4 March 2013 - outside the box

4 March 2013 - outside the box

Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar,
better than all the waters of Israel? 

The LORD is always bigger than the box in which we place him. 

Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

We tend to think of certain people as out of the LORD's reach.  We tend to think he only works in certain familiar circles.  We tend to limit him.  We won't bother suggesting the LORD's help to someone because we think that he isn't that sort of person.  We won't bother suggesting the LORD's help to someone because we are in a place where that isn't a topic of polite conversation.

But the LORD is not constrained.  Our static preconceptions of how he works makes God feel more safe to us.  They make him seem easier for us to deal with.  We don't have to worry that he'll actually delve into the deepest issues of our lives.

Let us keep open hearts lest we respond to the action of the LORD in anger, trying to preserve the boundaries of his action with which we are comfortable:

When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.

They were happy to have him working in Israel.  Once he started to show his compassion for the Gentiles it was too much for them.  This was a broad relationship in which they desperately needed healing.  Instead their attachment to comfort moved them to anger.

If we truly thirst for the living God and long to behold his face we will be able to cling to him when he takes us beyond our comfort.  Our desire for him must be greater than our desire for comfort or we will assuredly choose comfort.  We can't find this path on our own.  We need his wisdom and his light to take us from our place of comfort to the place where we encounter him.  

Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.

LORD, we do thirst for you.  We know that what you have for us is worth so much more than the comfort to which we cling.  LORD, that comfort never satisfies us anyway.  Draw us on!  Draw us up to yourself!

Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!