God's Rock

I have set out to find the moments in history when God, The God, The Glory, the Lord of all stepped out of His magnitude and gave a helping hand to His special offspring, or sons and daughters or creations, His appointed leaders, His true people in order to guide them, lead them, assist them and help them do what He had set them out to do in this great earth environment.

It was just waking up after decades of becoming who they were, are, must be to be God’s offspring, his leaders, his imagery. We may all believe in, love with, pray for, celebrate and recognize as our Savior and Father,  the great God Almighty, who created heaven and earth, mankind and all the animals, bees, blue skies, potatoes, Eucalyptus trees, vineyards, the rocks, volcanos, planets and the stars, everything that is in our grasp or view in addition to Van Gogh who tried to record the beauty of God’s place.

But how can we get closer - be better trained, acknowledged, loving, prayerful and absorb truth no matter what branch of a faith of worship occupies this earth? Yes, we must know we are His and our short turn on this earth is worth it, as we learn about our Father God. So, regardless of faith or treasure or story or song, hopefully we leave behind something positive, and plenty based on love and happiness for those that follow and worship and pray and know even better than I the splendor and glory of The God who made it all.

Fascinating to me is how God Himself, though extremely rare, appeared on earth - not really appeared in a human way, except through His Son Jesus, and, for all we know, through Muhammed and other creative faith leaders who settled in some corner of this earth and shared belief with each other. Everyone didn’t have to be exactly alike, with exact words and dialects, but everyone needed to grasp onto a faith that they could follow throughout their whole lives, so when time was over, each one, based on his or her behavior and generosity, could step into the glory of the kingdom of the great creator of all that is, was and will be. As things turn into different colors and activities and creative ways of living, loving, and worshiping, there was more discovered ways and challenges in which to rejoice, to help each other, ways to heal and fix and bless and smile so there was more goodness than evil on this earth. 

I began scanning through the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible which is generous with information and explanation. I’m curious about when and where The Lord appeared on earth after He created it. His appearances were brief, and often invisible, and wrapped up in covenants which didn’t expose God as a human being, but communicated in tricky and elegant ways that opened the hearts and minds of His special sons. He appeared to Abraham and said “I am God Almighty” so walk before me faithfully and be blameless; then I will make a covenant (probably the first ever) between you and me and will greatly increase your number. Of course, we know after the fact that Abram became Abraham, who fathered so man nation, starting with keeping his covenants with circumcision (required eight days after birth.)

God spoke to Abraham and said no matter how old Sarah was, she would bear him a son, Isaac, who would be father of twelve rulers.  And on a hot day, God appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre, where herdsmen and dwellers camped regularly in sheltered tents of a sort. Abraham’s hospitality and respect displayed when he bowed down to the ground - which Muslims still do today - and washed God’s feet with water, as Sarah ran for three seahs of fine flour to make bread, kneading it with curds and milk and a tender calf.

They enjoyed refreshing and honoring the Lord, but they sort of laughed at the idea that Sarah would have a child at her age. We know this story and it seemed to be the first communication between Holy God and a human. But at this tree, a part of which still stands in Hebron, God and Abraham came together and the result was that all great nations would rise from this encounter, and anything that might disrupt the beauty of this holy relationship was blocked. Abraham was insecure and kept asking God questions (sounds like me) - would his sons and their sons keep the way of the Lord, something almost impossible to promise in this crowded, crazy world were parents lose respect and the power to dominate their youth at an early age. But Abraham promised his sons (females not mentioned) would do right and God promised to spare them whatever happens down the road.

In Exodus, Moses asked for God to show all his glory, which was quite a request. He seemed to have no reluctance to give his opinion about things to God, the same God who wanted them to go to the land of milk and honey.  Moses pitched a tent of meeting and asked questions of God, argues a bit or questions Him and then requests that God show him His glory. But God explained there were rules. “I will cause all my glory or goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I want to have it and I will have compassion on whom I wish as well. But you cannot see my face for no one who sees my face will live any longer.”

But God had a plan and He said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face may not be seen.” Period. That was the important part.

Ezekiel in His book concentrated on his relentless sin of rebellion and idolatry that caused God’s anger to explode. Because of the behaviors of the people, and Yahweh’s leap on anger, Jerusalem crumbled down. Sin resulted in death, and Ezekiel pointed out drastically that death and destruction awaited for Israel.  But out of this death, restoration would or could rise again and God would celebrate the glory He desires and deserves. God’s people were living out the consequences of their failures. Don’t we all, even today? We turn away from the Lord, just as so many have on this earth as they accumulate power and wealth and feel we don’t need God or anyone else, they think, man being man. 

The Babylonians had already reduced the Judahites so that soon it would collapse even the extraordinary temple in Jerusalem.  But somehow, in such disasters, God used Ezekiel to correct the faulty interpretation of the Babylonian invasions of Jerusalem. And the result was Ezekiel’s powerful mourning that included eating a scroll containing Lamentation, mourning and woe. He became this, a mourner. He mourned for Jerusalem and all within it and had happened to it. Sometimes I feel we should be mourning all the tragedy and disasters that are tearing up our cities and schools and homes, no matter what our faith, hoping that goodness will somehow over-run evil if we just keep it in prayer. Jerusalem the golden as the song goes is so much the basis where the covenant of God established with the Israelites, their ancestors. May we know for sure and for whatever our faith that we can sing its praises as we step into God’s holy heaven when our lives on earth are finished.

~ Rev

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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
www.audreytaylorgonzalez.com