Choosing the Substantial vs. the Easy and Immediate

Service Link: https://youtu.be/ET4xebnXVcw

Readings: Isaiah 44:9-20, Psalm 16, Matthew 7:24-29

Have you ever thought: “If only Jesus was here right now, it would be a lot easier to believe”? I thought this for most of my life until I started to think more about Jesus’ story. The truth is that God’s presence in a substantial way wasn’t a guarantee that people would believe. Sure, we hear about a lot of people coming to him in faith and some amazing things happening, but just as often we see that many people didn’t believe, the Pharisees rejected and challenged Jesus again and again, Jesus’ hometown got in the way of his ministry to them, Jesus’ family thought he was crazy, the crowd following him turned around when he challenged them to find sustenance in him, even the disciples ran away when they thought their own lives were in danger. It would seem that physical presence wasn’t enough.

We might think we are different, but I would parallel our situation with the book of Judges where Israel is settling in the promised land. Here we are like them in a world of abundance, plenty, with a space to call our own. We might work, but our work and lives have not really earned this. Ultimately, it is the gracious gift of God. For Israel, they entered the land of Canaan, where they lived off of Cana’s infrastructure and farms because God brought them there. Now, we are living off of the land and the work of others, whether it be from generations ago, or off of those working in our midst because God has brought us here. We can so easily forget, or ignore a free gift and assume our privilege as a right.

As Israel entered into the promised land they soon forgot about what God did for them and as a result, this phrase keeps repeating itself throughout the book of Judges, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes because they had no king”. “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes”. Doesn’t that sound like today? I feel like I have heard people say, “Do what you think is right”. Yet, if we look at the book of Judges we see the disastrous consequences of this. Violence, death, isolation, betrayal, lust, and greed dominate many people’s lives and God has to continually save them when they call out to him. We might not be there, but sometimes it feels like we aren’t far off. In the least, less obvious versions of greed, lust, betrayal, isolation, and violence are still prolific. Why? Because we have no king. We do what is right in our own eyes and too often our eyes are clouded by other things. We don’t realize or aren’t willing to recognize that we already have a king in Jesus because we would rather have things our own way.

Still, why is it so hard to believe sometimes? Why can’t we just know God? I believe it has something to do with immediacy and intimacy. We often would rather have something now that is easy, than something that is substantial but requires work. I can relate this to my snacking habits, but I think it goes deeper than that. Look at the story of the golden calf. Remember Israel had just been protected and delivered out of Egypt through the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, beautiful and miraculous works of an intimate and present God. It’s not long in the desert when they forget God and focus on their immediate desires complaining about food and water, saying “it would have been better if we were back in slavery in Egypt”. Yes, we need water and food, but they don’t show any trust, they don’t even realize what God has and is doing. Of course, God provides what they need in water and food, but not in the way they want so even though they have food, they complain about not having meat, which again God provides. 

Now they have everything and God has led them to this great mountain. First, God wants to speak to all of Israel, but they are too scared and ask Moses to speak to God for them, again no trust. It would seem that we often push God away from being close to us, because we are scared of what that could mean. So, Moses, their spiritual leader goes up to talk to God, because they don’t feel comfortable with talking with God themselves. The thing now is that the people of Israel begin to get impatient, again. They say “Moses has taken so long to get back to us, we should just take things into our own hands. Aaron, (Moses’ brother) build us a god that we can worship.” So he does. Here they have God who has done miracles for them, provided for them, who guides them by a pillar of smoke and fire, who wants to speak to them, and yet they would rather go for what is immediate, simple, and easy to control. Now, we don’t have God in a pillar of smoke and fire, but I would argue that we have all of the other things. God has provided for us, he does work miraculously in our lives and he does want to speak to us and guide us, but we too often want what is immediate, simple, and easy to control. We too often do what is right in our own eyes, because we would rather be our own king or queen. 

So, I think that God is substantial and present in some accessible ways, but the truth is that we too often would rather exchange the substantial and lasting things of God, for the easy, immediate, and predictable things. 

Look at our passage from Isaiah, which can be quite humorous. Here are these people who are making idols. One person makes an idol out of wood. They go into the forest, they watch the trees grow, they choose a tree, and cut it down. Then they burn it to warm themselves and to cook their food. Then whatever is left they make into an idol to worship. This person can literally see where this wood came from and they know that it is worth burning to feed them and warm them, but then that same thing that they burn they later go and worship. Why? The metalsmith does the same thing, but with metal. Only now, he sweats and labours over the wood fire to change and shape this metal into an image. He knows the metal is strong, but it was he that formed it, even though he is weak and gets thirsty, so why then does he go and worship this thing a weak human can create. We know the limits of the idols we worship. We know where they come from and what they are and yet we still turn to them, because often we would rather have the predictable, easy, and immediate things, even if they can’t speak and could topple over at any minute.

All of these things that we grab hold of are actually insubstantial things. They are like trying to clench onto sand or water. We might be able to hold them for a bit, but they will quickly slip through our fingers. God is substantial. He is the rock that may be heavy but will last. 

As I thought about our passage about the rock and the sand as foundations, I thought about all the places where humans build houses. We build houses on swamps, where the houses slowly sink. We build them on ledges that are slowly worn down and eroded. We build them on flood planes and so much more. Why? We know what we are doing. It’s easy and immediate. 

We have to come to terms with the fact that sometimes we allow our desires for the simple and immediate things to overpower our desire for God’s substantialness. We choose to follow our own words and build on the sand, instead of listening to Christ and building on the rock. This is why repentance is so important because we have to recognize where we are, where we are going and relent and change our path to follow God. We need to move our tree and sink our roots into the substantialness of God. 

The beautiful thing is that if we do this. If we dig deep and hold onto God, not only will our lives become more substantial, life-giving, and long-lasting, but we can invite others in too. Imagine the stormy house built on the rock. During the storm, that house could have sheltered many. Where the house on sand would be a danger to those inside and around it. Or think about a tree rooted deep, it has a way of preventing erosion and holding onto topsoil. Through building our lives on God’s substantialness, we can actually offer others God substantialness. 

This is not an easy road. Roots growing or houses built into rock takes more time, effort, and precision, but it is way more worthwhile. It may be that you don’t see the fruits or the home as quickly, but the fruits and home will last and be fuller for it. So it is in our lives with God. We might not experience his presence or his word or his answers as quickly or easily, but his presence, his guidance, and answers are there waiting for us as they have always been. They are far more substantial than anything else and he is what we need. AMEN