Lent - Day 4

       One of the things about relationships is that we want to be loved the way we want to be loved. We tend to do nice things for others that we would like have done for ourselves.  A person who is true to the spirit of love, giving and generosity finds out what the 'other' would like and offers them that, rather than a gift that is me centered.

        Our relationship with God is no different. There are countless cases where we ask for what we want and are somehow oblivious to what gifts we have already been given or blind to gifts and graces that come our way every day. 

         In the Hebrew Scripture highlighted today, one might get the impression that God is all about mowing down peoples, sending pestilence against the 'non saved' and practically a viciousness against those 'in the way' of the Jewish people. When this was written, that was the sense of things, that was how the Jewish people ( writers ) saw God. God cooperated with them and destroyed others as less loved and not chosen. That is not what Jesus came to say as the Messiah. What the Jewish people ( and writers ) actually sought was simply an acknowledgement of the actions of God in their lives and this is how they saw it.  God mowed down the 'others' and saved them even brutally if necessary.

         Isn't it enough to know that God is fully active in our lives? We don't have to rationalize bad things or do some form of mental gymnastics to transform evil actions into the 'will of God'. Do we have to put our own spin on things, especially views that may be self centered, self serving and perhaps contrary to the actual nature of God which is love? That ancient world view of God ( pre-Jesus ) is what allows some preachers and people to proclaim one calamity after another is the will of God and a punishment to this group or that who do not align with their beliefs. It's all hogwash.

        Just know that God is always with us, in good times and in the bad times as well. That does not make the bad times somehow virtuous. It also does not mean the bad times are to be blamed on someone or some group.

Deuteronomy 7:17-26

 If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?’ do not be afraid of them. Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lordyour God will do the same to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.Moreover, the Lord your God will send the pestilence against them, until even the survivors and the fugitives are destroyed. Have no dread of them, for the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a great and awesome God. The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to make a quick end of them, otherwise the wild animals would become too numerous for you. But the Lord your God will give them over to you, and throw them into great panic, until they are destroyed. He will hand their kings over to you and you shall blot out their name from under heaven; no one will be able to stand against you, until you have destroyed them. The images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself, because you could be ensnared by it; for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God. Do not bring an abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.