GPS to the Promised Land

Epiphany 6A

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

St. Matthias

2/16/2020

I have recently discovered that my GPS does NOT believe that the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line.  I was headed somewhere in Birmingham the other day and plugged in the address - and the voice INSIDE my phone - who has a British accent because I programmed it that way - told me to turn RIGHT when I knew that LEFT was the RIGHT way to go.  Where I was going was to the LEFT and it was the only way to get there and the only reason I had asked that woman with the British accent in my GPS on my phone was because I wasn’t sure about the cross streets near my destination.  But she told me to turn RIGHT and to get on Red Mountain Expressway and go I-59/20 to I-65 South with an exit on Green Springs Road.  And that meant going through the new Malfunction Junction and Heavens knows I didn’t want to do that.  It would take forever.  So, I turned LEFT – and thus began my adventure.  I went from Highland to 24^th and over past Southern Research and down to 8^th Ave South which is also known as University Boulevard because it goes right through the heart of the UAB campus and that was where my problems began!  There was construction, and lanes were closed.  Cars and trucks were backed up to St. Vincent’s.  Everything moved in inches.  We started and stopped every few minutes.  The 750 stop lights on University took turns TURNING RED. I was late.  Why didn’t I listen to that nice lady with the lovely British Accent from Google Maps inside my phone!  It would have been so much easier.

The Israelites were camped out at the River Jordan waiting to cross into the Promised Land.  In our FIRST scripture reading from Deuteronomy this morning, God and Moses have been talking and now Moses is explaining the best way for the Israelites to enter the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  For 40 years the Israelites wondered through the desert after escaping slavery in Egypt.  They crossed the Red Sea as Moses lifted his staff just like Charlton Heston in the movies and parted the waters.  At Mt. Sinai, God gave the 10 commandments, and all seemed to be going pretty well until the whole Golden Calf incident.  The Israelites had 1 thing to do, worship the one true God and HIM alone.  So, what do they do?  They build and start worshiping a statue made of gold.  That was the beginning of the next 40 years as the Israelites wandered in the wilderness.  Now in case you were wondering how long it would normally have taken to walk from Egypt to the Promised Land, a journey on foot today from say roughly Cairo Egypt to Jerusalem traveling around 6 hours each day would take roughly 3 weeks to go from point to point.   Instead it took 40 years and their journey was anything but a straight line. 

And where we pickup with the story this morning in Deuteronomy is at the end of the journey.  Moses is giving the instructions God gave him for the people to follow.  Obey the commandments by loving God.  That’s it.  Love God and everything else just follows along naturally.  You can’t love God and worship other gods even if they are made of gold.  You can choose eternal life and blessings - or death and curses.  Seems pretty easy doesn’t it.  Yet time and time again the Israelites would try to GO their own way even though God is always faithful and always loves us even when we turn in the wrong direction.

In our family, I read the instructions.  Whether we are building a new bookshelf, activating new credit cards, or setting up new iPhones its my job to pull out the directions in several different languages written in print way too small to see and figure out how it fits together, makes a call, or turns on.  Occasionally I will skip a step – or decide to do it my way and when I do there will always be problems.  Haven’t you ever wondered what to do with leftover parts – I have and usually that means something is not working!

The same is true in the Christian life.  Like the Israelites – every day we stand ready to enter the Promised Land whether its Galilee or Tuscaloosa.  God is with us, but do we recognize Him?  We come here on Sunday and proclaim that WE BELIEVE.  Can WE BELIEVE on Monday and Tuesday as well?  Imagine leaving the House knowing in all certainty that God is with you.  Then throughout your day – share God’s love.  Smile at people.  Be kind.  Live in peace.  Forgive.  Love your neighbor – all of them – not just the ones you like or who agree with you.  Give thanks to God for all your blessings.  The instructions are simple.  They are easy to follow if we just will. And if we do this then God will guide us through this wilderness we call LIFE.  Our paths will be made straight.  There won’t be any wandering in the wilderness for 40 years or 40 seconds.  And if you do, God will lead you to the Promised Land – which – in case you didn’t know – leads right back here to St. Matthias.  You can use Google maps if you need to and if you want to know how to give that lovely lady inside your phone a British accent – talk to me later.  AMEN.