishes only the best for us. We may not always get what we think we need but we will always have a God who stands by our side.
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