And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your father know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out upon you, and your feet did not swell, these forty years (Deuteronomy 8:2-4).
God wandered "these forty years" with his people to know what was in their hearts and to teach them that one "does not live by bread alone. . . ." What an inefficient investment in order to teach this much of the truth of God!
No matter how important the truth is, wasn't there a more efficient way? God is the almighty Lord of history. Why didn't and couldn't God act far more majestically and with amazing efficiency? Would it not enhance God's glory before all the people? Why didn't God short-circuit history and liberate Godself from all the troubles, inconveniences, and inefficiencies of "walking history" with the people?
"The people stood and stared while their rulers contined to scoff, saying, 'He saved other people, let's see him save himself, if he is really God's Christ -- his chosen!'" (Luke 23:35) Jesus did not come down from the cross. He refused to free himself from the cross, and by doing so he refused to disengage himself from sinful human history. In this way, he forcefully demonstrated that he was "God's chosen!"
God does not cut Godself off from human history. Because God is love, God became a nomad "for these forty years." God demonstrates faithfulness by protecting even "your cloth" and "your foot." (What a nuisance! What a chore!) God's care extends to all people who are journeying in the desert. God refuses to give up, no matter how "inefficient" the divine work becomes.
The Lordship of God has a historical substance. God speaks to both the "ox-cart" and the "supersonic" people, because he speaks to the innermost need of people.
----- Kosuke Koyama, Water Buffalo Theology,Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition
In peace,
Linda +
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Founding Pastor
The Episcopal Church of Our Savior at Honey Creek
www.oursaviorhoneycreek.org
http://oursaviorhoneycreek.blogspot.com
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