Being Chosen

Recently reading once again in the Book of Deuteronomy, an amazing thing jumped from the pages into my eyes - as if I had discovered a truth for the very first time:
After 40 years of wandering in the desert and in the sight of God's presence, only two people survived; Joshua and Caleb.
This tells me that being one of God's chosen does have its personal cost.

And we find this to be true today.
Many times Christians suffer and it doesn't make sense to us; sometimes, we never know why a person has numerous tumors throughout their body even though they have lived for Christ.
Sometimes we can't explain why infants drop their toys and are forced to struggle with the Iron Grip of death.
Sometimes we just don't know why bad things seemingly happen to good people while the wicked go unpunished.

We cry for God to show Himself, to make Himself known with vengeance and eradicate injustice, revealing His truth to our understanding.
Yet, though He loves us, many times we hear nothing but silence from the heavens.

The nation of Israel was constantly in the presence of God; what we routinely ask for from God, they experienced - whether it was by signs, audible voice, a miracle or through nature. There was no question among the people that God was present among them.
Yet, even though they knew fully God's will, they found it nearly impossible to live in the presence of our Holy God.
You see, though we clamor for answers to our diseases, solutions to our problems - wanting God to come and make all things right; we often fail to look to the history of our faith to discover that here are some disadvantages to direct acts of God and living in the full presence of God.

When you look to Israel, they had experienced 10 Awesome Miracles in Egypt - the Plagues. It never touched them, but it put Egypt on her knees. They saw the smoke and fire of Mt. Sinai; they witnessed God's Law written by His very finger, followed His cloud, watched His pillar of fire and heard His voice audibly.
But being the Chosen of God also meant the lack of any personal freedom. God gave them a list of 613 Laws with Blessings and Cursings that went along with them. If they followed the Law, they were blessed; if not, God's wrath would fall.
Sounds pretty simple how it was all to work - but it didn't work out well for the humans involved.
God's Law micro-managed freedom - sexual relations, the very content of the fabric of their clothing, even their diet fell under God's purview. 

Even though God supplied all their needs, as He does the modern Christian; Israel back then, like us today, though blessed, still found a way to complain. In fact, petty complaints persisted and even bordered on the absurd.
Several times their trivial complaints in the camp were compared to their 400 year period in slavery!
REALLY???
Can any suffering be compared to slavery?
And what was their complaint? At this particular juncture it was Manna, which literally means, 'What is it?'
Later God gave them quail to eat in the evenings, the attempt of the food was to help them trust God for their needs; but the Scriptures tell us even while they had meat in their teeth they were complaining.
And from my perspective, the more God drew near to His Chosen People, the further they fell away.

Today, we speak of not a strict obedience because we have to; but rather, an obedience because we want to due to the fact that Christ has changed our hearts and nature.
We speak of a personal relationship with God through Christ; the Israelites had no concept of this. They didn't even want to enter the Tabernacle nor hear the voice of God out of fear they would die.
If our hearts are truly changed, we do want to seek Christ and be in His presence for the right reasons; not vindictive reasons, not reasons that would explain suffering.
You see, life in Christ is not a mystery to be solved but an experienced to be lived by faith.

Many years ago a genius named Isaac Newton tried an experiment where he stared into a mirror while looking at the sun. I call him a genius but I have to wonder what in the world he was thinking.
After several minutes, the predictable happened; Newton was blind.
This blindness was only temporary, but if he'd stared much longer it would have been permanent. 

I tell this story because we should be thankful for those times when we experience the mystery of God's hidden absence. 
Christians are the Chosen of God, but like the Israelites, we would struggle constantly in His presence unless we are changed from within. That change will happen at the Resurrection when we are perfected in Christ - and not a day before.
In the meantime, we may mentally struggle with why God allows things to happen or not happen in our lives, but the truth is, His absence as we perceive it is not forsakenness. 
It is however a faith growing endeavor for the Child of God.

Until next time, try to win one for the Good Guys.