Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“But Moses implored the Lord his God. And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, October 14, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
God listened to Moses. The Israelites, who had just been instructed not to create idols, went and created and idol. I imagine God might have been a little peeved. (And what was Aaron thinking?!? I still do not understand why he facilitated this.) God said, “Heck with these people.” But Moses begged God not to destroy them. And God listened to Moses.
And not just Moses. God listened to Abraham speak on behalf of Sodom when God wanted to destroy that city.
God gets it. God knows people will inevitably mess up on a colossal scale. And we know it, too. What’s beautiful about these interactions is that they make it clear that humanity’s relationship to God is just that—a relationship. It’s reciprocal. It’s not just God as some capricious tyrant behaving on a whim in whatever way God wants and who cares about the people. No. God wants nothing more to be in a relationship with us, and in order for that to happen, we have to have agency in that relationship. We get a say. We get to go to God and say, “No! We don’t like that idea.” And God can change God’s mind. I don’t think that’s something people think about much. We tend to think God is timeless and therefore changeless. And while God is always faithful and steadfast, I don’t believe God is changeless in a stagnant, unyielding way. God is fully present in this mutual relationship—that’s what a covenant is, after all—and expects, even demands that we show up with our thoughts and feelings to hold God accountable for God’s promises. As Abraham and Moses did.
Do I feel like an partner in a relationship with God? Or as something less?