I always forget. And I cannot afford to. Tonight, Moses reminds me in the midst of his plea to Israel before entering the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 8:11-17:

Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’

I’m apt to praise myself for my accomplishments. And indeed there is a place to be proud of our accomplishments and satisfied with what we’ve accomplished. But, only in its proper place. And that is in a place of remembering the Lord. Who is is and what he does.

It’s the Lord who is patient with us and disciplines us for our good.

Notice what Moses points out when reminding Israel to remember the Lord. The ‘good’ houses they would build and live in, the flocks and the gold and the silver that would ‘multiply’. Their  hearts that would be encouraged and ‘lifted up’ with their good fortune. And he beckons them to remember the tribulations that he brought them through. Not without pain and not without suffering. But by God’s patient and disciplining hand. They were prepared to remember God who is their good.

Who honestly remembers these always? I do not. But I wish to. And my prayers, I hope, will reflect that honest desire.

I am undeniably an Apple nut. I really like the company and the way they (at least seem) to conduct business. With an eye to environment responsibility and customer satisfaction. But, at the same time, knowing those two things are connected, but not trying to hide the fact that they are a business and they are out to make a buck.

Apple is also known for being extremely secretive. New product offerings don’t usually come as a total surprise, however, until they’re revealed it’s all a big guessing game about what exactly they’re going to offer.

Being that I love Apple products, there are two websites I frequent in order to hopefully get a glimpse of what’s coming. Those websites are Appleinsider.com and Macrumors.com. Both are blog style websites which gather information from various verified and unverified sources and attempt to speculate on what might be coming.

It occurred to me as I was skimming over one of the posts this afternoon that the reports on these websites are, in a way, a kind of modern window into Israelite’s lives during the time of the prophets.

I know, it’s the most trivial comparison, but it seemed apt, nonetheless.

On either of these websites, ‘sources’ deliver information about what they believe Apple is up to with their products. There are lots of voices and all of them claim to be right. But, of course, the only way to know for sure is to wait for an announcement from Apple. After which some ‘sources’ lose credibility, while others who predicted accurately get venerated and trusted more highly in the future.

In the time of the prophets, there were also many people speaking in the King’s ear saying what they believed God was doing or speaking. Only the prophets truly appointed by God knew and it could only be verified once it happened. After which, the true prophets were venerated (well, at least until they were killed), and the false prophets were to be executed.

When I read the scripture, I’ve always had difficulty attempting to make sense of their experience. I’m simply so far removed from it that it’s difficult. Noticing this correlation, however dramatically disproportionate it might be, makes me feel as though I can begin to relate to their experience.

Pretty cool, I think.

In the chapter 11 of the book of Acts, God reveals that the salvation brought by the Christ was not only for the nation of Israel, but for all mankind.

You probably remember Peter’s vision. While in a trance, God showed Peter ‘something like a sheet’ being lowered down from heaven. It was filled with all kinds of different animals—‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ in the Hebrew sense. God tells Peter to take and eat whatever he likes. At first, Peter resists the command, asserting that he’d never eating anything ‘unclean’. But God rebukes him, insisting that he isn’t to call anything ‘unclean’ that God has made clean.

It was at this moment, that some men arrived to bring Peter back to the household of a gentile who’d been commanded by God to fetch Peter and listen to whatever he told them. Of course, what happens next may not seem like much to us, but was a huge deal to Peter. God poured out his Spirit on the gentile household. Peter then understood that the vision of the animals in the sheet was to explain that Jesus’ salvation was for all men—‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ alike.

Understandably, Peter was criticized by the other Apostles for his decision to baptize the gentiles. But after Peter explains everything, including his vision, their response is remarkable. Acts 11:18:

When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."

You can almost see the picture like it’s a dramatic scene in a movie. The group is heated by Peter’s apparent disregard for their laws and customs. Then, Peter explains why he did what he did and how God’s hand was at work.

The group grows silent, then humbly accepts that God has chosen something different than what they were used to—what they even thought was right. “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life”. It’s remarkable to me how quietly and humbly they accept they were wrong in their assertions, and accept God’s decision.

This is an attitude that seems altogether absent from our corporate church culture (and often even private walks).

How tightly do we grasp to our customs and traditions—even in the face of changing times and tides. God continues to meet each generation differently (in many ways) than the ones before it. No matter how you look at it, this is hard to deny. We do not spiritually interact with God in the same way our brothers and sisters did 500 years ago. Even 50 years ago. Yet, each generations seems to see their own customs as the pinnacle of appropriate spirituality.

I think we would do well to try and emulate the Apostles in this way. Hold ‘nothing sacred’ (so to speak). When God begins to move, we should move with him, even if it rubs the grain of what we have grown accustomed to.

