I was recently part of a class discussion about the Exodus. After discussing the meaning of the plagues, interpretations of Pharaoh's hard heart, and the like, the idea was raised how Israel was reacting to the plagues and how quickly they would "forget" the power displayed in the plagues and the God behind that power. It's not a bad question. How and why did the Israelites cross the Red Sea only to forget God almost immediately at the foot of the mountain upon which the very presence of God had come to rest? What possessed them to create a Not God in the presence of God?
When humans create Not Gods for themselves, what form do they take and what function do they serve? For the Ancient Near Eastern cultures, some may be familiar with Ba'al, Marduk or Tiamat. Or more popularly, consider the Grecian deities: Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, Athena. In each case, I would argue that these Not Gods are attempts by humanity to explain, in the broadest sense, human experiences. Why did floods destroy our fields? Tiamat is angry and must be appeased. Why is this other nation attacking us? The Gods have caused it. Why is (x) happening? The Gods! I would argue that humans have always struggled to understand why things happen and have always struggled with a gnawing sense that the explanation touches on something greater than ourselves.
Perhaps this penchant for uncovering a plan is a whisper of the eternity placed in our hearts. On the other hand, maybe it's a mirror of our existence as temporal beings.
I wrestle with whether or not we are even able to think beyond chronological parameters. Perhaps that is part of God's mystery which we are not meant to understand. Or we ought always to seek to understand how our relationship with God might affect our current reality. That is, maybe we should at least to try and understand how God, outside of time, relates to us, exceedingly temporal beings.
But isn't any attempt to understand or explain this relationship in chronological terms inherently flawed? If it isn't possible to understand fully, should we even try? Perhaps it is important at the beginning to note that no complete answer can be given. Humans cannot breathe without oxygen. Theologians cannot theologize without time (usually more than necessary). Unless otherwise noted, time will continue to be our great variant, obstacle, and oxygen.
We affirm then that we are time-bound and God is not. This is the buoy from which we dive into deep waters. We also affirm that understanding time is a decidedly human obsession. God is not obsessed with time as we are; he has a pretty good idea how it will end. Of course, We know also. BUT, we do not know how we will get there. And we WANT to know. We want to know how we get there almost as much as we want actually to get there!
Oppositional to God, humans are too obsessed with time. We want to know all about it. People are always wanting to know how we spend it. Time is money, right? With an insatiable hunger we seek to uncover every past secret, to be informed about every present event, and to discern every future possibility.
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the same blind ignorance of which we accuse the Israelites seems to have much in common with the same stroke of stupidity with which we often paint the apostles. However, I would question if perhaps what we see in these chosen followers of God isn't also present in us. Maybe we're not dealing with situational foolishness so much as human foolishness. To name it specifically, perhaps it is the result of an eternal God engaging temporal beings.
I am beginning to wonder if perhaps God doesn't care about time as much as we do.
Consider again our lab rats, those "dumb" Israelites. They go from living in Egypt and asking Moses and Aaron not to make life so hard for them to watching each plague unfold to the shores of an Egyptian sea - now seeing with faith - the amazing God who is. The God who is rescuing them. He has come to take them into the land he promised would be theirs. Finally, they will be free! Stupid Israelites! What happened? Because, look, there they are now at the foot of the mountain of God, asking for a more tangible Not God to lead them.
How could they be so blind? How could they forget that the God who had been so mighty to save would continue to keep His promises?
How am I so blind? How do I forget that the God who has been so mighty to save might continue to keep His promises?
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