Marcy 7: Of obedience. Period.

Numbers 8:1-9:23

Mark 13:14-37

Psalm 50:1-23

Proverbs 10:29-30

Num 9:6-8 - But some of them could not celebrate the Passover on that day because they were ceremonially unclean on account of a dead body.  So they came to Moses and Aaron that same day and said to Moses, "we have become unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be kept from presenting the Lord's offering with the other Israelites at the appointed time?"  Moses answered them, "Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you."

Num 9:17-23 - Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.  At the Lord's command the Israelites set out, and at His command they encamped.  As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.  When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord's order and did not set out.  Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord's command they would encamp, and then at His command they would set out.  Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.  Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out.  At the Lord's command they encamped, and at the Lord's command they set out.  they obeyed the Lord's order, in accordance with His command through Moses.

I was struck by obedience, in the many ways it was represented in today's readings.  And I was struck at how society's definition, and my definition, of obedience has changed so much.  Consider the second of the excerpts above: when it came to setting up or striking camp, leaving or staying, for the Israelites in the desert, God's word stood alone - not just supreme, alone.  When He told them to go, they went; when He told them to stop, they stopped - and only for as long as He said, be it for the day or the year.  There were no questions, no "why?"  or "why not?".  There was just obedience.

The first excerpt I found even more remarkable. The Israelites who, because of ceremonial uncleanliness, were unable to celebrate the Passover, WANTED to do so.  They could have spared themselves the trouble of the sacrifice, they could have said "well, God said not to do it, so we won't".  But they didn't - their appreciation for the Lord was such that, when told they could not, they complained!  They didn't complain and say "hey, we want to do a good thing, so we're going to do it anyway!"  They didn't complain and demand that Moses grant them approval to celebrate the Passover.  No, they complained...and then they left it to God.  And Moses himself, a man accustomed to speaking with God and who could very well have presumed to know what God would have said - Moses did not presume to know God's mind - His response was "wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you."

So much sin appears to be committed today under the guise of good intentions - I know I have often compounded my guilt by justifying disobedience with good intentions.  I pray that, amidst a world where self reigns, and the gratification of self seems to be the greatest objective, that  I - we - learn to have such a close relationship with God as did the Israelites, and that we learn to be as obedient as they (once) were.