Jeremiah 50:20:

“In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.”

What it is really saying is not that Israel will be free from iniquity or that Judah will be altogether sinless, but that the guilt of their iniquity and sin will be absolved and paid for by Christ.

But I really love the phrasing which is present in most translations.

Iniquity and sin shall be sought for, but none shall be found because God has pardoned the remnant. For me this serves as a reminded that God’s pardoning work through Christ is the first and most important element in our sanctification.

God’s pardon produces sanctification, never the other way around.

In the book of Jeremiah, a point comes when God convicts the Israelites of failing to free their slaves after six years as was commanded of them. They repent and finally free the slaves. But as is typical human fasion, it isn’t long before they backslide in their repentance an turn and force their slaves back into labor.

See how the transition is described in the text. Jeremiah 34:16:

“…but then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.”

Returning to sin is an act of profanity on God’s name. I guess that is why Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me…”

I hooked up a new external backup drive to my computer today and started creating backups using Apple’s Time Machine Software that comes with their computers. I have to say, it’s pretty awesome. The software’s method for exploring backups is epic—to say the least. But it got me thinking about when I might go if I had an actual time machine. (Thanks Apple, for what seems to be an endless supply of inspired ideas).

So, I came up with four events in history that, given the chance, I’d like to be around to observe.

1. With Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai

This is an endlessly confusing portion of scripture. In the narrative, at least. The Jewish people just witnessed some of the most incredible miracles performed in Egypt with a mind-blowing splitting of a giant body of water as the capstone. Then, on the other side, they saw even more. Water flow from rock, bread fall from heaven.

Then, Moses disappears for a few weeks while he talks to God and the Israelites get impatient and decide God isn’t really God and they make gods out of gold.

I know the theological answer to this. But it’s almost impossibly frustrating when you read the narrative. So, if given the opportunity, I would love to be there and ask a question or two—maybe understand first hand what was really going through their minds.

2. Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost

There aren’t many more stories in scripture that have quite as much electricity as the one where Peter delivers the first sermon to the crowds at Pentecost. People were confused, a bit frightened, but intrigued all the same. There was so much energy that, literally, thousands of people became Christians that day.

3. The beginning of my own conversion

So, this one might seem a bit confusing.

At the beginning of my own conversion, I sat in a group of college students studying the bible. I was a smart-ass 17 year old high school drop-out bent on derailing their conversation. I was unsuccessful and humiliated—although not from their doing, but from my own.

If I had the chance, I would absolutely love the opportunity to be one of the other faces in that group observing my own behavior.

4. Martin Luther’s various trials

Luther was a brilliant guy. Really brash, as I understand it—lacking tact. But he stumbled on something the Roman church’s deep, deep flaws that needed rectification. Although he didn’t want to leave the Roman church, he stood on the side of truth, rather than institution.

I imagine, could I be a fly on the wall, it would be exhilarating to witness the trials in which he refused to recant his claims against the Roman church.

In Conclusion

I’ll bet if I sat for longer and thought harder, there would be a lot more. But as I pondered this afternoon, these were the four that came quickly. Maybe the rest are for another day.

Magic prayers. Blessed trinkets. Holy grounds. It’s all, in and of itself, nothing. These are things people, for centuries—maybe forever—have put their trust in, vainly thinking they’re trusting God. It even seems like the central teachings in some mainstream Christian denominations today.

In 1 Samuel 3-4, the Israelites are defeated in battle before the Philistines. In their defeat and confusion, they remember their God and so they think of the Ark that went before so many successful victories in the past.

1 Samuel 4:3:

"Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”

They go and get the ark and bring it into their camp. They shout in their excitement, frightening the Philistines who hear them rejoicing. Then, guess what happens when they go into battle. Yeah, they lose again. And this time, the Ark itself is captured and taken away by the Philistines. (which God uses as an opportunity to bring wrath, but that’s a whole other topic).

The Israelite’s most holy artifact that, in their view, was basically guaranteeing their victory because it would ensure God’s action, didn’t work.

Why? Because power, authority and victory belong to God alone. He must be trusted, it won’t do to superstitiously trust in “holy” things, thinking it somehow gives us a leg up with the big man. God isn’t the office manager who might give you a promotion if you also happen to listen to his favorite band.

I think a lot of people, on some level, struggle with a form of this. Have you ever been watching Lost, then gone to read your bible and felt like you can’t go from something “secular” thing to something “holy” right away? It’s the same idea and it’s nonsense.

There are no magic words, no “holy” grounds, no blessed trinkets. Only the hope in God for open hearts and God’s great love, poured out through Jesus Christ.