Able to Respond
Numbers 11:4–6, 10–16, 24–29
I want to share with you my favourite word in the English language. It is “Responsibility”. You hear two words in this word. “Ability” and “Respond”. One of the gifts we take for granted most is the fact that we were gifted with an ability to respond to our reality. “What’s the big deal, doesn’t animals also have that?”, you may ask. True animals can respond to stimuli as well. But as human beings we have a much greater ability to respond to a much wider range of stimuli. We have language and faith which means we can respond in rich ways and which also means we can respond to spiritual realities and experiences. If somebody is unresponsive (this is probably my least favourite word), such a person is either a baby, in dire trouble or dead. Maturity is often defined in terms of responsibility. The more mature a person is, the better that person responds in a life-giving way. A mature person is a person that assumes responsibility and does so as a matter of habit. People are drawn to such mature individuals.
Have you ever thought about responsibility in terms of God? If God is more mature than anybody could ever be, -and we believe He is-then it follows that God is super responsible. God responds to our reality and to humankind in life giving ways. He responded to the sin and depravity humankind found themselves in by sending His own Son to sacrifice His life. What could be a more life giving way to respond to that? I mean it is easy to respond with excitement about something happening that you wanted to happen and welcome. But how a person responds to something happening they did not want…now that is a real testimony of character and maturity.
“Man’s search for Meaning” must be one of the best books ever written. Part of the reason for it is that the author, Victor Frankl, lived through the Holocaust. Living through that experience, he came to the realization that to choose to respond was the last of human freedoms and something that cannot be taken away from you unless people kill you. He studied how different people responded in those camps to the dire circumstances and suffering. He noticed that often the way someone responds rather than the suffering itself determined whether the person survives or not.
Our passage this morning could be read as a story about various responses to the same undesirable realities. From each there is something we can commend and emulate and something we should perhaps avoid…
The Gut Response
The first response was Israel’s response to their diet. It has to do with their stomachs and that is why I call it a gut response. One could imagine how they could crave the taste of meat. Mannah had a sweet taste but was kind of bland compared to spiced meat. We in the same situation would probably have felt much the same. Yet it says that God was angered by this gut response. Why?
Though it is normal to have cravings and longings for things you used to enjoy, these carnal cravings should not take over to the point where they distort your memory. We read that it was the non -Israelites that reminded the Israelites how good the meat was. Then we read that they wailed about the meat as one would expect someone would do at a funeral with the passing of a loved one. They made the statement that they wished they have never been taken out of Egypt. It shows their sense of the past and the future got distorted. They forgot at what a physical, spiritual and emotional price those meat pots came at. They were all worked to the bone for it. They forgot what God promised to them in the future…a land of abundance. The manna was a temporary arrangement but when your sense of the future and the past gets distorted, you forget that. See God did not have problem with them requesting meat. That he supplied even though He was angry with them. He was angry at them prioritizing a carnal need to the extent of losing sight of everything else that is important.
I will confess that I am one of those persons who gets “Hangry”…I get angry and irritated when I am hungry. But maturity has taught me not to when I get hangry, be a burden on everyone else. I try and make a plan to get to food but at the same time not lose sight of other important goals. Well, most of the times. We should be in touch with our most basic needs and attend to them. Shelter, Nourishment and safety. But these things should never be what life is all about for us. Because we are also called to attend to the needs of others and to pursue higher goals than food, housing and safety. And sometimes a simple reminder that what you are going through is temporary, can help to keep your reaction in check and reasonable. It is actually what distinguishes us from animals, the fact that we can delay gratification for a higher and more ultimate form of gratification. My dog begs for food when I eat, even if he just ate, even though I am going to give him food later. Don’t be a dog! Keep perspective.
The Leaders Response
Leaders are people who are called to take people from somewhere less desirable and life giving to a place more desirable and life giving in the ultimate sense. Moses was called to take the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to intimacy with God in a promised land. You are called as a parent to take your children from infancy to the teenage years (please don’t stop there because most will agree that the teenage years are less desirable than maturity). You are called to take a business from loss to profit. You are called to take clients from hunger to satisfied contentment. There is not a single person who does not need to lead at times.
Now, here is the thing a leader usually sees what’s wrong with the place people are at and what is better about the place they intend to take people first. Therefore, it is a given that every time you attempt to lead people you will experience resistance. It is law of nature that an object will remain in the position of least resistance until energy is expended to move it. When the objects are human beings, the energy involved is not only physical but emotional and spiritual as well. That is why taking the lead is so darn hard!
So, Moses responds to the hard part of leading people, them being resistant and ungrateful. He does it well and I will tell you why. Firstly, he is being authentic with God. When you lead, you need to vent and sometimes God is the only one available. It is safe to say God is much more into raw authentic prayers than polished ones. Secondly Moses does an interesting thing. In stead of accusations and plain laments, he formulates his grievances as questions. It’s interesting because it is what corporate coaches teach nowadays. To formulate problems as questions. In stead of saying: “These people won’t comply” ask: “What would motivate these people to comply?”. Moses expresses how he feels and asks God what he wants. It is the trait of any mature relationship. Freedom and safety to say how you feel and ask for what you want…and then negotiating a win/win solution. Now wonder we read elsewhere in Exodus that Moses spoke to God as a man would to his friend.
Take your leadership woes to God in prayer.
The Calling Response
Lastly, we read that the Spirit moves and people respond. Suddenly not only Moses but many prophesied. They took up the responsibility of leadership. Suddenly Moses wasn’t all alone anymore, and the people were united once more. But there is also something disappointing about their response.
It says when the Spirit came over them, they prophesied but only once. Note that it does not say the Spirit withdrew from them or ceased to equip them. It just says they stopped responding. This we should know about a call: You do not get it only once and you definitely do not respond to it only once. You listen to a call daily and you need to discipline yourself to respond to it in different ways every day. Yes, for as long as you live. Calls can change. The ways you respond to it can be different over time. But the fact that you are being called and need to respond to that call is a given for as long as you live. The Holy Spirit, so teaches the New Testament, is given to all believers. All are called to respond.
I guess the great message about calling in this passage is that God did not only call you. Others carry the same calling God gave you. You are not alone. Those people with the same calling might come from strange places like Medad and Eldad were not even at the tent of meeting, the place where one would expect to find leaders. I can write a book about the strange backgrounds people who served the body of Christ came from. I mean, even your pastor comes from South Africa!
Close
I have told you about God’s name, Yahweh, in the Hebrew Bible. It is speculated that the word was chosen for God because it emulates the sounds of breathing, of breathing in and out. It was a way to express that God is as close to us than our own breathing. Even our breathing is a response to the life God has given us. Everything else we does is as well. So let us be mindful of this fact and respond in life giving and helpful ways, especially when we need to respond to realities we find difficult to deal with.
Jesus opened the way for us to respond in an even richer and more life-giving way. With repentance, forgiveness, grace, and gratitude. Go for it!
Amen
Gabriel J Snyman
September 26th 2021
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