May the mumbling commence!
Let us lift up our hearts to God in steadfast worship – for the Lord alone is worthy of our worship. Read the words of Moses in the song that was to be a witness to Israel in the future – and continues to be a witness even unto our day.
I will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Oh, praise the greatness of our God!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he. (Deut 32-3-4)
What a Rock to cling to – great, perfect, just and upright! Why would we exchange the Lord for our Rock, our Anchor, for anything or anyone else? If you are not convinced, read another section of Moses’ song of witness.
For the Lord's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions.
The Lord alone led him;
no foreign god was with him. (Deut 32:9-12)
The Lord chose His people. They did not choose Him. God adopted them in the barren desert. He cared for them like the apple of His eye – no one meant more to Him. The Lord alone led Israel from slavery, through the desert, and into the Promised Land. No, the conquest of the Promised Land was far from achieved, but Moses accepted this miracle too on the basis of the mighty hand and powerful arm that the Lord displayed in Egypt and in the desert.
But Israel (here called Jeshurun or upright one in Hebrew) would forget and leave the Lord behind in their prosperity:
Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
filled with food, he became heavy and sleek.
He abandoned the God who made him
and rejected the Rock his Savior.
They made him jealous with their foreign gods
and angered him with their detestable idols.
They sacrificed to demons, which are not God –
gods they had not known,
gods that recently appeared,
gods your fathers did not fear.
You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth. (Deut 32:15-18)
Yes, this song of Moses is a witness both to the Lord’s steadfast nature and to Israel’s fallen nature. And we are no different than Israel. In this song, we see both sides of the coin of confession – confessing the awesome nature of God and confessing our own fallen nature. Both are a part of healthy worship.
In this season of Lent, we tend to focus more on the latter and neglect the former. Sometimes, I believe that we short change the awareness of the confession of God because we get caught up in the confession of our personal and corporate sins. While we should not forget these (so we can learn from our sins), we should not short change God the worship He so rightly deserves. If we forget, there will be consequences:
I will make them envious
by those who are not a people;
I will make them angry
by a nation that has no understanding. (Deut 32:21)
The Lord can rise up children from the stones to raise our envy and return us to Him. Any other rock is not like the Rock we have in our Lord. In a time of Lent, I take time to praise the Lord my Rock and my Redeemer. Let us travel to Jerusalem with Jesus and surrender our wills to God – just as Jesus did.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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