But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?… What if they won’t believe me or listen to me?… I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled….Lord, please! Send anyone else.” [Exodus 3:11,4:1,10,11 (NLT)]
When I learned about people like Abraham, David, Moses, and Samson as a girl, they were the Bible’s version of super-heroes like Batman or Superman. The Bible’s heroes were larger than life, obedient, invincible, and seemed to overcome their obstacles effortlessly. Appearing perfect in their faith and actions, they weren’t people to whom I could relate. In reality, they were as flawed as the rest of us but, for the most part, their imperfections and failures were redacted from the stories we learned in Sunday school.
As a child, I learned that David killed Goliath, was a great warrior, and wrote psalms but I didn’t learn about the 70,000 Israelites who died because he took a census or his sins of rape, adultery, and murder. When I colored pictures of Samson destroying Dagon’s temple, I didn’t know about the disobedience, lust, and pride that got him in such trouble! Although I learned that King Solomon was wise and wealthy, I didn’t know he disobeyed his father, broke God’s law, and over-worked and over-taxed his people.
Truth be told, the Bible’s heroes and heroines were as fallible, insecure, and willful as you and me. The apprehensive Moses listed all his shortcomings while arguing with God and the faint-hearted Gideon tested Him! Barren Hannah struggled with her sense of worth and Naomi grew bitter in widowhood. Moses let his anger get the best of him and Elijah prayed for death in the depth of despair. Abraham was a coward who, to save his skin, gave his wife to another man twice! Timothy’s youth made him timid and insecure and even John the Baptizer had doubts!
The families of our Biblical heroes were as dysfunctional as ours. There were bad marriages—Abigail was married to a brute and Gomer wasn’t faithful to Hosea. There was bad parenting—Eli and Samuel turned a blind eye to their sons’ sins, David failed to discipline his boys Amnon and Adonijah, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob played favorites with their sons. There was sibling rivalry—Miriam and Aaron grew jealous of Moses, Jacob stole Esau’s birthright and blessing, Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, Leah and Rachael competed for Jacob’s attention, and Martha and Mary had issues! There even was fratricide—Absalom murdered Amnon, Solomon had Adonijah killed, and both Jehoram and Abimelech executed their brothers! Their tangled stories rival the drama of “reality television.”
Indeed, there’s enough sex and violence in the Bible that children only learn the G versions of its stories in Sunday school. We, however, are not children and we need to look at the heroes and heroines of the Bible with the eyes of an adult. My purpose is not to throw mud on the Bible’s heroes and heroines—it’s to make them relatable.
Rather than super heroes, God used people as flawed and imperfect as we are and from families as screwed up as ours. Like us, they struggled with challenges, pain, infertility, temptation, impatience, anger, jealousy, depression, and even their faith. They faced real challenges, made mistakes, sinned more than once, questioned God, and even failed at times. If God could use such flawed people to accomplish His purpose, think of what He can do with you and me!
There will be no “knights in shining armor” in God’s kingdom; our armor will have many dings and dents. No, no perfect Hollywood heroes will ride to save the day; just wearied saints to look to God and, in weakness, find Christ’s strength. This, indeed, is the essence of God’s kingdom: divine greatness manifest in common people. [Francis Frangipane]
I suspect we would prefer a eulogy that shines a light on our victories and accomplishments but the man known as “the father of modern missions” chose otherwise. When William Carey [1762-1834] was asked what text he wanted for his funeral sermon, he chose today’s verse. The humble man wanted to shine a light on God’s lovingkindness and great compassion rather than his personal accomplishments.
In the first Advent, Jesus came as a suffering servant in a manger. In His second Advent, Jesus will return in righteousness as the conquering King who makes all things right. His return means the final destruction of sin, injustice, hate, disease, death, decay and evil. Our God, however, is one of both mercy and judgement and Malachi’s promise of the Messiah included a warning about the coming day of judgment.
Like their parents, my youngest grands like to race and recently did this year’s 5K “Hot Chocolate” run. When Paul referred to running, he wasn’t referring to fun runs like theirs or a marathon like the one their parents ran nor were his boxing and wrestling references to the sports we know today. His allusions were to the Panhellenic games and Olympics which were well known throughout the Roman Empire in his day.
Last October, we went north to watch our son and daughter-in-law run the Chicago Marathon. This 26.2-mile race passes through 29 Chicago neighborhoods and the city’s streets were lined with spectators ringing bells, beating drums, holding signs, cheering, and applauding as the runners ran past. Like us, some were there to cheer on specific runners but many were there to encourage all who were running. When we saw Sam and Nina, they were nine miles into their run and had stripped off the jackets, gloves, and hats they’d been wearing earlier that morning. The whole scene reminded me of today’s verse from Hebrews in which the author likens Christian living to running a race with endurance.
Devotions of the Heart 