Saturday, November 7, 2015

Saturday, November 7, 2015

[Kenny Sullivan]

"The people made a calf at Mount Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold. They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull...The people refused to enter the pleasant land [a place of rest], for they wouldn't believe his promise to care for them."

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭106:19, 20, 24 NLT‬‬ (brackets added)

Charles Kuralt was the host of CBS's "On the Road" news program. His aim was to travel the country looking for interesting news from everyday life. Kuralt received a letter from a woman in Ohio who claimed to have a parakeet that could say, "And that's the way it is," quoting the famous closing words of CBS news anchorman Walter Cronkite. 

They arrived at the home and as they waited to enter they could hear the parakeet on the other side of the front door say, "And that's the way it is."  As they set up the cameras and lighting the parakeet said repeatedly, "And that's the way it is." They pointed the camera lens at the bird and began filming as the parakeet said, "Aaawk!" The owner tried to cue her pet by saying, "And that's the way it is." The parakeet responded to her cue by saying, "Aaaaaawwwwk!" After an hour of failed attempts Kuralt and his crew packed up their cameras and lights and left the saddened woman who really wanted her pet parakeet to be on CBS news quoting Walter Cronkite. They said their goodbyes and headed out to their vehicles only to hear the parakeet behind closed door saying, "And that's the way it is!"

Control is an elusive concept.  We are not in control of our circumstances, only how we respond to them. In like manner, as Israel found out, we are not in control of God. We are only in control of how we respond to Him. This reality disappointed Israel so much that they created a god that they could control - a golden calf. But this golden god couldn't save them, couldn't love them, couldn't protect them, couldn't heal them, etc...couldn't give them rest!

We've done the very same thing today, right? We've created our own gods (relationships, jobs, money, appearance, status, possessions, etc.) to try to satisfy us and give us rest, but we find that they don't quite "do the trick." Like Mr. Kuralt, we're left trying to make a parakeet imitate Walter Cronkite. It simply doesn't work because we are not in control. Only God is in control and offers us the pleasant rest we so desire if we would just stop trying to control Him. His aim is not to harm us, but to give us the life we've always hungered for.  We need only respond by receiving.  "And that's the way it is."