Turned Redemption Into Ruin
The Sage makes this wise observation in Proverbs, “Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it” (Proverbs 11:27). What you look for you often find, because what you expect to see is what you look for. Well, during my devotional reading on Monday, I was caught by an incident in the Old Testament that seems to go along with this Proverb. It’s about the perspective of God’s people who flipped redemption into ruin. It’s quite startling. First, let me set up the scene.
Moses is recounting Israel’s history in the wilderness, and starting at Deuteronomy 1:18 he retells the moment when they were just on the cusp of entering the land of promise decades before. The people wanted spies to reconnoiter the land. Twelve were chosen, and set out to explore and evaluate. They returned and told all the wonders and wealth of the land (1:22-25). But the expectations of the patrol and people co-opted their evaluation, “Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there”” (1:28). It became a general revolt and the people almost tossed Moses and Aaron out on their ears. This is the scene. Now, in the middle of all this comes a peculiar moment that actually turned the good news into bad news.
As the people were murmuring in their tents, rejecting God’s provision, and rebelling against God’s prescription (1:26), they flipped God’s redemption into ruin. They saw what they wanted to see. They expected evil, searched for evil, and it came to them in their misperception: “Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us” (1:27). Did you catch it? Or better, did it catch you? They describe God’s redemption as ruin “Because Yahweh hated us he brought us out...” It’s quite a shocker! They didn’t see God’s rescue as liberation, but as a liability. They had come to believe that God’s goodness was hate, that God’s relief was destructive, that God’s kindness was a trap! What a perilous place to be!
Sometimes Christians can do the exact same thing. When we expect bad we find it, even in God’s goodness. When we search for evil, we can become so focused that all we can see is evil, even in God’s grace. When we imagine that we can only expect catastrophe, we can turn God’s loving discipline into doom (in our minds and hearts). “Because Yahweh hated us he brought us out of the land of Egypt…”
But what would have happened if Israel had trusted God’s goodness over their self-perceptions? What would have happened if God’s people had allowed God’s goodness and grace to rework their awareness and anticipations? What would happen if we were more confident in the goodness of God than our own expectations of defeat and disaster?
Brothers and sisters, “Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it” (Proverbs 11:27).
Pastor
Mike
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