Daily Lectionary: Ecclesiastes 9:1-17, John 9:24-41

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Our family loves camping. There’s something about the great outdoors, enjoying the beauty of creation, unplugging from responsibilities (and electronics) that always seems to give us a nice reset before we rush headlong back into the busyness of this life. If you look at the opening verses of our text this morning, you may have noticed that Israel, about 3 months after they were rescued from Egypt, came to the wilderness of Sinai, where they camped. But their camping was anything but a vacation! They weren’t there to relax and recharge. Instead, they were there because God directed them to that place in order that He might establish His covenant with them. 

The Lord instructed Moses to begin by reminding the people of His gracious act of redemption when He drowned Pharaoh and his army while Israel was carried out of slavery in safety. Next, comes the terms of the covenant. “Obey my voice…keep my covenant…” Essentially, it was a call to listen to God’s Word. Maybe someone has asked you before if you’re listening to them and you responded, “I heard you!” But there’s a difference between hearing something…and listening. God expected His people to listen. And the result of their listening? They would continue to be God’s treasured possession, His kingdom of priests, His holy nation. It doesn’t get much better than that! Moses reported the words to the people, and they replied, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” 

Part of me wishes that I could step back into that moment in time and (in Hebrew, so they could understand,) warn them of the foolish nature of their vow. But maybe that’s the point of the ongoing nature of Israel and God’s continued wrestling. God keeps choosing them according to His rich mercy; they prove faithless over and over again; and while there are certainly times when He allows them to fall into the pit they’ve dug themselves—more often than not, He forgives, rescues, and restores them to the favored status He originally bestowed upon Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. That said, we can learn a lot about what NOT to do when we see Israel making promises in vain. As we’ve seen in the last week, God is in the business of having mercy, but He won’t stand for fake righteousness. Repent and believe accordingly! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.