Gentle Reader,
Do not remember the former things
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.– Isaiah 43:18-19 (NRSV)
It’s twelve degrees as I write, so we’re having a heatwave. My dogs would like you to know that they have been forced into torture devices that masquerade as sweaters. They will be launching a GoFundMe page shortly in order to pay for a doggy rights lawyer. They have to finish napping on a very soft blanket first.
“Do not.” I submit to you that there are no more two hated words in any language. As soon as someone says “don’t,” you immediately want to “do,” even if it’s something you don’t actually want to do, because nobody is the boss of you. This comes out more strongly in certain situations and relationships. What makes you want to instantly rebel is probably not the thing that makes me want to instantly rebel. But the stubborn streak is common and strong in humanity. We get that from those infamous ancestors Adam and Eve who are probably holding signs that say, “We know, and we’re sorry,” for all of eternity just to avoid the conversation with newcomers.
We want to do what we want to do, when we want to do it. Obedience and submission don’t come naturally to us. Some of us express that lack of respect for authority in, let’s face it, more obnoxious ways, but we’ve all felt it. I can only write what I know, and so I go a step farther and say that this is especially the case for those of us living in Western cultures in which individualism is so prized. Interdependence and community are foreign concepts. Well, sort of. The truth is very few of us actually do or achieve anything completely on our own. But we sure like to pretend we do.
So for God’s first words through the pen of the prophet/author to be “do not” – it’s a little hard to take. But latch on to fact that it’s God saying “do not.” This isn’t another human saying something in order to gain control over other humans. This is the creator of humanity. The One who knows and understands us far better than we ever know and understand ourselves. God’s “do not” is not a control tactic. It’s not manipulative. It’s not petty. God’s “do not” is an invitation to freedom and flourishing.
You might doubt that. You might think, “Well, if God loves me then God has to be fine with me doing/being/saying/feeling (insert whatever here), otherwise God isn’t loving.” All of us are guilty of having that thought, but like out other thoughts at times, it doesn’t make sense. We don’t expect that in our human-to-human relationships. If your significant other cheats on you and tells you that you have to be fine with it because (insert reasoning here), your only correct option is to exit that relationship. Because that’s not love. So why do we expect to interact with God in this way?
It comes down to that stubbornness. That sin. Oh, we don’t like to talk about sin. We don’t even like the word. To label something sin is to attack the person doing/saying/being/believing the sin. Yes, “love the sinner, hate the sin” has become so weaponized that it’s basically a useless phrase. But think about your human-to-human relationships again. You love people – family, friends, significant others – with whom you disagree. Who do things that you think are just ridiculous. Who hold beliefs that you don’t understand for a second. The truth is, we practice “love the sinner, hate the sin” all the time. That’s part of having relationships. So, again, why do expect God to slap an “okay by me” label on all things when we don’t even do that ourselves?
God is God and I am not. I think that’s one of the best sentences to learn and to repeat constantly. I am the creature, not the Creator. God gets to say “do not” and we do not get to tell God otherwise. Well, I mean, we can. God is patient and gracious. But it’s a pointless exercise in the end.
So, “do not.” אַל, ʼal. A Hebrew participle tacked on to other words in order to change their meaning. Interestingly, it can be translated as “nothing,” depending on context. Doesn’t that intrigue you? What if God invites us this year to move from nothing into something? And what if that something is what we thought the nothing was going to be? And what if we were wrong? And what if God is right?
GRACE AND PEACE ALONG THE WAY,
MARIE
Image Courtesy of Nik